Good morning…
“Is the study you are about to begin, When The Heart Waits, available online?” she emailed to inquire. “I would sure like to participate. I have already ordered the book. I live in Winnipeg, Canada. Thanks. Sharing His Love.”
Lifted by God’s Spirit, I responded right away. “So excited to be connected to you. I facilitate face to face, collaborative discussions in our living room with small groups of women on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. In our home, not online, we steep in the wisdom of one book each semester. I will share our syllabus so you can be following along, and lessons God is teaching will surely trickle into our morning messages. With you cozied-up in Canada and me snuggled-down in the sunny south, I pray that we each discern what the LORD wants us to learn as we wait through winter into spring. I am grateful to be joined on this sacred journey, together from afar.”
As I promised, here is the skeleton of the syllabus we will journey through this semester. Anyone is welcome to join us from anywhere, as we take our own personalized path and pace through Sue Monk Kidd’s classic When The Heart Waits: Spiritual Direction for Life’s Sacred Questions.
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Week of 1.14 – Buy book, get a journal, and prayerfully ponder opening quote, Table of Contents, and Preface
Week of 1.21 – Part 1: Waiting and Transformation. Read Chapter 1: The Long Way Round (journal about questions on p. 219-220)
Week of 1.28 – Read Chapter 2: Quickaholic Spirituality (journal to p. 220-221)
Week of 2.4 – Read Chapter 3: From False Self To True Self (journal to p. 221-222)
Week of 2.11 – Sabbath week off to prepare for Part 2: The Passage of Separation
Week of 2.18 – Read Chapter 4: Crisis As An Opportunity (journal to p. 222-223)
Week of 2.25 – Read Chapter 5: Letting Go (journal to p. 223-224)
Week of 3.4 – Sabbath week off to prepare for Part 3: The Passage of Transformation
Week of 3.11 – Read Chapter 6: Concentrated Stillness (journal to p. 223)
Week of 3.18 – Read Chapter 7: Incubating the Darkness (journal to p. 224)
Week of 3.25 – Sabbath week off to prepare for Part 4: The Passage of Emergence
Week of 4.1 – Read Chapter 8: Unfurling New Wings (journal to p. 225)
Week of 4.8 – Sabbath week off to ponder “What false parts of me are dying? What qualities of my true self are being resurrected?”
Week of 4.15 – Deeply rooted this Holy Week of Easter, allow your heart to wait for the power lifting Jesus from the dead to rise in you anew.
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What a joy it is to experience the murmuration of God’s unifying Holy Spirit, empowering those nearby and those physically far away.
We pondered your love-in-action, God, waiting… Your name, God, evokes a train of Hallelujahs wherever It is spoken, near and far; your arms are heaped with goodness-in-action (Psalm 48:9-10, MSG).
…Sue…
