Seed Words...

I remember when I first read words from St. Ignatius of Loyola that said, “Everything one turns in the direction of God is prayer,” something shifted within me. That simple sentence took me beyond “having a prayer life” with a list full of requests, to understanding that life itself is prayer. How I’m living my life and how God meets me in it is prayer. That’s not to say I don’t bring the needs and circumstances of others into the grace-filled presence of God throughout my day, but those words gave me freedom in my praying, and drew me closer to a more integrated life with God — less God-out-there, and more God-in-here. In the words of another great writer, Thomas Merton said it like this, “What I do is live. How I prayer is breath.”

Words are like a handful of seeds scattered across the field of my soul. And when my heart is fertile, like well prepared soil, those few seed words send down deep roots and nurture me, grow me, turn me into a fruit-bearing being. It’s miraculous, really. Words come to us from what we read and hear, or they may already exist within us as an inner wisdom coming into its own light. When I read words from centuries past of the great writers, thinkers, seekers, and mystics, their words have the power to inspire, nurture, inflame, revive, fortify, and sometimes, utterly change me.

This power found in words is the reason why I keep a journal, and why I find creative outlets for my words, and why a part of my rule of life calls me to “honor words and silence.” And this is why I’m inviting you to join me in honoring words and silence in my upcoming “Write it on My Heart: A Journaling Experience with the Saints,” on June 11, 2020 for 90 minutes of honoring some of the words from St. Ignatius and through journaling and scattering the seed words onto fertile hearts ready to bear fruit. .

Click on the button below to register. I hope to see you then.