Meeting God in Prayer
I remember the first conversation I had with my spiritual director. Scott and I had recently begun training to be spiritual directors, really without any knowledge of what one was or what one does. We just knew we were hungry to know God and pursue Him intimately.
Meeting God in the Chaos
When I get stressed out, I can easily believe that if I don’t do it (whatever is stressing me at present), IT WILL NEVER GET DONE!! And a frenetic energy surges out of me and into my relationships – causing everyone around me to stress out too. But Jesus models a different way…a way to sit with the Father and listen. In living from the wellspring of silence and stillness with our Father, we experience the richness of our relationship with him.
The Echo Within
A day or so ago the Ministry Essentials staff met together to talk about budgets; specifically, the budget they will build for 2023. However, before we could talk about money and all its concerns, we had to back up and think about vision. God’s vision for us, the vision we hold of ourselves, and the vision within us for our communities and the world. But knowing vision, having it renewed, reoriented, and refreshed year by year takes some time.
The Hardest Peace
You know that delight when during very ordinary actions you come across something truly extraordinary? I love that feeling! I’m a shopper; it’s one of the ways I play. It rejuvenates me and truly brings me joy. Especially when I walk into a store looking for a good deal and find instead red signs shouting 75% off the lowest markdown price and 15% more if you have the coupon! My breathing speeds up, heart pounds, speed increases, and I practically dive into the racks to find THE DEAL that delights me down to my toes.
The Impact of God
Walking the streets of Toledo, Spain, it’s hard not to get caught up in history. Of course, it doesn’t help that one of my favorite games to play is time travel – if you could go to any time in history (just as an observer), where and when would you like to go? For me, I’d love to go all the way back to creation to see the world brand new. It must have been stupendously beautiful and vast…the absolute quiet, broken only by wind and animals – I can’t imagine what that was like.
Byzantium
As a ninth-century Irish monk, Aiden is chosen to join a quest. He wasn’t looking for adventure. Rather, he was living the quiet, contemplative life of a scribe when plans changed for him. Taken from his home of Irish rolling hills, his new path tosses him from the stormy Atlantic, to the lands of the fearsome Norsemen, to the cerulean waters of the Mediterranean, before arriving to the golden domes of Byzantium and the dry Arabian deserts.
