Wednesday Freewrite

I have not done a freewrite on here in ages. So, I am setting my timer for 15 minutes and am typing away.

I journal every day. I call them "Morning Pages" aka The Artist's Way. I have to admit that I am not following all of Julia Cameron's advice because I have not had an "Artist's Date" for months. I have been creating though. So, I guess I can call that "art" in that I am writing curriculum for the Spiritual Direction training that I am starting in less than a month. It will be Thursday-Saturday, September 17-19th. WOOHOO.

I am very excited about this too. The group is so good. I was just trying to get through "finishing well" with the group I am been supervising/training this last year. I had deadlines for doing a final "Core Competency" Evaluation and then meeting with them all one-on-one. They have been a joy. They are new directors, but they will be great directors. I want them to feel freer to be the unique director that they are. I think one of them would benefit from more supervision. The other three are going to do great with supervision about every three months or so. Those three will continue to meet with me. I did not initiate that. It just happened. They all discerned that they would not do the third year offered by the organization I have been working for this last year. In that discussion, they asked if I would be willing to continue with them in supervision. Since three of them asked, I suggested that we gather all three of them, meet monthly, but only have one of the three present over a six-month period from January-June next year. They would get a supervision every three months, and there would be no meeting in the summer. Mine will be 6 months and $150. I think this will be good. I will also lead them in how to do "Peer Supervision." That way, they can go on and do it among themselves for free. 

I think B would be really good at that. Maybe I will ask B if she wants to intern as a supervisor with me. I could let her take the lead on supervision, and she could talk about how she transitioned from formal supervision to peer supervision. I would need to ask B if that would be OK with him though. We will see. 

All that said, I would also use my 10 supervision models for my supervisees. That would be important. 

Today, I will go to hear Trevor Hudson speak to the group. 

Parenthetically, I want to add that I love the group that I have been working for. It has been an honor. I think they are all sincere people, I do training and supervision differently, but that is OK to have different models of supervision. 

I think I will introduce that concept of having one book they read in the six months we are together. Maybe a book that is about spiritual direction or maybe a book about a specific subject in direction, like doing it with children, doing it using the Enneagram, or bringing cross-cultural spiritual direction into it. 

We will see. I am excited to develop this. 

I am also excited to lead a group through the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius. I only have four and one intern, C, who did it with me back in 2020. I know two out of four of the people doing it pretty well, and then I have two that come highly recommended by the sister-in-law of a person I did it with and the wife of a fellow supervisor. It should be really great. 

Oh this is fun to do a free write here. I should go back to doing more of them. I just have to not mention names, but this is similar to what I do over at Morning Pages. I don't know why I wanted to do it here today.

Oh, the picture above is from a meditation I did in Psalm 23 this morning. This is a page from a poetry book I read to the R girls when I was a nanny in Spain 44 years ago! 

I think it is going to go off any second. Oh, I have a new oven and microwave. My husband is so great to do that for me. 

Ok, 20 more seconds. I have just Trevor's talk and writing curriculum today and Pilates and a walk. Bye! 

Theo of Golden

There are no words that could express how much I loved this book. I read one of the reviews by a friend. She gave it such a harsh review calling is "saccharine"! I was so shocked. 

Then I asked one of my best friends. She didn't like it either! WOW! She said everything was too "tied up in a bow." So that is fair. She is also a very logical thinker on the Myers-Briggs, and I am a sap. So there you go. 

All that said, I LOVED it. I brought it to the Spiritual Directors I am supervising this year, and one of them had just read it and thought it would be so good for spiritual directors to read it. It is about hearing a person's story and really "seeing" the other. I think that is so true.

I don't want to ruin the plot. But I highly recommend it (even though two of my friends do not - LOL!). 

A friend told me about this Oprah interview with the author. It is excellent. 

In the interview, they interview three people (a country singer, a musician, and another person - I cannot remember what she does, and I don't remember any of their names) who loved the book too. Here are some of their favorite quotes that I took a screenshot of during the interview.

Mr. Midshipman Hornblower

My husband and I watched this series years ago, and he has read all the books. We own all of them and the series, but I have never read them. He is rereading (retirement has upped his reading), and I thought I would join along (like he did when he saw that my son and I were both rereading Narnia).

It is a swashbuckler with many action scene of ware described. My husband says that the later books get into more dialogue. I will still rewatch the series with my husband (I gave it to him for a Christmas long ago), but I think this first book in the series will be my last. I just didn't get into the battle scenes. 

Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith

I read Hillbilly Elegy two years ago, and this was a continuation of his story from atheism to Catholicism. I found it very compelling. He is very pro-family. I loved that. He has some very compelling arguments. He got a bit political about 3/4ths of the way through the book, but then he got back to faith toward the end, and I would recommend this book. I am not catholic, but I practice so much that the catholic church has practiced for a very long time that seemed to get lost in the Reformation and Evangelicalism. I love that. 

With: Reimagining the Way You Relate to God

I am doing a simple book review because for some reason, Google has given a "warning" for my last two posts on this book, and I still cannot figure out why. Many years ago, they said my BIBLE BOOK CLUB once had offensive content, and I never knew what they were talking about then either. 

With is a simple book. It talks about how most followers of Jesus have four different "postures" toward God:

1. Life Under God - Obey rules to control outcomes (Think the cult of the Duggar family)
2. Life Over God - Rely on divine principes rather than relationship
3. Life From God - supplier of spiritual goods
4. Life for God - Pursuers of mission, achievement, or purpose for God, often leading to burnout when identity is tied to usefulness. (This is the camp I deal with a lot in spiritual direction.)

The posture God longs for is a relationship WITH Him. Amen. The enemy has really messed with people's minds because this should be really obvious, but it is not for most people. So sad. 

That is all I will write for this. For a more extensive review, please just read my other post that has the "Warning" on it. It goes into more detail, but I am so afraid even this one is going to get a warning on it too. This is so silly. 

With: Reimagining the Way You Relate to God (Ignore Sensitive Content Warning!)

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

With: Reimagining the Way You Relate to God

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

7 Days with Teilhard de Chardin

This is my second time through. Loved it again.  

Previous Review is HERE.

"Lord, lock me up in the deepest depths of your heart; and then, holding me there, burn me, purify me, set me on fire, sublimate me, until I become utterly what you would have me be, through the utter annihilation of my ego." 

Not the annihilation of myself, but that protective walled-off ego that keeps me from my true self.  

Amen!  

Holy Disruptor: Shattering the Shiny Facade by Getting Louder with the Truth

I never watched this show, but I have had directees who were related to the IBLP (Institute in Basic Life Principles) and had terrible experiences. I found her memoir compelling. I had read her cousin Jill's too. I believe that IBLP is a cult. It is not the way of Jesus. 

 The part where she confronts her cousin Josh about molesting four of his sisters and a babysitter, and the sick smile on his face. That says it all. 

You GO Amy!