Faith formation and sacred conversations are the focus on the faith journey through spiritual direction, retreats, books, and other resources.
All in Deep Listening
Meditation is the discipline that opens hearts and minds to transformation. It’s about a posture of open hands and heart, releasing all that we think we need to be free and unencumbered to receive all that God intends.
What’s it like to battle for your faith while in a spiritual desert? How does spiritual direction help?
The gentle rhythm of slowing moving from external to internal and back out again is symbolic of the spiritual path moving ever nearer to the inner being, the abiding place of God.
Although I am no dream-works specialist, I love paying attention to my dreams and the symbols they become in my own life. I believe they are windows into the soul – unfiltered images surfacing from deep within mind and spirit
If the world lived in Sabbath rest, even one day a week, what a difference it might make in realigning our perspective on the struggles and dashed expectations and our incessant battle to be heard.
I struggle the most to “abide” especially in the midst of my ordinary routines and chores — Making one more meal, washing one more dish, commuting to work one more day.
No doubt about it, church is being redefined both in the present moment of quarantined living, but also in the near-term and long-term identity of the church. I think this is a good thing.
Whether wanting to write more consistently or pray more intently and personally, here is a way to reflect on my day or week as a practice of searching heart, mind, and soul.
Just one week prior to the murder of George Floyd on May 20th, I posted a three-part series on Active Listening. I have consolidated this message into one post for easy access to these tools in one place. Learn how to receive, reflect, and respond as a tool for peace
Do you ever wake up with words of a song stuck in your head, or more importantly, in your heart? The old hymn Abide with Me has lodged itself within me recently, asking me to pay attention to it.
A listening heart and an attentive mind is the greatest gift of hospitality anyone can offer to another person.
Bearing witness is a bit of an old fashioned phrase that asks us to attend to someone or something, be it a
circumstance, an event, or our own inner thoughts. Such a call is counter-intuitive to our western ways of progress. But this watching awareness, partnered with prayer stands at the intersection of heaven and earth.
The third element of active listening is responding our of silence, after prayerful listening, receiving and reflecting.
Reflecting as an active listening tool is much different than reacting to what someone says. Reflecting mirrors, clarifies, wonders along with the speaker.
In a highly distracted world, it takes intention to truly listen to another. Three key elements include receiving, reflecting, and responding.
