On contemplative prayer
Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening (Cynthia Bourgeault)
Everything Belongs (Richard Rohr)
Invitation to Love (Thomas Keating)
The Human Condition (Thomas Keating)
Listen to the Desert (Hugh Prather)
True Self, False Self (M. Basil Pennington)
“God is closer to you than you are to yourself.” -Augustine
“All difficulties in prayer can be traced to one cause: praying as if God were absent.” -Teresa of Avila
“There is in the soul a something in which God dwells, and there is in the soul a something in which the soul dwells in God.” Meister Eckhart
“Contemplative prayer is putting a stick in the spoke of thinking.” Thomas Keating
“Silence is the first language of God.” St. John of the Cross
Contemplative prayer is a “wordless opening of the self to the Divine presence.” -Cynthia Bourgeault
Further reading:
Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening (Cynthia Bourgeault)
Everything Belongs (Richard Rohr)
Invitation to Love (Thomas Keating)
The Human Condition (Thomas Keating)
Listen to the Desert (Hugh Prather)
True Self, False Self (M. Basil Pennington)
listening to Tina Fey’s new book Bossypants
about to start Nurtureshock
reading Ivan Illich’s “learning webs” from his article Deschooling
a good start to the day
exercising first thing in the morning
a clean desk!
everyone waking up on the right side of the bed!
the sound of coffee brewing
the first signs of new growth of spring
time change where it stays light longer
thought provoking reading
thought provoking podcast
changing your life is hard. doing it by yourself is harder. —43things.com
Make Big Plans . . . that’s the best way to make big things happen. Write down your plans. Share them with trusted colleagues. Seek out team members and accomplices. —Seth Godin
Waking up next to the most wonderful person in the world
the first site of my boys in the morning when they come downstairs
Watching the boys having fun together as we travel to school in the morning
i first discovered this quote several years ago, but it’s worth revisiting:
“I hope you’re sitting somewhere with a lovely view and a warm summer breeze, pretending to read a book, while your mind sort of kanoodles around not thinking much of anything.
Or at least, that is my idea of a summer vacation. I think rest is an important part of ministry – ministry to self. The ancient creation legend says God needed a rest after a week of work. I wonder if not taking a rest time is a kind of heresy. When we do that (and yes, I plead guilty on lots of occasions) are we saying in effect that God may need a rest, but we don’t?
If God does self care, shouldn’t we?”
it was a quick visit on our way to the Taos Ski Valley, but we enjoyed our brief time in Santa Fe again. Also enjoyed the cute confusion of Max, our almost three year old, who asked, “Do you think Santa Fe will bring us presents?” :-)
recent moments with the boys include playing in the yard, visiting a playground, riding bikes, the delight at discovered bugs and rocks, playing chase with Carter, planting cactus, skiing together, and reading.
i’m way behind on this goal, but here are a few things over the past week that stand out in my mind
a road trip with my family
uncontrollable laughter of our two boys
peaceful quiet moments with ann, reading and drinking coffee
Max, my almost three year old, getting nose to nose to see if I’m awake and touching my face
Carter’s (almost eight year old) sense of accomplishment on our ski trip
Watching Max’s first ski lesson
The funny things Max says
The joy I get just from watching Ann when she doesn’t realize i’m staring at her
Playing in the yard with the boys
Eating outside together
Talking with Ann before we drift off to sleep
I really like the following “resolutions” of Ben Huh, CEO, Cheezburger.com:
1) Compromise less on core beliefs. 2) Worry less about the future and concentrate on being in the moment. 3) Focus on the important and outsource the urgent.
I think they’re all worth pondering and pursuing. The last one however, really struck me. It was like the clouds parting and a bright light and voice coming down saying, “hey, THIS is for YOU dummy!” I get caught in the tramp of the opposite ALL the time, especially at work. urgent does NOT equal important, even if it needs doing.
“finish each day and be done with it. you have done what you could. some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. tomorrow is a new day. you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.” -emerson
“It is a physical journey, but also one of learning and imagining.” -Susan Viguers, on Clif Meador’s artist book: Memory Lapse
Playing on the playground with Max, enjoying his excitement over his monkeybar accomplishment, pushing him on the swing, spending the day with Carter, even though he’s been sick, making him a grilled cheese sandwich.
My amazing, beautiful wife.
Making her a valentines card.
Spending time with my family.
reading “drive: what motivates us” dan pink. really like what this book has to say.
listened to a rob bell lecture at greenbelt conference
began listening to randy pausch’s “the last lecture”
enjoyed spending time with the boys yesterday, reading, playing, working on some lego projects and laughing.
an amazing partner who is often able to fly at a higher altitude than me and help me see that even when our 7 and 2 year old boys are driving me crazy or not doing what i’d like for them to do, that they really are wonderful kids and we have so much for which to be grateful.
having a great eye doctor. even though he’s in a different city, he was able to squeeze me in and i’m grateful for one good eye (my better one anyway!) that could get there and back safely!
knowing that even though i’ve missed a lot of days in this journal, that i have soooo much to be happy about. my amazing wife- full of grace and mercy and beauty and laughter and love. my two wonderful boys that fill our lives with fun and laughter and joy. I could list these things everyday!
even though my little one has the flu, we had a good time reading books and playing. just being around Max is a joy, even when he’s under the weather. Enjoyed playing with Carter too! After Max went to bed with worked on a Lego project and read some. He’s such a great guy and a wonderful big brother. I told him tonight that I wished everyone in the world could have a big brother like him.
i think perhaps my lack of entries on 43things in the last few months might reflect that i’m doing better on this goal? i want this idea of being more intentional to be at the for front of my mind, so that whatever it is i’m doing, i’m there in the moment, not thinking/worrying/longing for anything else. to be fully present
it’s a journey much more than a destination, but i like to view all of life this way!
this has gotten much better in the last month or so. making it a priority and feeling good about the results. been lifting mostly three days a week and running and using the elliptical 3-5 days a week.
Is ther a connection between the amount of noise in our lives and our inability to hear God? Have you spent the same amount of time worrying and talking about your difficult, confusing situations as you have spent in silence, listening to what God might have to say?
Why is talking so much easier than listening? What is it about silence that is so difficult? Why is it easier to surround myself with noise and keep moving, than to stop, be silent, and listen?
How much noise do i voluntarily subject myself to? Does my schedule, my time, my life look like that of a person who wants to hear God’s voice?
Maybe the healing and guidance we desperately need is not going to come from one more meeting or therapy session or sermon or self-help book, but from simply listening for the voice of God.
Is it possible that you have been looking or God in the winds, the earthquakes and fires, and he is waiting to speak to you in the silence?
Rob Bell, Nooma #5 Noise
“Maybe the truth of the Adam and Eve story, maybe the the greatest power of the story, is not so much that it happened, but that it happens.” Jesus teaches us how to live in the reality of God NOW, here and today….Where is God? Where isn’t God? His fingerprints are all over our world…or maybe it’s his world and our fingerprints?
...Do we treat this world like a waiting room for the next life? Do we treat faith as a ticket to something beyond? Are we just hanging out and waiting? What good is a faith that doesn’t have anything to do with the world we live in now?
...Followers of Christ—people of peace, of justice, of mercy, of grace, people committed to partnering with God to make this world, the world that we al live in, the kind of place that God originally intended it to be.
....Jewish saying:
A person’s good deeds are used by God as seeds to plant the very trees of Eden.
(Rob Bell, Nooma #3)