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| Download the Introduction and First Month HERE! |
This is a "Morning Pages" freewrite. I know I am supposed to be writing by hand, but I had my computer on because of being in the Meditation Chapel for their 4:20 am Centering Prayer sit. So, I am already on here.
Yesterday, we went to see my mother-in-law. She is such a lovely woman. She will be 96 years old in nine days. She has a lot of pain right now. So, we are hoping that she can get some relief at her doctor's appointment today.
I only got a few minutes of reading done yesterday because we left early in the morning, and that is when I get most of my reading done. Oh, there is my tea. I am going to stop the timer to get my second dose of chai.
Here is my reading into July. These are in no particular order:
Currently reading:
The Death of the Heart
Mumbo Jumbo
An Infamous Army
Checked out but have not started reading yet:
The Tin Drum
Wide Sargasso Sea
True History of the Kelly Gang
The Tartar Steppe
Own but it keeps getting shoved back on the pile because I have library books due:
The Birthday Boys
On hold at either Washington County Cooperative Library Services or Library2Go:
Dr. Zhivago
Cheever Stories
I have a couple of books related to the spiritual direction training I will be doing. So, once I am through 500 on this list, I will go to reading those. I will be well over 500 books read on the 1000 Books to Read Before You Die List, and I have always said once I reach 500, I will be reading more slowly. Paul said when I first started on the list in 2019, "That is going to take you forever, Mom!" I think it will because I started in 2019 with many of the books already read (because of the other three lists I had completed). So, I have read probably 200-300 in the last six years. It would take me well into my 70s to finish the list, and some of the books don't look appealing to me OR they are hard to find and expensive to buy, and I am not willing to buy them just to read this arbitrary list. I will say that some have pleasantly surprised me at how much I have liked them. I never would have known they existed if it were not for this list. So, there you go!
Well, this week has been so much lighter in spiritual direction. The training internship with Marty and Sandy is over. That was a lot of time, but I loved it. My "Campfires" with the 2HC are over, and I only have a final meeting with the team on the 18th and retreat on the 28-30th.
Pilates is also over for the school year. I am subbing for four classes though. I am also done with the 19th and 18th annotations of the Spiritual Exercises, and this year was a lot because I was putting time stamps and covers on all my YouTube videos. That was a very fun project but time intensive.
Also, Renovare Book Club is over, and I don't think I will continue to lead it. It is very time consuming, and I think I would like someone else to lead it. I might be in it, but if no one steps to the plate to lead, I will just read the books on my own.
I think that is all the groups that I was leading.
I have a doctor's appointment with Dr. M today to align my back. There are no major problems, but I want to be strong going into the summer, and I don't' think I have an appointment in July. So this will have to carry me into the summer. Tomorrow, I have my annual check up, and my weight is down, and I have no problems, but it is good to go for a check up!
One thing that happened yesterday was S contacted us to say that she was being honored at the School of Engineering at Oregon State, and it was on the day we would need to start our Camino in order to do it before the 24-7 Gathering in Stuttgart. So, we are canceling the Camino until further notice! I didn't have a peace about making a reservation with the tour company, and now I know why! I am so happy that I was listening because I would not want to miss this honor for S!
But I might be going to Spain for Deepen. I had said no to being a training cohort leader in spiritual direction, but they came back and asked me again, and some of my hesitations were done away with when I was able to talk to the director. I was misinformed about some things, and it seems more doable, and I am wondering if I would like the experience of having my own cohort. I am praying about this. Maybe if we do it, we could do the Camino before I do Deepen (maybe even ride bikes through the Meseta from Burgos to Leon) instead of after, and then George could go home, and take my Camino gear with him? I don't know. I am praying into it too.
In fact, I am going to pray into some things on a prayer walk this morning so I can do it before my 8 am spiritual direction meeting, and doctor's appointment.
Oh, one thing that I want to do is set up a spiritual direction session with Fran. I think it has been about six weeks. I think that is a better time frame for me than every month.
I was invited late to go to M's graduation, but I had already postponed my 12 hour walk three times because of ____ deliverance sessions, and I wasn't going to do it another time, especially since I didn't get invited until two days ago, and it is a 3 1/2 hour drive down there and back. It would be too much (but a beautiful day for a drive to Southern Oregon), especially with our commitment to go to the Behold Prayer Conference. I am going to go out and get a graduation card and send it, and I want to host a party for her when she comes here next.
Oh, I am also doing The Reservoir again (see above for a link to a free download of the Introduction and First Month). I know it is a very simple book with simple Scriptures every day, but it is good to go back to the basic of concept of God and myself, asking yourself the question, "What is Spiritual Formation?", and going through the five streams of the Prayerful Life, Virtuous Life, Spirit-Empowered Life, Word-Centered Life, and God-Saturated Life.
During prayer yesterday, I got this crazy idea to do a YouTube series on it: taking people through each of the passages. I would encourage people to buy the book (see link above) and not necessarily read the book word-for-word, but just take people through meditations/contemplations and then asked prayerful questions as I go along. I don't necessarily like the questions in the book, but I do like how it is arranged. It was written by the Renovare team, and I was told about it in its infancy when Eric and I talked to the president of Renovare at the Renovare Institute about having something for international workers, and he told us about something in the works with his friend who was head of a major world relief agency. This friend wanted to have something for his workers, and this was the result! This is my second time through, I started the first few months last summer, but then I started with the 19th Annotation people, and that became my devotional time every morning. Next year, if God should bless me with people to do it with, I will still keep abreast with them of their daily meditations, but it won't be as much time as last year when I was also putting those time stamps and covers on each of the 225+ videos. (Oh, and I was also creating another list for the 18th Annotation people.) So, why not do the Reservoir?
I am also still waiting to hear back from Jill about doing a Centering Prayer time for the Order of the Mustard Seed. I would do it on Tuesday and Thursdays in the middle of the day. So, I already have those times blocked out for Centering Prayer with my nuns in East Mosely. So, it would not interfere with other things. It used to be Mondays and Thursdays, but I might be teaching Pilates on Mondays in the fall.
Speaking of the fall, if we don't do the Camino then, I will probably only need to take a couple of Fridays off from teaching Pilates to do Deepen in Spain. Oh, I have a lot to pray about, but...
I was on a prayer walk two days ago, and two things came into my heart to put intense prayer on, and the next day, I got a text from S asking me to pray for those two things and the second thing she asked for prayer about was something I prayed would happen. So, God is on the move with the person I was asked to pray about. Someone who had never really had any background of faith and wanted to know more.
Well, I am going to get to meditating on The Spirit-Empowered Life here and then a walk and then a direction session with N and then a trip to make sure my back is aligned. Then REST for the REST of the day. I love summertime!
(I have two more minutes. what picture should I have to go along with this picture? Oh, I will put a picture of The Reservoir cover with a link to the book - That would be great. I love freewriting morning pages! I need to do this more in the summer time. Off to finish my tea and time with Jesus - Ta Ta for Now, Moring Pages!)
