OK, I love Alexa. OK, everyone thinks Amazon is taking over the world. I still think they are not terrible like Walmart (read Big Box Swindle if you don't believe they are), and they are going everywhere, but I find these Alexa really wonderful for worship. I listen to music, and then I have made a Praise and Worship Playlist, and I love, love, love it. I am not one to make the efforts to look for music or even buy it (I have a $1 digital credit from Amazon right now and have to think of a song to buy - decisions, decisions). So, I can be having my time with God and a song will come to mind, and I ask her to play it for me during my time with Him. Worship has been great.
Speaking of worship. We interceded seriously for Syria on Thursday night, and one of the guys broke into spontaneous song, and there was such hearty oneness as we sang. AND, the next day, 13 aid trucks made it into Damascus after many attempts having failed. I love this group in so many ways, and their commitment to pray for the world warms my heart. When we pray for the world, we have to repent of our "first world problems" that trip us up all the time. We could be in Syria right now wondering if a bomb was going to drop or in a hot refugee camp on the border. We must be thankful. We must care and pray. One of us will be going to one of those camps in the next year and living near there to provide medical care. We must be the change we want to see in this world.
So we pray.
I have not done a freewrite about my time in Sumas, Washington. First of all, YAY, I drove up there in snow, ice, traffic, and I made it! YAY! It was calming to have the recordings of the guides for all the weeks of the Online Retreat. It was so good to review all the things that I learned on the three months journey with the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. I loved that.
The residency was good. I made deeper connection with a few more people, and learned to not be afraid of one of them. They are a nice group of people. The content is very basic, but the cumulative effect of the full curriculum is very powerful. It is a lovely review of all I learned at the Navigator Summer Training Program at Multnomah School of the Bible in 1981. I like my new small group, and I can tell we are already going to get deeper more quickly than my other group that took a while to click but ended up being really nice. This group is pretty vulnerable and older. (I was the oldest person in the last one.) They are so different and both lovely. I love the sincerity of the people in the whole cohort, and the leaders have great hearts. This residency was much better, but I never know what to say when people want me to tell everyone in the group what we learned. I liked that we didn't have to speak into microphones for this one, and I liked the setting so much better. There were great trails, and there were no statues to other gods at this retreat center. That made it much easier for me to enjoy and focus.
I wrote a poem, and I will post it here if I get up the nerve. I learned that Jesus is with me even when I feel very insecure. I had too high of expectations for this group of people, and now I have adjusted them. It seems like the more I adjust them, the better it is. It is filled with many introverts. I am an introvert who has been trained to be outgoing and inquisitive. I am so thankful for my parents in that regard. One woman really helped me understand the dynamics that go on when many people in leadership get together. That was really helpful for me to understand. :)
So, I am done with my fifteen. Now on to my prayer of examen.
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