Author Archives: Bill Britton

Daily Riches: Start Somewhere (Toby Mac, Katherine Anne Porter and Heidi Baker)

Posted on by under Forgiveness, Loving Well, The Love of God

“Last night, everything was movin’ so fast

I could barely keep track
of my offenses or your defenses.
In hindsight, I woulda, coulda, shoulda not gone there
But left without a word to spare.
Was it your offenses or my defensiveness?

That’s got me thinkin’ that we’re never gonna get it right.
I wanna straighten this before the sun goes down tonight.
If I could only fight the bitterness I feel inside.
This thing is eatin’ me alive.

Well I’m right here
And you’re right there
And God knows we’ve got to start somewhere.
‘Cause I’m messed up
And you’re broken
And those shots we fired are still smokin’.

I’m tossin’ and turnin’ on the things I’d undo.
As I wrestle with the painful truth
my sleep escapes me as guilt berates me.
Exhausted, the memories are drawing so near
I can see it like a world premiere.
When did my objective lose all objectiveness?

I said some things that I regret
And if I could, I’d take ’em back.
If I could turn my words around
You wouldn’t hear a sound.

But here I am, and there you are,
The space between us is not so far.
I’m reaching out my hand in love,
Before the fading sun,
forgive me for what I’ve done.
“Start Somewhere”,  Toby Mac

“Love must be learned and learned again and again.
Hate needs no instruction, but waits only to be provoked.”
Katherine Anne Porter

“Ministry is simply about loving the person in front of you.
It’s about stopping for the one
and being the very fragrance of Jesus to a lost and dying world.”
Heidi Baker

.
“… love covers over a multitude of sins.”
1 Peter 4:8

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Do you find love something that must be “learned and learned again and again” – either in marriage and/or in your relationship with God? If so, why?
  • Do you have a sense of being “messed up and broken?” Of relational regret? Of needing forgiveness?
  • There’s no telling about your spouse, but God is definitely waiting for you to drop your defensiveness, to “start somewhere”, to “reach out your hand in love.” Can you do that now?

Abba, in your love, cover my many sins, and may I be quick to love others in that same way.

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For More: The Necessary Enemy by Katherine Anne Porter

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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek after God and he seeks after you. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it. My goal is to share something of unique value with you daily in 400 words or less. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

“I practice daily what I believe; everything else is religious talk.”

Daily Riches: The Sacrament of the Present Moment (Edwina Gateley, Evelyn Underhill and Julian of Norwich) *

Posted on by under Awareness, Mindfulness, The Sacrament of the Present Moment

“This is my prayer—

That, though I may not see,
I be aware
Of the Silent God
Who stands by me.
That, though I may not feel,
I be aware
Of the Mighty Love
Which doggedly follows me.
That, though I may not respond,
I be aware
That God—my Silent, Mighty God,
Waits each day.
Quietly, hopefully, persistently.
Waits each day and through each night
For me.
For me—alone.”
Edwina Gateley, “Silent God”

“God is always coming to you in the Sacrament of the Present Moment.
Meet and receive Him there with gratitude in that sacrament.”
Evelyn Underhill

“…God wishes to be seen, and he wishes to be sought, and he wishes to be expected, and he wishes to be trusted.” Julian of Norwich

“Where can I go from your Spirit?
 Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.”
Psalm 139:7-10

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • There is a “Silent God who stands by” you, and a “Mighty Love which doggedly follows” you. What emotions arise in your soul when you let that sink in?
  • In his infinity and ubiquity, God is able to “wait each day, quietly, hopefully, persistently …each day and through each night …For me–alone” – and at the same time for you, and for every person made in God’s image. How are you responding to God’s waiting hopefully, quietly – persistently for you?
  • Do you really believe that “God is always coming to you in the … present moment?” Can you focus, not on the past or the future, but on being present to God in this moment now, and as this day unfolds, through the moments of the day as they succeed each other?

Abba, help me learn to structure my days so that I return again and again to these life-giving concepts. And thank you for your nearness, your persistence, your dogged, unfailing love. Thank you that you hold me fast.

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For More: There Was No Path So I Trod One by Edwina Gateley

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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek after God and he seeks after you. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it. My goal is to share something of unique value with you daily in 400 words or less. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

“I practice daily what I believe; everything else is religious talk.”

