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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The Real Value of Relationships

20 07 2011

I was again reviewing some of my reading from the recent past and came across these insights from Kosuke Koyama’s book Three Mile An Hour God. I’ve posted other insights from him here in “Unhurried: Is Jesus Too Slow?” and “Living Life at the Pace of Love.” I think you’ll appreciate what he has to say here about the real costs of technology and the real value of human relationships:

“Our technological resourcefulness is making our life expensive and lonely. Technology is ambiguous. It can enrich and impoverish our life. Technology is like fire; it can cook rice for our enjoyment and nutrition and it can also reduce our house to ashes.

Can we bring about an inexpensive yet resourceful life style? One way—perhaps the only way—to do this would be to cultivate, increase and deepen human relationship. Human relationship is inexpensive yet resourceful. This is grace indeed. The biblical God is the God of a covenant relationship with man. This means that the whole biblical teaching is rooted in relationship. Money has ultimate meaning only if it enhances human relationship. The salvation the Bible is talking about is ‘inexpensive yet resourceful’. If salvation is expensive in terms of hard-cash, then something is wrong with that kind of salvation.” (p. 121.)

“For Peter ‘I have no silver and gold’ means ‘I always look at silver and gold under the overwhelming sense of gratitude to God’. Or ‘what God has provided is abundant for me. I have no need for more. And I say this joyously’. This is the apostolic secret. ‘I have no silver and gold’ he said. Yet he healed the man. The secret of Peter is ‘gratitude’ and ‘Jesus’. These two combined bring healing, hope and resurrection.” (p. 141.)

(A repost from February 2010)


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Categories : relationships, Unhurried

Why Go On Retreats?

15 05 2011

[Update from the Dominican Republic. I arrived Friday afternoon and stayed the night at the home of a leader who will be in Journey Gen 1 here. He spoke no English. I'm useless with Spanish. It was a comedic conversation of one word efforts and lots of half-baked sign language! Today, we visited the Young Life camp here in Jarabacoa where we will host the Journey. It's beautiful. I'll try to post a picture or two here, perhaps after the retreat. Again, thank you for your prayers. And...I'm missing my youngest son, Christopher, who turns 13 today).

I recently read a book on the theme of retreats and came across this explanation of what a retreat can do for us:

“A retreat is, more than anything else, a time and space set apart in which to be very intentional about one’s relationship with God. It is a time not to do, but rather to be—to encounter God. It is a spiritual stock-taking: William Lonergan, in Laymen’s Retreats Explained, has written of the retreat experience as withdrawal from ordinary life, that by thought and prayer and under the expert guidance of a competent master, a man may reconsider the purpose of life here on earth, plan to employ such means as will make that end more secure, and strengthen his will to abide by those plans. (p.25)

If we can extrapolate from Lonergan’s noninclusive language (his book was published in 1930), we can see that there are three components to the spiritual task of the retreat: perspective (through withdrawal from ordinary activities), peace (a sense of who one is in relationship to God), and power (a plan through which one hopes to make changes in one’s life).” (Angell, Jeannette L. All Ground is Holy. Harrisburg: Morehouse Publishing, 1993, p. 16, emphasis mine.)

Perspective. Peace. Power. These have proven to be among the many fruits of regular spiritual retreat. If you haven’t taken a retreat recently, I’d encourage you to consider it.

(A repost from May 2010)

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Categories : A Good Word, Looking Back, Retreat

Good News of a Great Joy

25 12 2010

1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to their own town to register.

4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

Luke 2:1-14 NIV

 

May you sense the coming of Christ into your lives this day as you celebrate His coming into this world as a child more than two thousand years ago. May the Spirit of Christ fill your hearts as you celebrate Him and declare His glory into the highest of heavens. May you experience Christ’s peace graciously resting on you throughout this day! Amen.

 


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So Why Retreats?

15 05 2010

Today I’m leading another “An Unhurried Day with Jesus” retreat in Irvine, CA. I recently read a book on the theme of retreats and came across this explanation of what a retreat can do for us:

“A retreat is, more than anything else, a time and space set apart in which to be very intentional about one’s relationship with God. It is a time not to do, but rather to be—to encounter God. It is a spiritual stock-taking: William Lonergan, in Laymen’s Retreats Explained, has written of the retreat experience as

withdrawal from ordinary life, that by thought and prayer and under the expert guidance of a competent master, a man may reconsider the purpose of life here on earth, plan to employ such means as will make that end more secure, and strengthen his will to abide by those plans. (p.25)

If we can extrapolate from Lonergan’s noninclusive language (his book was published in 1930), we can see that there are three components to the spiritual task of the retreat: perspective (through withdrawal from ordinary activities), peace (a sense of who one is in relationship to God), and power (a plan through which one hopes to make changes in one’s life).” (Angell, Jeannette L. All Ground is Holy. Harrisburg: Morehouse Publishing, 1993, p. 16.)

