Making Room For Peace

26 01 2012

An edited journal excerpt from June 1991

“And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding,
will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:7).”

I’ve been reading more in The Dark Night of the Soul by John of the Cross. The page I started with was so rich that I never turned it.

Simply put, he suggested that when God seeks to put within us a deep peace that is truly beyond our comprehension, He has to remove all traces of the peace that we can sense. When my circumstances are anything but peaceful, when conflict enters my life, when my heart is tempted to worry and concern, this is the very place where I can receive a peace that transcends all understanding.

Paul is not talking theoretically. He speaks with credibility from his prison cell. He isn’t talking about peace from a seat on the beach. He is talking about peace from a no-peace environment.

It seems God will not give us a peace beyond understanding until he removes the peace that we have come to understand. It may well be when I feel the least peace that I have opportunity to learn the deepest sort of peace in God.

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Categories : Dark Night of the Soul, scripture reflection

Do You Really Want to be Well?

23 01 2012

In my reading and research today for my “Unhurried” book project, I came across this good word in Joan Chittister’s Wisdom Distilled From the Daily, which is a thematic commentary on the Rule of Benedict.

“The ancients tell the story of the distressed person who came to the Holy One for help. ‘Do you really want a cure?’ the Holy One asked. ‘If I did not, would I bother to come to you?’ the disciple answered. ‘Oh, yes,’ the master said. ‘Most people do.’ And the disciple said, incredulously, ‘But what for then?’ And the Holy One answered, ‘Well, not for a cure. That’s painful. They come for relief.’” (Joan Chittister, OSB. Wisdom Distilled from the Daily. New York: HarperCollins, 1990, p. 128.)

Ouch! How often am I coming to Jesus, settling for mere relief, when I could actually be healed. Relief is good, but usually temporary. Being well is longer lasting and more deeply rooted.

Do you want to be well?


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Categories : A Good Word, discipleship

A Good Retreat Leader

20 01 2012

Because I find that intentional retreat has become a frequent mode of spiritual leadership for me over the last twenty years, both in my life and in my ministry to Christian leaders, I’m always watching for resources on this theme.

One older book I came across on the theme of retreat is Time to Spare, written by Douglas Steere in 1949. Listen to this description of a good retreat leader (and thanks for understanding the male-focused language reflecting the writer’s time if not his heart):

“The retreat leader who in all that he does and is shows that he honestly cares for each of the retreatants, that what happens in each of them matters to him, that he is the kind of person who understands and yet is deeply respectful of the hidden life in each, is one who is likely to become a true guide. But in his instruction he must speak bluntly and plainly to these questions that are consciously or unconsciously in the hearts of his listeners. He must diagnose and expose the hindrances and must make wholeness attractive. If he can speak in simple parables, in illuminating examples, no matter how personal they may be, and in convincing experiences and do it in such a way that room is left for the Invisible Companion to speak to the heart of the listener while this is going on, he is again moving in the way of the true guide. Sympathy, good sense and a veteran’s experience in the life of prayer are good qualifications in such a guide.” (Steere, Douglas V. Time to Spare. New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 1949, p. 65-66.)

For reflection: What line in this extended quotation hits closest to home for you? Which one either captures something you long for in your own life, or in your ministry to others?

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Categories : A Good Word, Retreat, Spiritual Direction

Conversations Journal Blog: January Guest Post

17 01 2012

This month, I wrote in response to the theme, “Lectio Your Life.” We were invited to reflect on 2011 to discern what were the key milestones and insights along the way. I wrote on my addressing of some areas of fear. You can read my guest post at the link below:

“Fear Not“

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Martin Luther King: His Rule of Life

16 01 2012

On this day, when we set aside a holiday in honor of the life and work of Martin Luther King, Jr., I thought it would be helpful to share the rule of life by which he lived. We often remember people, and rightly so, for the work of their life. But that work is usually a fruit of their way of life.

Martin Luther King, Jr. and his rule of life:

  • Meditate daily on the teachings and life of Jesus.
  • Remember always that the nonviolent movement in Birmingham seeks justice and reconciliation, not victory.
  • Walk and talk in the manner of love, for God is love.
  • Pray daily to be used by God in order that all might be free.
  • Observe with both friend and foe the ordinary rules of courtesy.
  • Seek to perform regular service for others and the world.
  • Refrain from violence of fist, tongue, or heart.
  • Strive to be in good spiritual and bodily health.
  • Follow the directions of the movement and the captain of a demonstration. (from Marjorie Thompson’s Soul Feast (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1995, 2005, p. 148).

What convictions and practices guide your life day-by-day, week-by-week and month-by-month? How would you write such a rule of life for yourself in this new year?

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Repost from January 2011

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Psalm 73: Why Do Good People Have It So Bad?

15 01 2012

An edited journal excerpt from May 1991

“Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever

(Psalm 73:25-26).”

I find a lot of heart echoes in this psalm as I read it. It captures a lot of what has been happening in me.

Verse 2-12 describes a deep jealousy that Asaph was experiencing over the apparent prosperity of the without-God people around him. It looks to him like many of them have it easier and are doing better than the with-God people.

In verse 13-16, Asaph expresses his frustration, feeling like he has been wasting his time being faithful to God in his way of life. Trying to living in harmony with God’s will has left him where his life feels plagued. He feels punished for doing right. Why stay in relationship with God if this is the outcome? Thankfully, he realizes that he would betray his with-God community if he took action on these frustrated feelings. (vs. 15).

Asaph was overwhelmed by the hardness of his with-God life in the face of the apparent trouble-free ease of those who sniffed their nose at God. How will he gain some perspective? Where will he find wisdom? How will he make his way through such a place? When life doesn’t seem fair, when God’s good people suffer and wicked people seem to succeed, the only place to find perspective is in the presence of God (17). In God’s presence, I see with eternal eyes. I see those living in disregard of God in His presence as well, but not standing in His favor.