Daily Riches: Love Begins With Not Judging Others (Henri Nouwen, Ram Dass, Thomas Merton and Jean Vanier) *

Posted on by under Change Yourself First, Humility, Loving Well

“When you go out into the woods and you look at trees, you see all these different trees. And some of them are bent, and some of them are straight ….And you look at the tree and you allow it. …You sort of understand that it didn’t get enough light, and so it turned that way. And you don’t get all emotional about it. You just allow it. You appreciate the tree. The minute you get near humans, you lose all that. And you are constantly saying ‘You’re too this, or I’m too this.’ That judging mind comes in. And so I practice turning people into trees. Which means appreciating them just the way they are.” Ram Dass20131018_164446

“We spend an enormous amount of energy making up our minds about other people. Not a day goes by without somebody doing or saying something that evokes in us the need to form an opinion about him or her. We hear a lot, see a lot, and know a lot. The feeling that we have to sort it all out in our minds and make judgments about it can be quite oppressive. The desert fathers said that judging others is a heavy burden, while being judged by others is a light one. Once we can let go of our need to judge others, we will experience an immense inner freedom. Once we are free from judging, we will be also free for mercy.” Henri Nouwen

“The beginning of love is the will to let those we love be perfectly themselves, the resolution not to twist them to fit our own image.” Thomas Merton

“To love someone is … to reveal to them their beauty and value, to say, ‘You’re beautiful. You’re important.'” Jean Vanier

“Or how can you say to your brother, Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’
when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye?” – Jesus

Moving From Head to Heart

  • God’s job is to judge, and ours is to love. Can you leave the judging to God? could that free you to love? free you “for mercy?”
  • Can you start by letting others be “perfectly themselves?” If not, why not?
  • How effective are you at revealing to others that they’re “beautiful … important?”

Abba, help me love well by appreciating instead of evaluating.

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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek after God and he seeks after you. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it. My goal is to share something of unique value with you daily in 400 words or less. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

“I practice daily what I believe; everything else is religious talk.”

 

Daily Riches: The Upside-Down Kingdom (Pete Scazzero, Tertullian) *

Posted on by under Downward Mobility, The Upside-Down Kingdom

“Here’s the way God’s kingdom works: it’s ‘lose your life, and you’ll find it.’ It’s ‘the last will be first, and the first will be last.’ It’s ‘life comes out of death, new beginnings out of endings.’ The kingdom of God is ‘in giving we receive.’ It’s ‘when we rest God works.’ It’s ‘weakness is the way to power.’ …It’s ‘the humble who will be exalted, it’s those who exalt themselves – they’re going to be humbled.’ In fact, the meek are going to inherit the earth. It’s the broken, it’s the meek, it’s power under control – in fact God has chosen the poor to be rich in faith (James 2). God’s kingdom is small, it’s little. Jesus said it’s like a mustard seed. You can barely see it. It’s imperceptible.  …It’s the weakest and the least among us. God says, ‘There’s my kingdom. They’re indispensable to our whole existence. The kingdom of God identifies with the unimpressive, the insignificant, the orphan, the widow, the elderly, the poor, the sick – these are the ones, these are what you’re all about.’ … We want ‘God’s dream’ [His kingdom], but we don’t want this! And we end up running after the wrong things.”   Pete Scazzero

“…[A]s it is with God himself, a particular respect  is shown [among Christians] to the lowly” Tertullian
“No king is saved by the size of his army;
no warrior escapes by his great strength.
A horse is a vain hope for deliverance;
despite all its great strength it cannot save.
But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him,
on those whose hope is in his unfailing love
…he is our help and our shield.”
Psalm 33:16-20 

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Jesus’s Kingdom values aren’t the values of our world. Are they increasingly your values, or are you “running after the wrong things?”
  • Do you have others that share these counter-cultural, counter-intuitive values with you, so you can encourage one another on the spiritual journey?
  • When you go to church, are you taught to embrace these values? If you have a ministry, do they inform it?

Abba, help me more and more to see through the constant noise and nonsense of this world for what it is.

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For More: Thy Kingdom Come (podcast) by Pete Scazzero

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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek after God and he seeks after you. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it. My goal is to share something of unique value with you daily in 400 words or less. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

“I practice daily what I believe; everything else is religious talk.”