Perspective. Peace. Power. These have proven to be among the many fruits of regular spiritual retreat. If you haven’t taken a retreat recently, I’d encourage you to consider it.

Buy a copy of All Ground Is Holy: A Guide to the Christian Retreat on Amazon.com

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Categories : “An Unhurried Day with Jesus”, power, purpose, Retreat, space for God, Uncategorized

The Real Value of Relationships

25 02 2010

I was again reviewing some of my reading from the recent past and came across these insights from Kosuke Koyama’s book Three Mile An Hour God. I’ve posted other insights from him here in “Unhurried: Is Jesus Too Slow?” and “Living Life at the Pace of Love.” I think you’ll appreciate what he has to say here about the real costs of technology and the real value of human relationships:

“Our technological resourcefulness is making our life expensive and lonely. Technology is ambiguous. It can enrich and impoverish our life. Technology is like fire; it can cook rice for our enjoyment and nutrition and it can also reduce our house to ashes.

Can we bring about an inexpensive yet resourceful life style? One way—perhaps the only way—to do this would be to cultivate, increase and deepen human relationship. Human relationship is inexpensive yet resourceful. This is grace indeed. The biblical God is the God of a covenant relationship with man. This means that the whole biblical teaching is rooted in relationship. Money has ultimate meaning only if it enhances human relationship. The salvation the Bible is talking about is ‘inexpensive yet resourceful’. If salvation is expensive in terms of hard-cash, then something is wrong with that kind of salvation.” (p. 121.)

“For Peter ‘I have no silver and gold’ means ‘I always look at silver and gold under the overwhelming sense of gratitude to God’. Or ‘what God has provided is abundant for me. I have no need for more. And I say this joyously’. This is the apostolic secret. ‘I have no silver and gold’ he said. Yet he healed the man. The secret of Peter is ‘gratitude’ and ‘Jesus’. These two combined bring healing, hope and resurrection.” (p. 141.)

Buy a copy of Three Mile an Hour God: Biblical Reflections on Amazon.com


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Categories : love, relationships, rich towards God, space for God, Unhurried

Classic Spiritual Counsel for Anxiety

31 01 2010

I love reading classic letters of spiritual direction. The quotation below is a piece of classic counsel for “nerves” (which, I think, would probably correspond to what we would call “anxiety” today).

“Personally I believe that the cure for nerves is an attempt at contemplation. I hope this does not sound absurd. But it seems to me that the one thing that does cure that maddening soreness of spirit that we call nerves is to sit still, in body, mind, and soul, and exclude every thought but that of God as He is in Himself. But it is foolish to say all this…. Perhaps too you have not much time to sit still bodily. I do think, however, that the remedy lies in that immense effort of cessation of effort. I wonder whether you ever take attributes of God, and set them before you, excluding everything else: saying the word-e.g. PEACE; over and over again-and then imaging it in a quiet sea, a space in air, a summer garden, and so on….” (R. Hugh Benson. Spiritual Letters of Monsignor R. Hugh Benson to One of His Converts. London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1919, pp. 95-96.)

Being still like this isn’t easy, but when I am feeling fearful, anxious or just nervous, being still and remembering God in the simple way Benson suggests actually helps. You might try it.


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Completely Relaxed With God

20 01 2010

One of the continuing challenges of my spiritual journey is to always begin with God and not with myself. This comes in many sneaky ways. When I pray, I’m coming first to listen, then to speak my heart and mind. When I come to the scriptures, I come to listen. What are You saying to me, Father?

One scripture, for example, that really helped me recently is Isaiah 26:3-4…

You will keep in perfect peace
those whose minds are steadfast,
because they trust in you.
Trust in the LORD forever,
for the LORD, the LORD, is the Rock eternal.

Perfect. Steadfast. Forever. Eternal. These are solid, lasting words. Is it possible for me to be completely relaxed with God through Christ? I hope to keep growing in my confident reliance on God’s trustworthy love.

The Message blurs the Isaiah 26 lines some:

People with their minds set on you,
you keep completely whole,
Steady on their feet,
because they keep at it and don’t quit.
Depend on God and keep at it
because in the Lord God you have a sure thing.

There is perfect peace when my attention is steadfastly fixed on You, Lord. When my attention veers from a focus on You to a lingering in my own thoughts, that’s usually not a good path. Anxiety lies there. Fear. Pride. Discouragement. Whatever isn’t from God.

How might you enjoy a more God-focused day today?


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Categories : scripture reflection, Unhurried, with-God life


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