Like Asaph, I will feel grieved at heart and embittered in spirit (21) in the face of such temporary unfairness. I may respond to such hardship like a brute beast, ignorant and senseless (22).

I’m invited to remember the presence of God. I’m show that I am always with God and God is always with me. I am faithfully held on to in God’s gracious favor (23) and guided by perfect and wise direction (24a). My end, unlike the desperate end of the without-God one, is in the presence of God’s glory (24b).

Rather than letting my grief embitter me as I seek to remain in God in the hard places, I can recognize the lasting reality that only God can truly, deeply satisfy me to the depths of my being (25). The ways the world around me tries to satisfy the soul aren’t enough for me. This is a reality I must face and a choice I must make. My heart and my body may be weak, but God is my strength in all of this (26a). He is my portion—all that I need (26b). What is truly best for me is the simple nearness of God. (28). God is my refuge.

When I find myself in dry places, I often feel tempted to envy the what I see as a life of ease for others around me. God, help me remember that the dryness is helping me remember that nothing in creation is big enough to satisfy my soul. Being near You is my only source of true satisfaction. 

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Categories : Dark Night of the Soul, God's presence, praying scripture

Dealing with Stray Thoughts

13 01 2012

What do I do with anxious, lustful or other unwelcome thoughts that surface when I’m praying, or worshiping, or somehow trying to offer God my attention?

In Listening at Prayer (p. 78), Benedict Groeschel suggests that “By allowing the real issues of the interior life–our emotions, needs, conflicts, joys, and sorrows–to surface in His presence we may be able to make our Savior’s words operative in our own lives.” He reminds me of that as I “try to grasp one of these thoughts and look at it in the presence of Christ who seeks my sanctification more than I can ever imagine (77).”

He offers the specific illustration of fear: “Perhaps the distracting thought is a fear that has been troubling me. Silently I present it to my Savior, who overcame the fear of the Cross. I share my fear with him in silence…. In ways that human words are not able to express He reminds me that He once lived in this world, that He experienced these things Himself, or saw His friends and disciples struggle with them.”

Jesus, do you really understand my fears? Will you enable me to live above them in the powerful love of the Father that overcomes fear? I cannot overcome these deep struggles and conflicts alone. Only You can help me overcome them. As I am silent now in Your presence, I feel those fears rising above the surface before You. May I feel Your acceptance, Your forgiveness, Your empowering now.

When you encountered strangers, You saw them through eyes of love. Love empowered you to give something to the strangers you met. May I find the same resource operating in me. May Your love replace my fears and worries. There are still many places where there is much too much of me and not enough of You, Jesus.

I’m never more bold and courageous than when I remembering deeply that You are with me and for me. To Joshua You said, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go (1:9).” The only way that I can obey a command to “not be afraid” is by reflecting on and remembering the reality of Who God is and that He is actually with me. He has graciously come to my side. He is seeking my good and my progress. He desires to make me the best person I can be for His praise.

Thank You, Father. When I am afraid, it is a sure sign that there are some ways that I have failed to fully comprehend the reality of Your gracious presence with me. Help me to become more and more aware that You truly are with me. I am never alone. You are always with me. I do not need to fear because fear is not reflective of reality.

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Categories : God's presence, listening to God, Spiritual Direction

Prayer: God’s Transforming Presence

9 01 2012

Prayer is both the life of all lives, but also the death of everything that isn’t life. I find that a challenge because there are still so many ways I think of something as life that just isn’t. I read about this sort of wisdom in some of the older writers:

“…Augustine Baker can be understood when he speaks of the crisis situation into which genuine prayer plunges man and insists that the steady practice of prayer is the greatest mortification of all. He does not mean that prayer itself is the sacrifice. But that persistent prayer brings man into a situation where the presence of the living God will irradiate him and leave him no alternative but rebuild the room, or to break off the contemplation. Jean Grou has said, ‘The holy spirit will either control all of your actions or cease to govern your prayer,’ or the matter could be put still more bluntly in Russell Maltby’s words, ‘When we go into God’s presence, we must surrender.’” (Steere, Douglas. Work & Contemplation. New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 1957, p. 44).

If prayer is relationship with God, then living my life as prayer means continuing to linger in God’s presence. This will mean an exposure of that in me which is contrary to God, even opposed to God. Either that impulse will win and I will neglect the Presence, or I will bring that impulse into God’s loving, healing presence and He will win. And He’s a much more gracious Winner!

For reflection: What draws to you to prayer? What drives you away from prayer? Are you able to discern the source of these impulses and recognize the Spirit’s nudge? 


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Categories : A Good Word, Inner Life

The Divine Undoing

4 01 2012

Fifty years ago, a Quaker professor wrote these words about the busyness he witnessed in the churches of his day. They seem at least as true today:

“In religious circles we find today a fierce and almost violent planning and programming, a sense that without ceaseless activity nothing will ever be accomplished. How seldom it occurs to us that God has to undo and to do all over again so much of what we in our willfulness have pushed through in his name. How little there is in us of the silent and radiant strength in which the secret works of God really take place! How ready we are to speak, how loathe to listen, to sense the further dimension of what it is that we confront.” (Steere, Douglas V. Dimensions of Prayer. New York: Women’s Division of Christian Service, 1962, p. 4.)

In my work on this ‘unhurried time’ writing project, I continue to see evidence that our hurry, rather than getting more done, often gets the wrong thing done, and a whole lot of it. Christ followers learn to slow down enough to listen well to the Master and what it is that He actually wants.

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2011 in review

31 12 2011

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 22,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 8 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

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