Daily Riches: Alone with God (E. M. Bounds, Simone Weil, Vincent de Paul, and Brennan Manning) *

Posted on by under Being the Beloved, Busyness, devotions, Hurry Sickness, Prayer, Silence, Solitude, Waiting on God

“God’s acquaintance is not made hurriedly. He does not bestow His gifts on the casual or hasty comer and goer. To be much alone with God is the secret of knowing Him and of influence with Him.” E. M. Bounds

“He who hurries, delays the things of God.” Vincent de Paul

“Waiting patiently in expectation is the foundation of the spiritual life.” Simone Weil

[comparing contemplative prayer and water poured into a basin] “It takes time for the water to settle. Coming to interior stillness requires waiting. …In solitary silence we listen with great attentiveness to the voice that calls us the beloved. God speaks to the deepest strata of our souls, into our self-hatred and shame, our narcissism, and takes us through the night into the daylight of His truth….” Brennan Manning

“Let all that I am wait quietly before God,
for my hope is in him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress where I will not be shaken.”
Psalm 62:5,6

Moving From Head to Heart

  • Could hurry in your life be working against or “delaying the things of God?” In his love for you, could God have you in a holding pattern so that you learn “the foundation of the spiritual life?”
  • If “interior stillness requires waiting”, then time alone with God must be unhurried. In your time with God, are you taking enough time for the “water to settle?”
  • When you “wait quietly before God”, do you have a sense of confident “expectation?” If not, why not, when this is clearly what, in God’s love, he wants for you?
  • When we wait, we make room for God to be God – in our lives, our situation, in the lives of others. Are you leaving room for God to be God in your life?

Abba, I don’t want to hurry through my days, or in time spent with you. Help me to wait well before you, and then in my days – for answers to prayer, for solutions, for others to change – and for change in me.

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For More: Power Through Prayer by E. M. Bounds

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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek after God and he seeks after you. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it. My goal is to share something of unique value with you daily in 400 words or less. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

“I practice daily what I believe; everything else is religious talk.”

 

 

 

Daily Riches: The Constant Purification of Motives (Richard Rohr) *

Posted on by under applause, approval addiction, Ego Issues, Obscurity and Secrecy

“Jesus tells us to give alms, and fast, and pray secretly…. These are the three religious disciplines honored by most historical religions. Whenever you perform a religious action publicly, it enhances your image as a good, moral person and has a strong social payoff. Jesus’ constant emphasis is on interior religiosity, on purifying motivation and intention. He tells us to clean the inside of the dish instead of being so preoccupied with cleaning the outside, with looking good (Matthew 23:25-26). The purifying of our intention and motivation is the basic way that we unite our inner and our outer worlds. (Please read that twice!) All through the spiritual journey, we should be asking ourselves, ‘Why am I doing this? Am I really doing this for God, for truth, or for others? Or am I doing it for hidden reasons?’ The spiritual journey could be seen as a constant purification of motive until I can finally say, ‘I have no other reason to do anything except love of God and love of neighbor. And I don’t even need people to know this.'” Richard Rohr

” … and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” Matthew 6:18

Moving From Head to Heart

  • Are you “preoccupied with looking good” at church? If so, why? Are you as good as you look? Do you feel free to be transparent?
  • Do you ask, “Why am I doing this?” Are you aware of your ego’s need for a “strong social payoff?” of your “hidden reasons?” Becoming aware is the first step to uniting your inner and outer worlds.
  • Sometimes I think, “I hope someone will share this about me at my funeral.” I don’t mind if it’s a secret until then – after all, I want to be (and be known!) as a modest person. I don’t feel the need to advertise what few things might make me look good … but, I do want credit, even if I’m dead! Is it just me, or can you relate?

Abba, I admit I want credit. I admit I want to be admired. I admit that, even though your approval should be everything, I seem to need more. Help me to focus less on what others think of me and more on what others need from me.

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For More: Francis: Subverting the Honor/Shame System [CD] by Richard Rohr

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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek after God and he seeks after you. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it. My goal is to share something of unique value with you daily in 400 words or less. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

“I practice daily what I believe; everything else is religious talk.”

