Stuck, Or Held?

Stuck, Or Held?

God, Divine Love, is everywhere, in all things, and always pouring out all that is needed in every moment.  I have seen it was God in my seeming “stuck-ness and indecision.”  I have seen Divine Love behind in my “forgetting.”  I have even seen God at work in my seemingly “casual decisions.”

Each incident: feeling stuck and indecisive; forgetting to respond; a casual decision made to do something different one morning, is just a part of normal daily life.  However, God helped me become aware after the fact that there was more happening than I realized. 

Leaning-In Is NOT Instinctual

Leaning-In Is NOT Instinctual

“Watch out for the rock!” I heard my husband yell from behind as we careened down the river into the massive boulder to our left. Instinctively, shielding my body from a possible painful blow, I did EXACTLY what our guide had told us NOT to do. I leaned away from the rock, causing me to lose my center of gravity, and almost like in slow motion, I felt my kayak capsize. My head went underwater while my body, slowly but uncontrollably, followed.

Be Curious Before Critical

Be Curious Before Critical

Be Curious Before Critical. These words greet me every time I walk into my Naturopath’s office. While this reminder is meant to be helpful during my visit, I have found it also applies to internal thoughts and feelings. It is a weekly reminder of a practice I want to build in my life: assuming a posture of curiosity before rushing to criticism when discovering a part of myself.

Fashion Advice from Paul

Fashion Advice from Paul

My daughter and I wore prom dresses to the airport.  Beautiful black dresses with pink flowers on the long flowy skirts that had been marked down from several hundred dollars to $19.99.  We weren’t shopping for dresses when we innocently walked by the dress section in Macys and noticed the price and the good fortune that they had one in each of our sizes.  We only meant to try them on but as we twirled and laughed in the dressing room, we thought, we are going to buy these dresses and wear them.  Never mind that neither of us had a prom or formal event in our future. 

Relax, Breath...

Last fall, I was reading a book about Tai Chi, and what jumped out to me was what the author tells his students: relax, breathe, feel the earth, do nothing extra.

I’m drawn to practicing Tai Chi because of what it asks of me: to move slow, to breath intentionally, to be present, to be gentle. 

Awestruck

During my early morning quiet time, I read “Show me a sign of your favor….”  (Psalm 86:17a).  Then it struck me, like a loud shout of ‘Alleluia” from a congregational member while a preacher is giving his/her sermon to a stoic, mainline church.  Without asking, God showed me his favor the previous night.  Let me explain.

A Winter of Being Fallow

Recently, a friend said to me as she entered what would be the last day of her husband’s life, “I don’t know any more how to pray.” The heartache expressed in that question – do I pray for him to live? Or do I pray for him to die? – resonated with me through all those times I haven’t been sure how to pray. My response to her, “with groanings too deep for words,” comes straight from Romans 8:26, and reminds us that our prayers need not have words attached.