ContemplativeJourney

Sometimes inspiration comes easily, effortlessly...other times, life can bog you down, and it seems like inspiration will never come again. Have you ever felt this way? It reminds me of what Jesus said in his conversation with Nicodemus. He was trying to explain the spiritual life to Nicodemus, and his choice of the wind as analogy is an interesting one... The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going; so it is with every man who is born of the Spirit. John 3:8 The Holy Spirit, like the wind, blows as it will (you may prefer to refer to the Holy Spirit as either "he", or "she"...). The point is, we can no more control the comings and goings of the Holy Spirit in our lives than we can control the winds that blow. As Christians, we pray for the Holy Spirit to fill us, to guide us, to empower us...but if we think we control the Spirit by our prayers, I believe we think amiss. It's hard, f...

I went to a 12-step meeting today at lunch, and the topic was "gratitude." When I came out of the building after the meeting, a gentle rain had begun to fall...and it occurred to me that gratitude, like a steady rain, can water the dry places in our hearts. I've recently started attending Al-Anon, a fellowship of people whose only requirement for membership is that you have either a friend or family member that struggles with the disease of alcoholism. As I look back over my life, I realize that I qualify for participation several times over, and yet...I've only just begun to experience and benefit from the great gift that is shared in this unique fellowship. I am filled with gratitude today, for a very long list of good gifts in my life...some of them practical gifts of provision and personal belongings, others are gifts of profound love and connection with friends and family that make up the mosaic of my 50-year life on this earth. During the lunch meeting, I hear...

God will not let us stumble - He is a Guardian who never falls asleep. He is a God who never dozes off. God is alert, watchful, always present. Psalm 121 If there was a person in my life who I loved and trusted, a person who spent every hour of every day and night... watching out for me, caring how I do... protecting me from the heat of the day and the dark of the night... this would be a source of great confidence! Why? Because confidence is rooted in this kind of fiercely protective love... it is found in the passion that wants to be present, wherever I am... only because I am valued...cherished...treasured. Confidence comes from being the object of deep and personal love. Nothing can undermine the confidence of a person who knows he or she is deeply loved and cherished. God loves us...in just this kind of personal and passionate way. "If I have freedom in my love and in my soul am free, Angels alone, that soar above enjoy such liberty." Althea , by Richard Lovelace

While driving home this evening, I was considering what to write about, and this idea occurred to me...pain is so much a part of our lives...so unavoidable...that truly, death is the only permanent solution to the problem of pain in this life. And then, depending upon your belief system, you may have any number of ideas about what happens next... As a Christian, I believe that life follows after death...and that the life that comes beyond our earthly experience is free from pain. I don't know exactly how that works...who among us really does? But I believe in the teachings of scripture, and the promises made by Jesus to all of us who follow him...and for now, that will have to suffice. In the meantime, while we live out our lives on this earth, we will have pain. The question is: how do we deal with it? I used to joke with a friend that my life seemed to always be 2/3 great...of the three major slices that make up the pie of my life...relational, spiritual, and work...two areas alw...

This question was presented to me (and several others) at a spiritual formation workshop this past weekend. Sometimes when a question is posed, my mind fills with blank space...and there is no immediate answer. In this situation, the answer that immediately sprang to mind was honesty . My answer, however, is not the answer . I don't know what the answer is for you... With this kind of question, I think we might be inclined to respond in terms of what we are doing... and if we're Christians, we might respond in terms of what we are doing for God. Is that how the question strikes you? As I thought about my answer, and pondered what I might say about the subject of honesty, I was drawn to this well known passage from the Old Testament book of Micah: "He has shown you what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God." There is nothing in this passage about "doing stuff"...nothing about teachin...

This might seem obscure, but the passage I'm referencing for today's devotional is found in the Old Testament, in the book of 2 Kings. At that time, there was a prophet, or a holy man, named Elisha. Amongst the people of his day, he was well-known for working miracles...or perhaps even better said, as a man through whom God worked miracles. There was, in this particular story, a woman who was barren (unable to have children). Her deepest desire and hope was to have a child, and specifically, a son. As a backdrop to the passage I'm reading today, her path had crossed with that of the great prophet Elisha, and he prophesied that she would indeed, have a son...and she did. Time passes, and we come to the passage in 2 Kings 4: "The servant took him (the son) in his arms and carried him to his mother. He lay on her lap until noon and then died..." When grief comes after what seemed to be the most extraordinary of miracles...when your wildest dreams seem to have come t...

I am focused on a list of character traits this week, as a part of both my prayer life and my devotional reading. One of the things I'm praying for is courage , so I decided it would be good to know the definition of the word "courage": The quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, or pain without fear... Synonym: Fearlessness I have a bone to pick with this definition...I think it's off the mark, by a long shot... I don't think being fearless has anything to do with being courageous. For me, courage of heart and soul has to do with showing up for the thing that is difficult, dangerous, or painful...and staying with it...regardless of the presence or absence of fear. In fact, I think it takes more courage to stay in a situation that causes us to feel fearful. In the Old Testament book of Joshua, there's a passage in the opening chapter where God is telling Joshua to move forward with his plan, because God has promised to g...