Daily Riches: Shove Back the High Anxiety (C. S. Lewis and Edna St. Vincent Milay)

Posted on by under "Being" with Jesus, Contemplative Prayer, Daily Office, devotions, fixed-time prayers, Self-care, Spiritual Disciplines

“The the real problem of the Christian life comes where people do not usually look for it. It comes the very moment you wake up each morning. All your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists simply in shoving them all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other, larger, stronger life come flowing in. And so on, all day. Standing back from all your natural fussings and frettings; coming in out of the wind.” C. S. Lewis

“The world stands out on either side
No wider than the heart is wide;
Above the world is stretched the sky,
No higher than the soul is high.
The heart can push the sea and land
Farther away on either hand;
The soul can split the sky in two,
And let the face of God shine through.
But East and West will pinch the heart
That can not keep them pushed apart;
And he whose soul is flat — the sky
Will cave in on him by and by.”
Edna St. Vincent Milay

“As for me, I call to God,
and Yahweh saves me.
Evening, morning and noon
I cry out in distress,
and he hears my voice.
Psalm 55:16-17

Moving From Head to Heart

  • Is it a “real problem” not to start each day by shoving back “all your wishes and hopes for the day?” Has your conviction led to a regular practice?
  • If you “hit the ground running” in the morning, do you have another way of ensuring that you let “that other, larger, stronger life come flowing in?” that you hear “that other voice?” What is it?
  • Lewis says we need to “stand back” from all our natural “fussings and frettings” – we need to “come in out of the wind” – and he means “all day.” Fixed-time prayer through the day is helpful in this regard, since it can involve “shoving back” the anxiety repeatedly as the day unfolds. It’s a constant battle to prevent the world from “pinching your heart.” (Milay) If you’re not praying at fixed times each day, why not try it for a week? Give God an opening and see what He does.

Abba, give me a soul that can withstand the pressures of the world.

__________

For More: Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis

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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek after God and he seeks after you. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it. My goal is to share something of unique value with you daily in 400 words or less. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

“I practice daily what I believe; everything else is religious talk.”

 

Daily Riches: Weariness of Soul (Christina Rossetti, Wendell Berry, Thomas Aquinas and Rainer Maria Rilke) *

Posted on by under Being and Doing, Busyness, Hurry Sickness, Sabbath Rhythms, Self-care

“O Lord, who art as the Shadow of a great Rock in a weary land,

who beholds Your weak creatures
weary of labor,
weary of pleasure,
weary of hope deferred,
weary of self;
in Your abundant compassion, and unutterable tenderness,
bring us, I pray You, into Your rest. Amen.”
Christina Rossetti

“The mind that comes to rest is tended
In ways that it cannot intend:
Is borne, preserved, and comprehended
By what it cannot comprehend.
Your Sabbath, Lord, thus keeps us by
Your will, not ours. As it is fit
Our only choice should be to die
Into that rest, or out of it.”
Wendell Berry

“Grant to me, above all things that can be desired, to rest in You,
and in You to have my heart at peace.
You are the true peace of the heart, You are its only rest;
outside of You all things are hard and restless.
In this very peace, that is, in You, the one Chiefest Eternal Good,
I will sleep and rest. Amen.”
Thomas Aquinas

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am gentle and humble in heart,
and you will find rest for your souls.”  
Jesus in Matthew 11:28-29

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Are you  “weary of labor, weary of pleasure, weary of hope deferred, weary of self?” Are you simply profoundly weary in your very soul?
  • Have you found “rest for your soul” – or are you simply gritting your teeth and “doing what has to be done” – and asking God to bless?
  • Can you allow yourself to “die into that rest” that Jesus offers and then live out of it? Can you “learn from” him how to rest? What would that mean for you?

May what I do flow from me like a river, no forcing and no holding back. – Rainer Maria Rilke

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For More: This Day: New and Collected Sabbath Poems 1979-2012 by Wendell Berry

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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek after God and he seeks after you. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it. My goal is to share something of unique value with you daily in 400 words or less. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

“I practice daily what I believe; everything else is religious talk.”

Daily Riches: Praying for Discomfort, Anger & Tears *

Posted on by under Prayer, Social Justice, The Poor and Disenfranchised

“May God bless us with discomfort
At easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships
So that we may live deep within our hearts.
May God bless us with anger
At injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people
So that we may work for justice, freedom, and peace.
May God bless us with tears
To shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger and war,
So that we may reach out our hands to comfort them and turn their pain into joy.
And may God bless us with enough foolishness
To believe that we can make a difference in the world.
So that we can do what others claim cannot be done:
To bring justice and kindness to all our children
and all our neighbors who are poor. Amen.”
– A Franciscan Benediction

“ … the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to [Jesus].
Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.
Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down.
The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him.
He began by saying to them,
‘Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.’”
– Jesus, in his inaugural address

Moving From the Head to The Heart

  • Do you ever think of “discomfort, anger, tears and foolishness” as things to ask from God? Is it important to you that oppressed and exploited people be helped? Can you take a moment to ask God what, if anything, he wants you to do, when it comes to the injustice in our world?
  • Have you accepted the idea that it’s impossible to “make a difference in the world?”
  • Does your faith allow you to pray a prayer like the one above? Does it constrain you to?

