Spirit-taught Words
Good morning... As I finished off my Spiritual Direction paper due by midnight last night, I was drawn back to this quote. "We have been raised from the dull sphere of mere mind and matter into the heavenly radiance of the spirit world; and now, as spiritual (beings), we discern spiritual things, we feel the forces which are paramount in the spirit-realm, and we know that there is a Holy Ghost, for we feel [...]
Infectious, Radiant Beauty
Good morning... A new truth dawns on me. Beauty has nothing to do with age or weight, body type or hair style. Beauty has everything to do with radiance. Whenever our college-aged daughter comes home for the weekend, she loves to go to Passion City for worship. Last Sunday, she and I enjoyed the 9:30 am service. As the members of the talented band led praise songs with the crowd, I leaned over to [...]
Our Recipe For Radiance
Good morning… After I spoke at a recent gathering, I was given a precious "Thank you" gift, a pack of tiny cards bearing scripture verses and a miniature cardholder. The gift now lives in my guest bath, and I change the position of the twenty-three cards regularly. This morning, the card in the front bears this Bible verse. "I sought the Lord, and He answered me; He delivered me from all my fears. Those [...]
The Swampland Of Our Soul
Good morning... As I wrote a reminder email to my Tuesday class yesterday morning, I included the following quote from this week's chapter. In the afternoon, we settled into my living room. We shared thoughts and learned collaboratively. As we talked candidly about the things that get in the way of our whole hearted living, we read these words aloud. Again they resonated. "In Jungian circles, shame is often referred to as the swampland [...]
The Swampland of Our Soul
As I wrote a reminder email to my Tuesday class, I included the following quote from this week's chapter. In the afternoon, we settled into my living room. Sharing thoughts and learning collaboratively, we talked candidly about the things that get in the way of our wholehearted living. Read these words outloud, again they resonated. "In Jungian circles, shame is often referred to as the swampland of the soul. I'm not suggesting that we [...]
Saved By Wisdom
Good morning... "'I had a dream last night,' Deborah Hall told her husband. 'A wise man who changes the city. I saw him.' She gazed at him warily, as if afraid he might think she was losing her mind. Ron Hall knew better. His wife was the sanest person he knew. 'You saw a man in your dream?' 'Yes,' She said cautiously. 'I saw his face.' It was the face of a homeless man [...]
God’s Sunrise Directs Our Feet
Good morning... I love the promise given in the Message translation of Luke 1:79. Through the heartfelt mercies of our God, God’s Sunrise will break in upon us, Shining on those in the darkness, those sitting in the shadow of death, Then showing us the way, one foot at a time, down the path of peace. As a new morning shifts from pitch black to fresh light, I [...]
Power At Our Center
Good morning... We are told: "...problems and trials...they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation" (Romans 5:3-5, NLT). The one word shimmering for me now is salvation. So, I google "What is the root word for salvation?" In Latin "salvus" means whole and safe, healthy and uninjured, and similarly the Indo-European root word "sol" also means whole. So another word for salvation is [...]
When God Gives No Answer
Good morning… Our daughter is struggling to make some major life decisions. Which college? What major? Who to befriend? We as parents are prayerfully dialoguing with her, and we all would love God's will for her to be revealed clearly. Soon. I thought of her as I read these words in one of my Spiritual Direction books this week. "In general, it is God's will that we ourselves should have a great part in [...]
“God Within” Us
Good morning... I learned lots of tantalizing tidbits as I read my two Spiritual Direction books. In passing, one set of authors wrote, "The next time you feel enthusiastic about something, remember that that word means literally 'God within' you" (p. 87 in Hagberg and Guelich's The Critical Journey: Stages in the Life of Faith). With my intrigue sparked, I drove home from my spiritual retreat and hopped on my computer. Of course, I [...]
Boiling On My Back Burner
Good morning... As many of you know, I am in the middle of a Spiritual Direction training program and the dense, intense reading is very hard for me. With my dyslexic, ADD brain, I read slowly and I struggle with comprehension. Unlike many of you avid readers, I cannot read for thirty minutes, do another task, then return to my book and start where I left off. I read thirty minutes, put the book [...]
My SAT Score
Good morning... 900. That's right. A whoppin' 900 points were scored on the single SAT test I took in 1980. Nowadays, a handful of brainiacs score the perfect 1600, many kids score just below perfection, and every high school student I know gets a tutor and takes the test two, three, four or more times to boost their chances of getting into the college of their dreams. 900 got me to a life that [...]