The Well

This is the third freewrite in one week. I think this is indicative of several things: 1) I got over the five week hump of grading 60 papers for my two Pilates classes 2) I am not teaching a Tuesday night class anymore 3) No one is staying at our house (late April/early May) 4) TOAG homework this week is very "wrap it up" so not so labor intensive 5) I am done reading all but the articles (that I don't have yet) for Renovare Institute, and 6) My kids did not come home this weekend (Michael is Ashland and Paul busy studying). 

So I am not as busy this weekend. I still have this planning for the Nav Reunion. There is only so much I can do from my vantage point 90 miles south. I will not have a lot of time to do anything prior to the reunion. I should tell Jack and Wayne that as I am now running a retreat July 8-10 and the reunion is July 14. And Patty wants to get together prior to that. So I need to be up front about how much I can do for this reunion. 

So maybe I should th…

Two in one week. OH MY! 

Musings on Heaven with Chris Hall and Nathan Foster

It is podcasts like this that make me love Renovaré. It does make me go "oh my" like Augustine. Heaven is our "fondest hopes fulfilled infinitely." We have glimpses of it now. It gives me such hope. I love Renovaré people. There is a part of me that still feels like I am on the outside looking in. It is something I have struggled with the whole time I have been doing this. It is a lot of time. It is so academic. More academic than I thought. I am not sure it really is for me. I am leaving this in your hands to reveal to me in your time. I love you, and I know that you do speak. I think my trip to France will be a time to totally unplug. I want to be totally there with all my heart, Lord.

So, I am waiting on you. I hope in you. 

What else am I thinking about. I love our Kingdom Community. I think everyone will be glad to have their Thursdays free again, but I want to keep the fire burning. I lo…

Freewrite and not on a Friday. 

I sit in my comfy chair - glider rocker purchased at Bi-Mart for an insanely low price, and it has held up through babies who are now 26 and 23. We moved it out next to the big window in the living room, and in the winter, I could watch the sun rise. But the sun has shifted (and today is behind clouds) to the north of the window, and I can only see it rise through my kitchen window (or my bedroom one, but it is HIGH, and there is no place to sit to watch it). There is something about the sun rising in the east that gives me such hope for every new day. 

Sunrise
Sunset
Sunrise
Sunset
Swiftly fly the years
One season following another
Laden with happiness and tears. 

(I am going to Alexa to play this Fiddler on the Roof song for me right now.) 

I felt so lousy when I got up. V & P came to clean (a present from George when I was trying to balance homeschooling and ministry and my back was so bad, and then they became friends so we kept them on but only once a mo…

So much reading about disciplines and about imitating Jesus and telling me to imitate Jesus, but too many books keep you from looking at his life and putting it into practice. Life is meant to be lived, not reading about how it should be lived. It is easy to get sucked into the academic vortex of a movement and not do what the movement recommends. That is where I am now. Since my mentor very strongly said, "You have a lot to do and you already know what to do and are already doing it," I need to continue to consider carefully whether I should continue. I am getting weary of reading, reading, Then the critiquing in an analytical way from people who really do not know me. I am one to put into practice what I read if it is a good thing. So, I put most of these things into practice 40 years ago; 1978 was the year of the greatest growth in my life as an apprentice of Jesus. It is good to revisit, but do I need to revisit all of these when I already wholeheartedly believe in their…

This is one of the books for the Renovare Institute. I read it in the early 90s, and it was fun to review it. He definitely supports his arguments, but I always think he could do it more succinctly! This book is not for everyone, but it is a good read if you want to know the "why" behind practicing the Spiritual Disciplines. 

I listen to this song in the mornings. I could not figure out the words so I wrote the singers today to get them:
By calling on it’s mystic Name the Three in One, the One in Three
Through whom all nature was created Eternal Father, Spirit, Word.
I praise the God of my salvation, salvation won by Christ the Lord!
I clasp unto my heart this day with steadfast faith, our Lord made man
And him baptized in Jordan’s flood, His Cross of death salvation’s plan,
His rising from the enclosing tomb, His bright ascent to Heaven’s Way
His coming on the day of doom, I clasp unto my heart this day.
I clasp unto my heart this day the leadership of God’s strong hand
His eye to watch, His strength my stay, His ears to hear and understand.
The Truths God wills that I should teach, His guidance sure, His shielding arm,
The Word of God which I should preach, the angels guarding me from harm.
Against the spell of Satan’s wiles, against all lying heresy
Against all actions which defile, against all crass idolat…

"The daring goal of the Christian life is an ever-deeper re-formation of our inner personality so that it reflects more and more the glory and goodness of God... . You see, this life, this zoé that comes from God and is the salvation that is in Jesus Christ, is a character-transforming life."   Richard Foster from this article: https://renovare.org/articles/a-life-of-unhurried-peace-and-power

I read this two times in one year. Last time, I listened to it on audiobook, this time I underlined and took extensive notes since it is an assigned text for a class. It is even better the second time around. Spiritual transformation really is possible. 

Here is the gist quote:


“Spiritual formation for the Christian basically refers to the Spirit-driven process of forming the inner world of the human self in such a way that it becomes like the inner being of Christ himself…the outer life of the individual becomes a natural expression or outflow of the character and teachings of Jesus.” (22)
My only thing about Willard is that he doesn't realize that this has been going on within pockets of followers of Jesus for a while now. I was taught all these principles in the Navigators when I was in college. He has definitely brought it to the forefront and articulated it beautifully. I prefer to think of it as discipleship rather than calling it spiritual formation, but that is just my prefe…

I love this little gem.
A few good quotes: How, then, shall we lay hold that that Life and Power, and live the life of prayer without ceasing? By quiet, persistent practice in turning of all our being, day and night, in prayer and inward worship and surrender, toward Him who calls in the deeps of our souls. Mental habits of inward orientation must be established (p. 15).
Deep Within
Deep within us all there is an amazing inner sanctuary of the soul, a holy place, a Divine Center, a speaking Voice, to which we may continuously return. Eternity is at our hearts, pressing upon our time-torn lives, warming us with intimations of an astounding destiny, calling us home unto Itself. Yielding to these persuasions, gladly committing ourselves in body and soul, utterly and completely, to the Light Within, is the beginning of true life.
The Strain
We are not integrated. We are distraught. We feel honestly the pull of many obligations and try to fulfill them all. And we are unhappy, uneasy, strained, o…