Abba, what is it I can do about injustice in my world?

For More: Generous Justice by Tim Keller

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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek after God and he seeks after you. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it. My goal is to share something of unique value with you daily in 400 words or less. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

“I practice daily what I believe; everything else is religious talk.”

Daily Riches: Thirst Quenched, Thirst Increased (A. W. Tozer and Edna St. Vincent Millay) *

Posted on by under God's Grace, Prayer, The Love of God

“O God, I have tasted Your goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of my need of further grace. I am ashamed of my lack of desire. O God, the Triune God, I want to want You; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more thirsty still. Show me Your glory, I pray, so I may know You indeed. Begin in mercy a new work of love within me. Say to my soul, ‘Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.’ Then give me grace to rise and follow You up from this misty lowland where I have wandered so long. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”  A. W. Tozer

 “I drank at every vine  The last was like the first.
I came upon no wine   So wonderful as thirst.
I gnawed at every root.   I ate of every plant.
I came upon no fruit   So wonderful as want.
Feed the grape and bean To the vintner and monger;
I will lay down lean With my thirst and my hunger.”
Edna St. Vincent Millay

“O God, you are my God;
I earnestly search for you.
My soul thirsts for you;
my whole body longs for you
in this parched and weary land
where there is no water.”
Psalm 63:1-3

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Whose words resonate most with you, those of Tozer, Millay, or King David? Why is that?
  • We all like having our longings satisfied. Can you think of a thirst that isn’t immediately satisfied (or satisfied in this life) as a good thing?
  • Only Gods’ grace both satisfies our thirst for Him and creates in us a deeper thirst for him. He must do this for us, and does it in his love. Can you ask God now to do a “new work” in you? upsetting your status quo? replacing what may be a sense of satisfaction with unease and deep thirst instead?

Abba, I too am painfully conscious, not only of past time spent wandering (but not wasted) in the lowlands, but also of present time characterized by lack of truly deep thirst for you. Perhaps I’m even frightened, not knowing what to expect. Help me to trust your love and welcome the work of your grace in my soul.

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For More: The Pursuit of God by A. W. Tozer

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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek after God and he seeks after you. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it. My goal is to share something of unique value with you daily in 400 words or less. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

“I practice daily what I believe; everything else is religious talk.”

Daily Riches: Silence – The Most Pleasing Sacrifice (Rozanne Elder, Thomas Merton, Richard Foster and Friedrich Nietzsche) *

Posted on by under Contemplative Prayer, Loving Listening, Prayer, Silence

“When we are quiet and alone, we fear that something will be whispered in our ears, and so we hate the quiet, and dull our senses in society.”  Friedrich Nietzsche

“Silence means a void, a dreadful emptiness that demands to be filled. What we choose to fill that void with most often produces, not only noise, but agitation through over-simulation. Sensory overload is addictive. It becomes an escape from the present, from the self, from God. Like any addiction, it is pathological and life-threatening. …Prayer uttered out of the deepest longing for God, however, demands silence.” Rozanne Elder

“The soul is offered to Him when it is entirely attentive to Him. My silence which takes me away from all other things, is therefore the sacrifice of all things and the offering of my soul to God. It is therefore my most pleasing sacrifice.”  Thomas Merton

“Yahweh will destroy Babylon;
he will silence her noisy din.”
Jeremiah 51:55

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Without silent patches in our days, we become “dull” to the present, self, and God. Has sensory overload created a pathological dullness in your life?
  • Have you tried to make yourself “entirely attentive to God” – not asking or confessing or meditating, but simply “offering your soul to God” – wordlessly attending to Him? silently resting in his loving arms? quietly returning his gaze, his love?
  • When we take time to sit silently we hear disturbing things “whispered in our ears.” Can you press through this in your pursuit of intimacy with God?

