Holiday Reading

Unearthed during my spring cleaning  binge - an  ancient copy of 'Oldchurch' magazine. The theme was Times of Refreshment and it  included a couple of reviews by my goodself that as I read them took me straight  back to those   endless summer days spent  dreaming my life away on a French campsite.   There's more than a hint of the old rose-tinted glasses here, of course there is; with two teenagers around at the time, doubtless even our times of calme et detente were relatively limited. Still -  I remember going through a tremendous period of  spiritual growth  back then, and it's wonderful to return to experiences like this and reflect on just how far I've travelled since.  The foundations for what was to come were being laid even then.  Though I'm sure, like many of us, that I could usefully revisit some of the handy hints on living a balanced life that our then rector included in his introduction. Here are some of them:

• Be gentle with yourself
• Find a hermit spot. Use it daily
• Change your routine often and your tasks when you can.
• Be a resource to yourself. Get creative. Be an artist as well as a technician.
• Schedule 'withdraw' periods during the week. Limit interruptions.
• Say 'I choose' rather than 'I should.'
• If you never say 'No' what is your 'Yes' worth?
• Laugh and play!

Going Round in Circles 2

'Godseed,' from M Silf's Landmarks - An Ignatian Journey (DLT, 1998)

"Life isn't about finding yourself, it's about creating yourself."


Shades of my earlier musings on Going Round in Circles. I've been pondering these  words  above for the last couple of days, ever since I spotted them  outside our local Wellbeing Centre.  Surely what I'm about as I journey through life is to uncover the true self that is already and has always been there. And is that not "finding myself?

And the end of all our exploring 
Will be to arrive where we started 
And know the place for the first time. 
     T.S. Eliot -- "Little Gidding" ( Four Quartets)

What think you, fellow  bloggers?

Blessed Are...

A blessing based on The Beatitudes which I used last night in prayer group. It's from the conclusion of  Margaret Silf's Landmarks: An Ignatian Journey.

I bless the poverty in your heart, which knows its own emptiness, because that gives me space to grow my Kingdom there.

I bless that in you that touches others gently, because everyone responds to gentleness, and gentleness can capture even hardened hearts.

I bless that in you that grieves and aches for all that is lost or can never be, because that is my opportunity to comfort you with my much greater love.

I bless that in you that longs and strives after your own deepest truth and after truth for the world, because even as you pray, I am constantly satisfying these deep unspoken longings.

I bless you every time you show mercy and forgiveness, because that is like a little window in your heart, setting you free from resentment and opening up a space for me to enter and to heal.

I bless the purity of your heart, because that is the elusive center where your deepest desire meets mine. That is where we meet face-to-face.

I bless the peacemaker in you, that in you that seeks the peace that passes understanding, knowing the cost of its obtaining, because that is what I sent my Son to give, and in your peacemaking you become my daughter or son.

I bless even those things in your experience of journeying with me that feel like persecution and abuse and misunderstanding, because they are the proof that your faith is no illusion.