Good morning…
I drove to Grayton Beach, Florida for a planning time with Kitty Crenshaw and Cathy Snapp as we prepare for our November 6th Awake To Wholeness Women’s Retreat at Peachtree Road United Methodist Church in Atlanta. As I have said previously, “Please save the date.” And now I can add, “Yes,” we are working on a way to capture the experience in webinar form for those who cannot join us. We are working on Plan A, an interactive in person experience, Plan B, a webinar experience if COVID numbers rise and face to face is not possible, and Plan C, a holistic combination of Plan A and Plan B.
I arrived first and settled into the beach home of a generous friend. Delightfully alone with God, I ate hummus, baby tomatoes, and a few wheat pitas with a glass of red wine on the rooftop at sunset. (Isn’t that a fun sentence?)
After a sweet evening of silence and solitude, I drifted to sleep thinking, “There is something in me that comes wildly alive when I am alone with God.” Then, following a restful night of sleep, I woke to Henri Nouwen’s description of the one spiritual discipline which brings me most alive.
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DAILY MEDITATION | AUGUST 25, 2021 – Writing Reveals What is Alive in Us by Henri Nouwen
Writing is a process in which we discover what lives in us. The writing itself reveals to us what is alive in us. The deepest satisfaction of writing is precisely that it opens up new spaces within us of which we were not aware before we started to write. To write is to embark on a journey whose final destination we do not know. Thus, writing requires a real act of trust. We have to say to ourselves: “I do not yet know what I carry in my heart, but I trust that it will emerge as I write.” Writing is like giving away the few loaves and fishes one has, trusting that they will multiply in the giving. Once we dare to “give away” on paper the few thoughts that come to us, we start discovering how much is hidden underneath these thoughts and gradually come in touch with our own riches.
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Silence. Solitude. Spiritual journaling. After years of diligently listening for the whispers of God, these three daily disciplines wake me more alive, morning by morning. Yet I have never really looked at my daily writing from this perspective: “Once I dare to ‘give away’ myself to God in silence, in solitude, in spiritual journaling, I start discovering how much is hidden underneath my thoughts and I gradually come in touch with the inner riches our Creator has planted in me.”
As I harvest my innermost self with God in the early morning hours, day after day, I come away with a handful of seeds to sow into the fertile soil of our written word community. My creative seeds of thought tickle alive your own seeds of thought. Beneath our fresh thoughts, the kingdom of God is spreading quietly, collaboratively to spark healing in the hearts of people across the globe.
God’s kingdom is like something as small as yeast that a woman kneads into a large amount of dough. It works unseen until it permeates the entire batch and the loaf rises high (Luke 13:21, TPT).
…Sue…
P.S. There is still one slot open in the Monday class I am teaching at our Vinings home about spiritual disciplines as we discuss the book Sacred Rhythms: Arranging Our Lives for Spiritual Transformation by Ruth Haley Barton. In addition, our Tuesday night and Wednesday morning Banquet Bible study small groups are also studying the development of holy habits with God. Check out these and other great learning opportunities (in person or by Zoom) and register for a class which piques your interest at the link below:
https://northsideyouth.wufoo.com/forms/womens-ministry-2021-fall-classes/
