New Doors Opening

Change and New Doors Opening

Kidd: Spiritual Whittling
“There’s an old Carolina story I like about a country boy with a great talent for carving beautiful dogs out of wood. He sat on his porch whittling daily, letting the shavings fall around him. A visitor, greatly impressed, asked him the secret of his art. “I just take a block of wood and whittle off the parts that don’t look like a dog,” he replied….

In spiritual whittling, though, we don’t discard the shavings. Transformation happens not by rejecting these parts of ourselves but by gathering them up and integrating them. Through this process, we reach a new wholeness. Spiritual whittling is an encounter with Mystery, waiting, the silence of inner places—all those things most folks no longer have time for.”—Sue Monk Kidd in When the Heart Waits (HarperOne 2016 )

This is also my experience of transformation. I constantly realize that parts of my life that keep me “together” or connected to God are helpful at one time but later, become tired and worn and need to rest. Our ministry or what we have to offer changes.

One of the most challenging changes for me was leaving my medical practice. That was my identity. But I wanted to do so many other things. It becomes more challenging to keep up with the constantly changing technical, medical world if we do not stay with it continually.

I learned that just because we are good at one ministry doesn’t mean we should always keep doing it. We may be keeping others from the joy of that ministry, and they may even do it better! Also, the wisdom we learn from one career or ministry is always useful for the next one.

Nothing is ever wasted.

I am also learning to be more vigilant about habits that kept me safe during some parts of my life, which later became destructive.

What am I trying to say?

Life is about constantly giving up control or the illusion that we are in control. It is being open to change, letting doors shut, but being available to enter new doors or not being afraid to sit in the hallway for a while, waiting to hear the squeak of another door opening. Finally, it is about trusting, avoiding being stuck and stagnating or thinking we are out of options.

What new doors will be opened to us this Lent?

Joanna   https://www.joannaseibert.com/

 

 

 

 

Sharing Being Beloved

Nouwen: Sharing Beloved

“Self-rejection is the greatest enemy of the spiritual life because it contradicts the sacred voice that calls us the “Beloved.” Being the Beloved constitutes the core truth of our existence.” Henri Nouwen in You Are the Beloved (Convergent Books 2017)

Beloved Hat Lovers

Our being beloved is a basic premise of Henri Nouwen’s about the spiritual life. He believes that when God tells Jesus he is the beloved son at his baptism, God also speaks to us. Nouwen believes our primal identity is as beloved sons and daughters of God.

When we can accept God’s unconditional love, God then calls us to go out into the world and share this love. Unconditional love is only sustained when it is shared. It cannot be love, only of self. When we forget or cannot believe the truth about this love, self-rejection sets in that can destroy us and others. Unconditional love is constantly being attacked by ourselves, others, and the world around us. We must be reminded about it every day, every second.

One way to keep it is by being connected to a loving community where others strive to hear the voice of unconditional love, where the voice of the God of love is magnified and transmitted. Some days, the voice that we are beloved is so soft we cannot hear it.

Our ears become stopped up by the voices of the world. These days, we need friends to remind us that we are beloved. On other days, we know we are beloved and now remind others. We are constantly being healed and healing others of this self-rejection living among us, which is like an infectious disease.

However, unconditional love is always stronger, stronger than even death.

You are my beloved, Smithsonian American Art

Joanna     https://www.joannaseibert.com/

 

 

Praying Lectio Divina

Praying Lectio Divina

listen with the ear of your heart

 “Lectio Divina means Divine Reading. It is a prayerful way to read scripture or any spiritual writing.
 Read -- Read Deeply
 Read a scripture passage slowly and profoundly and hear every word’s sound and meaning. Imagine that God is speaking to you through these words. Listen attentively to see which word or phrase catches your attention and speaks to you and your life.
 Meditate – Think, imagine Deeply
Take what caught your attention from your reading and think deeply about it using your imagination. Imagine what it meant to those at that time who first heard it. Why is this important to you, your tradition, your experience, and your life today? What about it particularly moves you?
Pray -- Pray from the Heart
If your heart is moved or your emotions touched, go with the feelings and offer what you are feeling to God in prayer.
 Contemplate -- Rest
Fall into the love of God and the love from God that was generated. Rest in silence. Just be.
Finally, memorize or copy the thought that moved you and try to remember it from time to time during the day.
Journal, if possible, about what happened during the prayer.”

Modified from the Community of Reconciliation at Washington National Cathedral and the Friends of St. Benedict.

 Lectio Divina is an ancient Benedictine practice of reading the scriptures,, similar to centering prayer, which cultivates contemplative prayer. It was practiced in community in monasteries during the time of St. Benedict. This is a time-honored way to connect to God through reading scripture, prayer, meditation, and contemplation or listening for God. If your tradition has fixed lectionary readings for Sunday, practice Lectio Divina with one or all of the readings daily as your discipline or in a group.

In her book, A Tree Full of Angels, Seeing the Holy in the Ordinary, Macrina Wiederkehr writes extensively about Lectio Divina, calling it “plowing up the field of the soul.” As her guide, she uses a quote from Benedictine Abbot Marmion: “Read under the eye of God until your heart is touched, then give yourself up to love.” She uses imagery in the process and waits for a mantra, a holy word, a phrase, or a sentence that may stay. She then carries that word or phrase with her during the day. Finally, she describes giving yourself to God as surrender, melting into God.