?Rest content with the knowledge that [Christ] is His own Person, and with the Father and the Holy Spirit, is in your soul, substantially, really, literally; that He does everything you do with you, from the humblest duties to the highest. Your whole devotional life should consist in this companionship, accepted without ceremony, without intellectual […]
The Ides of Lent
Late last week, we reached the midpoint of the Lenten season. Traditionally, we think of Lent as 40 days, but it?s actually 46 days from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday. I took a moment yesterday morning to journal my experience of Lent this year at the halfway point?the ?ides.? (In the Roman calendars, the ?ides? […]
Interruptions
?My whole life I have been complaining that my work was constantly interrupted,? Henri Nouwen said near the end of his life, ?until I discovered the interruptions were my work.?? (Buchanan, Mark. The Rest of God: Restoring Your Soul by Restoring Sabbath. Nashville: W Publishing Group, 2006, p. 79.) Buchanan gets to the heart of […]
Find Healing in Jesus
Go wash your hands. Did you use the anti-bacterial soap??Take off your shoes, you?ll track mud in the house. Most of us care about being clean. Clean is good. Clean is healthy. But what if you couldn?t get clean? Not just your house, but your body?your self. What if you suffered from a condition that […]
Relating to God Through Scripture
I?ve mentioned before how much help I?ve found in the writings of Eugene Peterson. I came across this good word about how we might relate to God through the scriptures: ?Paul’s relation to the Scriptures was not as a student finding out what was there but as a disciple who is living the text. Paul, […]
What If I Don’t Feel Like It?
One arena of spiritual experience that the classic ministry of spiritual direction often speaks to is the loss of the felt experience of God. I?ve continued to appreciate the wise counsel of Abb? de Tourville here: ?Consolations and sensible desire are only means for training the will and forming permanent habits. As soon as the […]
Spiritual Direction: Coming Alongside
Our little group of pilgrims was standing on the mainland of England, peering out across the bay to Lindisfarne, Holy Island. ?Stuck in the muddied bay were a dozen tall poles. Our guide told us those were ?way markers? placed centuries ago by previous pilgrims; they mark the safe passage toward the island. To me […]
