god is

I have acknowledged on previous occasions that I struggle to restore my spiritual life to a place where it doesn't feel threadbare. My inclination to pray is a mere whisper, the result of deep disappointment with God. My head believes. It's my heart that just can't muster up the wherewithal to engage.

I don't, however, give up. I make internal commitments to instill a new discipline that will grow and bloom into a life of its own. I have asked God for his help. I continue to sputter and flounder and flap in the proverbial wind. I wait.

And then some Simple Little Thing will come along that kindles the flame of my spirit and I feel connected again. The latest Simple Little Thing came in the form of an ad for a calendar: 12 Things God Wants You to Remember. Each month features a short phrase of encouragement, and as I read those phrases it was as though I was filling with light.

God is for you.
God loves you.
God will guide you.
God will not fail you.
God will be with you.
God will provide for you.
God will bless you.
God will give you rest.
God will strengthen you.
God will answer you.
God will uphold you.
God will keep you.

Simple statements. Life-giving words. Hope from which to draw nourishment.

There's a phrase that Ken uses to describe his prayers for others when they are facing a difficult or significant moment, event, or phase in their lives. He assures the one for whom he cares that he will "bathe you in prayer." It's a great phrase, but better still, he is a man of deep and committed prayer, and he follows through. It helps to live with someone who prays as he does. By osmosis I feel buoyed and at least tangentially connected to the divine.

Today as my soul rests in the joy of snow-covered everything, I feel bathed in the awareness that simple statements and the gladness of the soul reveal God's presence in my heart. There is hope, and there is help, because God is.

friday five

At RevGals MomPriest writes: For this Friday Five let's ponder the various ways we work out (or not), physically, spiritually, and/or psychologically.

1. Do you work out physically, spiritually, or psychologically? (I'll let you define what that might mean to you)
You've heard this before, but my daily exercise routine consists of raising my coffee cup to my lips for multiple repetitions. I am not a big fan of exercise. Or, better stated, I think exercise is great, I simply loathe doing it. It's the sweat. I hate. to. sweat. Unless I'm swimming or dancing. I used to swim a half mile every day when we had a membership at the local family life center. I do enjoy a good walk through the neighborhood, especially with one of my dogs, but it's gotten hot, you see, and did I mention sweating? I know I need to do something about this aversion. As my body ages it becomes increasingly clear that exercise will improve my life. Man, I hate that.


I do much better in the spiritual and psychological realms. My husband and I have regular explorations of various theological questions with spiritual implications, so there's lots of exercise there in all sorts of ways. My prayer life, less so, but that's where I happen to be at the moment. I'm working on that. As for the psychological, I've been a journeyer in that area for a long time and have regular opportunities to draw on and work that area of interest.

2. Are you more inclined to join a gym, or a book club?
Book Club. See above.

3. Are you more inclined to read self-help books like Gail Sheehy's "Passages" or spiritual books like Richard Rohr or Theresa of Avila? And if so, what is your favorite?
Yes. Scott Peck is an old hero in the self-help arena. As for a favorite in the spiritual life, I'm currently lapping up John O'Donohue. Where has he been all my life?

4. Are you a loyal fan of a sports team? Or do you join the bandwagon when the local team is winning? And, if so, which one? Way back when, in high school days, I was a fanatic of the NHL team the Montreal Canadiens. My best friend's family were deep into hockey (her younger brother played), and I spent a lot of time with them in my teen years. Pete Mahovlich was my  man. I was such a fanatic that I dated my school notes according to the jersey number of the date's corresponding player. If the date was April 10, for instance, My notebook began its entry looking like this: Cournoyer/Lafleur. Like I said. Fanatic. I cut out every article and picture in the paper and had a scrapbook of the season. When I went to college I moved away from hockey country to the outback of Indiana (outback in terms of  hockey. I loved Indiana). It was difficult to follow the team, any team, and the air eventually went out of my fanatical balloon. I am still a hockey fan and still loyal to Les Habitants, but I couldn't begin to tell you the name of any of their players.

Here in Nashville I root for the home pro teams (TN Titans in football, and Predators in hockey). I don't root for the University of Tennessee. I'm allergic to orange, for one thing, and my home girls, the University of Connecticut Lady Huskies, rock in college basketball. Let's just say undefeated champions.

5. Or do you lean more toward having a favorite theologian/Spiritual writer or self help author  and if so, who? And, why.
I'm a big fan of Frederick Beuchner.We share writing styles, so there's a natural attraction, but he has a way of looking at things upside down and backward that makes perfect sense.Oh, and Parker Palmer.

Bonus: What was the last play-off series you watched and did your team win? 
That would be football, the games leading to and including the super bowl. Once Tennessee was out of the picture I rooted for the New Orleans Saints. As a former resident of Indiana I support the Colts (and who doesn't love Peyton Manning?), but I also wanted the Saints to win, which they did. Go Saints! It was also fun sharing the excitement with Mrs. Senior Warden, who hails from Louisiana.

friday five: spiritual spring cleaning

At RevGals Sally invites us to consider this text:

The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We're Christ's representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God's work of making things right between them. We're speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he's already a friend with you.
(2 Corninthians 5: 17-20 The Message)

All this got me thinking that if we traditionally think of spring as a time for new life, then maybe a spiritual spring clean might not be a bad thing to clear the way for the new thing that God wants to do in us! So with all of that in mind I offer you this Friday Five:


1. Is there a part of your spiritual life that is dry and dusty at the moment, something that could do with a good spring clean?
Journaling. It has been a looooonnnnnnngggggg time since journaling was a regular part of my life, spiritual or otherwise. Lately (in the last 18 months or so) God has given me glimpses of a path for which I have longed and to which he is beckoning. Those glimpses become lost without some way to remember them and peer more deeply into them. Journaling offers that very opportunity. I've got one right here at my desk, but I am so out of the habit...

2. Spiritual disciplines- life-giving/ terrifying: discuss
Life-giving: Music. Walking. Creating. I don't utilize enough of either.
Terrifying: I recently told God that I surrendered. I have been afraid of doing that. It hasn't hurt me yet.

3. Share a practice that keeps you spiritually alive that you think others might benefit from...
Reading the psalms out loud in prayer (when I am alone). It is the rare reading when, at the end, there aren't tears on my cheeks. To me this is a sign of the presence of the Spirit, and restores my soul.

4.Alone or together, how do you pray best?
Yes.

5.If your spiritual life were to burgeon and bloom into a spring flower what would it be and why?

Daffodil, hands down. First, they're glorious. Who doesn't want to be glorious? Second, they retain the benefit of their bloom and store it for future blooming. Third, they give life to themselves and produce additional blooms. Fourth. They make people smile. Yes, I definitely want my spiritual life to be all those things.

Bonus, a piece of music a picture or a prayer that speaks to you of new life....