Today is the Feast of the Visitation that commemorates the Virgin Mary’s visit to her cousin Elizabeth when May was pregnant with Jesus and when Elizabeth was pregnant with John the Baptist, which was a truly joyful and unique event. We see Mary responding to the prompting of the Holy Spirit to set out on a mission of charity. She shows us what it means to love our neighbor and that we aren’t meant to go it alone.
Continue reading “Week Twenty-Two. Gentleness. Living for Mission.”On what is the whole of your life built? Is your foundation currently strong? Do you follow a blueprint to build or maintain a solid foundation? As I walk the spiritual path, I’m learning the importance of applying Jesus’ teachings. As we see in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7:21, “Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. But it did not collapse.”
Continue reading “Week Twenty-Two. Gentleness. My Blueprint.”Where along your path today have you seen the gentle face of grace? For starters, I’ve been given another day of life to touch others and to live as my best self. Living life to its fullest is marked by loving well and this is my resurrection story.
Continue reading “Week Twenty-Two. Gentleness. Face of Grace.”Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and freedom.
Victor Frankel
Recently Brene Brown talked about the need for creating space. It was helpful for me to see the quote above as a formula which could look like S( )R. I, along with Brene, didn’t grow up with the understanding or even awareness of this space. Brene says, “ I grew up with the R starting before the S was even done. Something happened, someone did or said something, and I’d come out swinging or fearing or worrying or apologizing. No space. No choosing a response. Hell, not even the parentheses. Just responding in a way that led to more stacked stimuli and responses. There was very little growth and very little freedom.”
Continue reading “Week Twenty-One. Hopeful. Looking for God’s Goodness and Weekly Reflection Summary.”How do you find God’s presence in the day-to-day moments of your life? For me, it is slowing down and allowing time for space. Space not to be filled, but space to just be. To notice, reflect, and listen. This builds my trust and confidence in divine providence, allowing me to surrender to my part in God’s plan: to love God, myself, and my neighbor. Keeping God at the center helps keep me straight in how well I love and bear the fruit of kindness.
Continue reading “Week Twenty-One. Kindness. Ever Present.”Do I know the voice of love and let it sustain my being? Love is God’s love language which is being spoken all the time.
Continue reading “Week Twenty. Hopeful. The Voice of Love.”Looking for God’s Goodness in contemplation and prayer. Our society shows all the signs of classic addiction, and it is helpful to think about this as a metaphor for what the biblical tradition called “sin.” In Breathing Under Water, Richard Rohr draws the connection between the Gospel and the Twelve Step Program. It is helpful to see sin, like addiction, as a disease, a very destructive disease, instead of merely something that was culpable, punishable, or “that makes God unhappy.” If sin indeed made God unhappy, it was because God desires nothing more than our happiness and wills the healing of our disease. The healing ministry of Jesus should have made that crystal clear; healing was about all that He did, with much of His teaching illustrating the healings—and vice versa. It is rather amazing that this did not remain at the top of all church agendas.
Continue reading “Week Eighteen. Fortitude to Love. Looking for God’s Goodness and Weekly Reflection Summary.”My Lord, My God.
These are four of the most powerful words I can say. In our throwaway culture and a culture of lies, it’s easy for me to get paralyzed and overwhelmed by fear. This is exactly where Satan, the father of all lies, wants me. Evil constantly whispers the lie that things are hopeless.
Continue reading “Week Eighteen. Fortitude to Love. Knowing I’m not God”How many times do I place obstacles within my heart as a barrier to God‘s mercy? God‘s love and mercy so desperately want to work in my heart but I must first open the door. How do I close the door to this love and mercy? By thinking I don’t need God, thinking it’s all up to me to change others or situation, being unaware that God is ever present. Even my pain and suffering can blind me to trusting in God‘s mercy.
Continue reading “Week Eighteen. Fortitude to Love. Foundation of Trust”
Looking for God’s Goodness in contemplation and prayer. For a Type-A overachiever like me, patience doesn’t come without a lot of deep breathing, yoga, meditation, and instrumental new-age music. I have to actively remind myself to practice patience. When I feel myself getting impatient, I first ask myself, Is this situation within my control? If the answer is yes, then I actively try to change the situation, so it is less stressful for me.
If the answer is no, and I can’t seem to let the stress go, I move on to a breathing meditation like the following Breath of Patience.
Continue reading “Week Seventeen. Patience. Looking for God’s Goodness and Weekly Reflection Summary”
Smitten With Goodness 