Growing My Relationship with God

Last week I did some soul searching to come up with a mission statement for me. What do I value in life? What is important to me? Once I wrote down three things to focus on, I begin to write out how I would discipline myself to keep these things important. How can I live what I believe? My first focus is on growing a closer relationship with God so that my actions show others the goodness of God. How will I develop a relationship with God? One practice I came up with is following St. Ignatius of Loyola's Examen. I put an alarm on my phone to go off at 8:30 p.m. and with the message "How was your day? What are you grateful for? It went off last night for the first time just as my husband and I were finishing up picking up some supplies at the store. It generated a conversation between us about what had been good about the day and what we were grateful for. How can you set little reminders throughout the day to help you grow your relationship with God?

Master Evil with Good

"Impulsive responses allow evil to master us, something we will always regret. But a well thought through response will help us to 'master evil with good'."--Henri Nouwen

Once you have nailed a hole in the board even if you pull the nail out, the hole remains. So it is with words you speak that harm. You may be sorry but the nail has been driven into board with the evil words forever leaving a hole. Stop and breathe before you say something you will regret.

Always giving thanks to God the Father for everything,in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanks be to God for his indescriable gift!

Look for the Hidden Treasures

As you go throughout this day, look for the tiny treasures hidden in the day like the beautiful sunrise, the smile of another, the hug from a loved one and truly be grateful for this moment.

Learn the 8 before it's Too Late

Rejoice!

Stop and Smell the Coffee

“When someone gave him a camera, Thomas Merton delighted in photographing the most ordinary things he could find: an old wheel, a discarded board with protruding nail, a stump or gnarled root, a simple chair on his hermitage porch. In each he found a unique beauty….In the beauty of the ordinary Merton reverenced the sacred.” Sr. Lenora Black, OSB

   “Stop and smell the coffee” comes to mind when I read about Thomas Merton photographing ordinary things.  We are missing out on so many mysterious and wonderful things because we are just too busy.  Stop and see all the the sacred that can be found in the ordinary.

Spirituality

I feel that spirituality is about waking each morning to discover something new about God and my love for him. Dwelling in the scriptures and Christian devotions help me to nourish my soul each day.   I constantly look for ways to share my love of God with others by creating special moments with family and friends. And through awakening, discovering, creating, and nourishing, I am  transforming into my authentic self, the person God created me to be.

Topical Poem, Squirrel

Squirrel

Small, Fragile

Gathering, Preparing, Playing

Harvesting before winter’s famine

Instinct

  

God is depending on you to live your story.

My whole life I have been a people pleaser. It is hard to be your authentic self when you are afraid someone won't like the real you. But as I have grown a closer relationship with God, He is the one I want to please. He loves me unconditionally just the way I am with all my flaws. Knowing that is helping me to live my story not someone else's story. Whose story are you living? God is depending on you to live your story.

Rules for Holy Living

"Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, cloth yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience." Colossians 3:12

How does my life reflect compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience?

How many times have I walked past someone who is homeless without even making eye contact, as though they didn't even exist? Yet God tells me to clothe myself in compassion.

I find myself judging others who are unkind but is all the judging causing me to miss the unkindness in me?