Each day is a new day. Each time we awaken there is a new awakening available to us. For that awakening to come, a disposition of acceptance and an offering of intention increase the possibility of new life being born.
I have started a new pattern for myself, and it is not easy. I am an organized person (most days) so what do I do? I turn to my handy Panda Planner and schedule it! You see, COVID-19 has forced me to reconsider many things, most important the health (or lack thereof) in which I live my life. This includes mental, physical and spiritual health. I almost didn’t realize how much I was suffering until I was offered a reprieve to stay home and get some rest. But enforced rest by external forces is not the same acceptance and intention.
My Panda Planner is a tool to help. It may seem silly, but I have to schedule my time for myself. This happens when you have three jobs to make ends meet. During COVID-19, one of my employers paid me to stay home and I was able to see the difference between being scheduled 54 hours a week and living with 30-40 hours a week. It was blissful.
I accept that I have been responsible for my life getting to this place, but also realize that I am responsible for where it is going. I knew, but now I have awareness, that the way I have been living is too much. And only I am responsible for changing it.
Today, I start, by scheduling an hour for devotion and writing in the morning of the day. A good first step…
The intentions of our actions infuse all that we do with the
Work/Life Balance
I am including this blog post here – from the other parts of my life – because it talks about the difficulties in living out your calling, your avocation and your job all together. Let me know what you think.
http://www.ohioucc.org/part-time-pulpit-full-time-pastor/
Voting Your Conscience
A phrase keeps running through my head and my Facebook feed as people gather in my nearest large city, Cleveland, for the Republican National Convention. That phrase is “voting your conscience.” This election season the phrase has been used for a lot of reasons. It is a good reminder that our conscience means something. It has an impact on how we act in the world.
What is a conscience? More than just simple awareness as Dictionary.com tells me. The definition there is “the inner sense of what is right or wrong in one’s conduct or motives, impelling one toward right action[.]” (retrieved from http://www.dictionary.com/browse/conscience?s=t on 7/19/2016) I find the last part of that definition to be key. What (or maybe who) impels us toward right action?
As we try to deepen our faith, we touch that center, that inner sense, that has been placed in us by the Holy. We grow deeper in our relationship to ourselves and to God, and that extends outward into the communities we live in. We hear in both Acts and Romans that God’s grace is not only at work in the world, but also in and through us. When we touch that grace it brings us into our fullest selves – we grow in the specific love of God that reaches all people, albeit in myriad ways. We tap into a deep plumb line that fills us and guides us in the ways of love.
How would it change our lives if we let God’s spirit be the foundation of our individual conscience and, through us, the foundation of love for the world?
The Music of Spiritual Formation
One recent morning at 4:30 am, on my way to my part-time job at Starbucks, I had the urge to listen to some beautiful horn playing. Not just any horn playing, but the horn played by my dear childhood friend Andrew Pelletier. Andrew is now a Grammy (and other) Award Winning artist and so I did what anyone does in this modern age – I looked him up on Spotify. Indeed, one of his CD’s was there, and I quickly tapped the link for an English folk song arrangement.
A few moments later, I remembered.
I remembered what it was like to hear Andy play. I remembered my youth spent with Sam, Mark, Melissa and others. The time spent with them was some of the happiest of my life. Together we learned to make music, but not just our music. We each learned to let that spirit inside of us speak in ways that only we could express. Through the music we created, both separately and together, we brought new life into the world – holiness brought forth into the world.
I realized as I listened to the recording of Andy playing that I would always be able to recognize his playing from any other horn player’s immediately. The horn and its song is an extension of the song that was planted is Andy that yearned for expression. Through our relationship and growing together, I have learned to hear his song and know it, know it as truly as my own.
The Spirit speaks to us in many ways. I have learned that the language of the Spirit is most truly expressed in relationship, and its language is varied. Through music, art and dance we learn something deeper about ourselves and each other. We learn an expression of the new birth of the Spirit in each one of us and the beauty of its life in the world.
My dream is that we may all one day find relationships such as these, where language fails and Spirit ignites – and mere notes transform and change us in unknown ways that bless us for our whole lives.
Small Acts with Large Meaning
Yesterday I got to do something beautiful. I officiated the wedding two friends, two men, who have been together for 25 years. In order for their marriage to be legal, we had to three things; declaration of intent (the “I dos”), exchange of vows and the pronouncement. I said a prayer at the beginning and then just these three things. Five minutes. That’s all. It was intimate. There were tears. It was beautiful. Five minutes of recognizing the holy in our midst and all of our lives are changed forever. On a Thursday morning at 11:20AM.
Sometimes we think that holy moments have to be at special times, set apart in our daily lives. There are times that we need this. But the secret to being more connected to the holy in our lives is claiming the presence of God in every moment; giving thanks, recognizing Gods presence, asking God to make their presence known are all small things that we can do to recognize the holy in every moment.
The Spirit is always with us. It is we who do not recognize her presence.
What can you do today to see the holiness of a 5 minute stretch of your day?
Finding the sacred in the everyday
Do you yearn for a new experience of sacredness in your life?
Do you have a difficult life decision to make?
Have you ever asked yourself any of these questions?
* Why can’t I feel God in my life?
* How can I deepen my prayer life?
* Is a holy or divine being even real?
Spiritual Direction is not just for ‘holy’ or ‘religious’ people. In fact, it just may be for you. We want to join you in the journey of discovering your own wholeness.
Each journey is a gift. Journeys are not always easy, and we at Anam Cara Spiritual Companions want to walk with you, so you won’t have to journey alone.
What is the meaning of “anam cara”?
Anam cara belongs to the Celtic Christian spiritual belief in the bonding or connecting of two souls. Another way to describe this is to say that anam cara means ‘soul friend.” At Anam Cara Spiritual Companions we listen and help guide you as you are learning to listen more closely to the sacred in your life.
What is Spiritual DIrection
What is Spiritual Direction?
Spiritual Direction is a practice of sitting with another person as they relate stories and ask questions about their experience with the divine. Through the interaction the director helps the individual to deepen their relationship with the holy and increase their ability to recognize holy moments in their own lives.
Some questions that a director might ask are:
- Where/When have you felt God’s presence?
- What is your prayer life like?
- What brings you the deepest joy?