I have, O Lord, a noisy heart. And entering outward silence doesn’t stop the inner clamor. In fact, it seems only to make it worse. When I am full of activity, the internal noise is only a distant rumble; but when I get still, the rumble amplifies itself. And it is not like the majestic sound of symphony rising to a grand crescendo; rather it is the deafening din of clashing pots and clanging pans. …Worst of all, I feel helpless to hush the interior pandemonium. Dear Lord, Jesus, once you spoke peace to the wind and the wave. Speak your shalom over my heart. I wait silently…patiently. I receive into the very core of my being your loving command, “Peace, be still.”  Richard Foster

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For More: The Contemplative Path by Rozanne Elder

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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek after God and he seeks after you. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it. My goal is to share something of unique value with you daily in 400 words or less. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

“I practice daily what I believe; everything else is religious talk.”

 

 

Daily Riches: “Don’t Just Do Something, Stand There” (Philip Simmons, Robert Barron, and Eugene Peterson)

Posted on by under awe and wonder, Hurry Sickness, Rest and Relaxation, Silence, Simplicity, Stillness, The Sacrament of the Present Moment

“… our busyness—whether of body or of mind—is often a distraction, a way of avoiding others, avoiding intimacy, avoiding ourselves. We keep busy to push back our fears, our loneliness, our self-doubt, our questions about purposes and ends. We want to know we matter, we want to know our lives are worthwhile. And when we’re not sure, we work that much harder, we worry that much more. In the face of our uncertainty, we keep busy.  …What is it, then, that restores us to a better version of ourselves, that returns us to our firm sense of goodness—both our own and the world’s? Perhaps it’s a question of grace: a reflected sunset flares in the windows of a skyscraper, a sheet of newspaper takes flight down an empty street, and suddenly we find ourselves in a world made luminous with wonder. … And so it is: the world itself can call us out of our preoccupations, our worries, our lists and agendas. In such moments our attention is arrested, quite literally stopped, and the world seems to say to us: “Don’t just do something, stand there.”  Philip Simmons

“It is a commonplace of the spiritual masters that the deepest part of the soul likes to go slow, since it seeks to savor rather than to accomplish; it wants to rest in and contemplate the good rather than to hurry off to another place.” Robert Barron

“When we are noisy and when we are hurried, we are incapable of intimacy–deep, personal, complex relationships. …like children lost in the woods, the more lost we feel, the faster we run.” Eugene Peterson

“Do not be afraid, little flock,
for your Father has been pleased
to give you the kingdom.”
Jesus in Luke 12:32

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Are you able to do nothing, to just “stand there” rather than “hurry off to another place?”
  • If you’re always rushing, can you begin to ask God to show you why that is?
  • Does your pace of life allow for “deep, personal, complex relationships?” for awe?

Abba, help me understand the worry and hurry that drives me. Help me stop for wonder. Restore me to a better version of myself.

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*For More: Learning to Fall: The Blessings of an Imperfect Life by Philip Simmons

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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek after God and he seeks after you. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it. My goal is to share something of unique value with you daily in 400 words or less. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

“I practice daily what I believe; everything else is religious talk.”

 

 

Daily Riches: When You’re “Disappearing” (David Whyte, Hafiz, Matthew Fox, Flannery O’Connor, Teresa of Avila) *

Posted on by under Being the Beloved, Downward Mobility, Embracing Losses and Limits, Spiritual Formation, Suffering and Grace, The Love of God

“It might be liberating for us to think of our onward life being informed as much by our losses and disappearances as by our gifted and virtuoso appearances and our marvelous arrivals. As if the foundational invitation being made to us at the core of our continual living and dying is an invitation to participate in the full seasonality of existence. Not just to feel fully here and fully justified in those haloed times when we are growing and becoming, and seen to be becoming, but also, to be just as present and to feel just as much here when we are in the difficult act of disappearing, often against our wills, making way often, for something we cannot as yet comprehend. The great and ancient art form and its daily practice; of living the full seasonal round of life; and a touchstone perhaps, of the ultimate form of human generosity: continually giving ourselves away to see how and in what form we are given back.” David Whyte in “Thoughts from San Miguel de Allende”

“Soul is our appetite, driving us to eat from the banquet of life. People filled with the hunger of soul take food from every dish before them, whether it be sweet or bitter.” Matthew Fox

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Tired of Speaking Sweetly
“Love wants to reach out and manhandle us,
Break all our teacup-talk of God.
If you had the courage and
Could give the Beloved His choice, some nights,
He would just drag you around the room by your hair,
Ripping from your grip all those toys in the world
That bring you no joy.”
~ Hafiz

“If you cling to your life, you will lose it,
and if you let your life go, you will save it.”
Jesus in Luke 17:33

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Are you continually “living and dying?” Do you hear the “foundational invitation” that comes to you there?
  • Have losses and limits (perhaps aging) taught you about “disappearing?” about accepting something against your will? in a situation where you do not “comprehend?”
  • Can you explain what the words of Whyte, Hafiz, Fox, O’Connor and Jesus – perhaps all in unison – mean for your life?

