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Creating Space When Your Season Feels Too Full
Life only gets busier. People told me that in seminary. Moms said that to me in the newborn stage. I knew it was coming in the pre-k years. Now it’s here. With three young and growing kids, I spend my days running from one thing to the next. I struggle to create space for my soul to rest and reconnect with the Lord. So I’m getting creative. It’s a work in progress to be sure. But I know I need space. Here are five ways I’m creating it in a hectic season. Get up early. I know this one isn’t for everyone. If your children wake up at 6am or…
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Give the Gift of Good Listening
Few doubt the power of a good listener. This is why we have counselors, spiritual directors, coaches, and (in the missions world) debriefers. Basically, we pay people to listen because effective listening is a learned and precious skill. And a gift from God. I recently had the privilege of being debriefed. I recounted something I was wrestling with to someone who listened actively and non-judgmentally. As I processed aloud, I found I could release the angst that incident had produced and find clarity. I realized I could let it go and no longer dwell on it. Telling one’s story in a safe place brings resolution, healing, and growth. This requires…
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What’s Next?
It’s quiet here. Maybe it is where you are too. The Christmas tree stills stands in the corner, but no one rushes to turn on the twinkling white lights anymore. Its trunk, once adorned with gifts, is bare. With the hustle of Christmas coming to a close, our homes grow still. Often our souls do too as if to take a deep breath. And in the silence, we ask questions. What’s next? It’s a question I’ve asked a hundred times this year and one that I’ll ask each day leading up to New Year’s. Perhaps you’re asking questions of your own. Maybe it’s been a year filled with joyful surprises.…
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The Voice in My Head
I love my husband’s recent Christmas gift to me: a hearing aid. (Actually, he appreciates it about as much as I do, since I’m not daily asking, “Excuse me?” and “What?”) A number of years ago I had been diagnosed with a 25 % hearing loss in one ear, but it had grown to 45%. That’s a lot of missed words in conversations, sermons, and TV shows. Mine is a little device that sits in my ear canal, pretty much invisible. Because it’s so small, the battery is teeny tiny and needs to be replaced every five days or so. I know it’s time to swap it out when a…
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The Place of Joy
As you read this post, perhaps your turkey is roasting in the oven. Maybe you just finished crimping the edges on your grandma’s apple pie. Perhaps you’ll whip potatoes into pillow-y clouds just before guests arrive. Today our bustle embodies all the feelings of fall. Our full schedules and full tables leave us feeling festive and sometimes a little frazzled too. Amidst all the gatherings and baked goods, it’s easy to forget what truly gives us joy. When life turns busy and my turkey nearly burns, I start scrambling from one thing to the next—often shuffling others out of the kitchen and shutting them out of my schedule. Without even…
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The Art of Sacred Reading – Lectio Divina
Resurgent interest in the ancient art of sacred reading as a way to nurture our spiritual lives is compelling. Lectio Divina – a Latin phrase for divine reading, spiritual reading or sacred reading – has been used for over 1,500 years. Lectio Divina comprises four elements: lectio (we read the text), meditatio (we meditate the text), oratio (we pray the text), and contemplatio (we live the text). But naming the four elements must be accompanied by a practiced awareness that their relationship is not sequential. Reading (lectio) is a linear act, but spiritual (divina) reading is not ‑any of the elements may be at the fore at any one time.…