“If I have you God, I will want for nothing. You alone suffice.”* Abba, work in me to make this my truth.

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*For More: Let Nothing Disturb You by Teresa of Avila

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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek after God and he seeks after you. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it. My goal is to share something of unique value with you daily in 400 words or less. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

“I practice daily what I believe; everything else is religious talk.”

 

Daily Riches: Death and the Great Physician (John Donne and Philip Yancey) *

Posted on by under Death Daily, Embracing Losses and Limits

“Our last day is our first day; our Saturday is our Sunday; our eve is our holy day; our sunsetting is our morning; the day of our death is the first day of our eternal life. The next day after that … comes that day that shall show me to myself. Here I never saw myself but in disguises; there, then, I shall see myself, but I shall see God too…. Here I have one faculty enlightened, and another left in darkness; mine understanding sometimes cleared, my will at the same time perverted. There I shall be all light, no shadow upon me; my soul invested in the light of joy, and my body in the light of glory. … That voice, that I must die now, is not the voice of a judge that speaks by the way of condemnation, but of a physician that presents health.” John Donne

“A turning point came for Donne as he began to view death not as the disease that permanently spoils life, rather as the only cure to the disease of life, the final stage in the journey that brings us to God. Evil infects all of life on this fallen planet, and only through death–Christ’s death and our own–can we realize a cured state.”  Philip Yancey

“Lord, remind me how brief my time on earth will be.
Remind me that my days are numbered—
how fleeting my life is.
You have made my life no longer than the width of my hand.
My entire lifetime is just a moment to you;
at best, each of us is but a breath.”
Psalm 39:4,5

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • St. Benedict says to “keep death daily before your eyes.” How often do you consider your approaching death? How could doing that benefit you?
  • John Donne suggests we shall only really know God, ourselves, and true health, on the day that we die – that death is “… the final stage in the journey that brings us to God.”  Can you think about your death that way? If so, how does that make you feel?
  • If your life is “a moment … a breath”, what does that mean for how you want to live?

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For More: Soul Survivor: How My Faith Survived the Church by Philip Yancey

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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek after God and he seeks after you. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it. My goal is to share something of unique value with you daily in 400 words or less. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

“I practice daily what I believe; everything else is religious talk.”

Daily Riches: Are You Disillusioned with Your Church? (Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Henri Nouwen)

Posted on by under Change Yourself First, Humility
“A great disillusionment with others, with Christians in general, and, if we are fortunate, with ourselves, is bound to overwhelm us as surely as God desires to lead us to an understanding of genuine Christian community. By sheer grace God will not permit us to live in a dream world even for a few weeks and to abandon ourselves to those blissful experiences and exalted moods that sweep over us like a wave of rapture. …Only that community which enters into the experience of this great disillusionment with all its unpleasant and evil appearances begins to be what it should be in God’s sight, begins to grasp in faith the promise that is given to it. The sooner this moment of disillusionment comes over the individual and the community, the better for both. …Every human idealized image that is brought into the Christian community is a hindrance to genuine community and must be broken up so that genuine community can survive. Those who love their dream of a Christian community more than the Christian community itself become destroyers of that Christian community even though their personal intentions may be ever so honest, earnest, and sacrificial.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer
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“Community is the place where the person you least want to live with always lives.” Henri Nouwen
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“But we have this treasure in clay pots so [it is clear] that the awesome power … doesn’t come from us.” 2 Corinthians 4:7

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Has your church entered into “the experience of great disillusionment with all its unpleasant and evil appearances?” How do you feel about that?
  • Is God at work to break you and others of your illusions about the church (i.e., to dis-illusion you)? Why would he do that?
  • Do you have idealized expectations for your church that make you a danger to “genuine community” even though you’re “honest and earnest” in your support of it?
  • What is “the promise given” that God wants you to “grasp” when it comes to the Christian community?

  For More: Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek after God and he seeks after you. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it. My goal is to share something of unique value with you daily in 400 words or less. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

“I practice daily what I believe; everything else is religious talk.”