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Potent Pause 7/1

To be continually in communion with God does not mean thinking about God in contrast to thinking about other things, nor does it mean spending time with God instead of spending time with other people. As soon as we begin to divide off our thoughts, we separate God from our daily life. At that point God is allocated to a pious little niche in some corner of our lives where we only think pious thoughts and experience pious feelings.

Although it is important and even indispensable for our spiritual lives to set apart time for God and God alone, our prayer can only become unceasing communion when all our thoughts—beautiful or ugly, high or low, proud or shameful, sorrowful or joyful—can be thought in the presence of the One who dwells in us and surrounds us. By trying to do this, our unceasing thinking is converted into unceasing prayer moving us from a self-centered monologue to a God-centered dialogue.

To do this we want to try to convert our thoughts into conversation. The main question, therefore, is not so much what we think, but to whom we present our thoughts, because to pray unceasingly means to think and live in thepresence of Love. To pray unceasingly is to channel our thoughts out of their fearful isolation into a fearless conversation with God.
- Henri Nouwen

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potent pause 6/26

As you begin Bible study, reflection, and prayer, be gentle and compassionate with yourself. You will begin and you will forget. You may delight in the Word one week and ignore it the next. When this happens, remind yourself that you have not failed, and you are not unfaithful. Be grateful that you have recognized what has happened, and begin again. Rejoice that you have started over. Jane Vennard  ***

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potent pause 6/19

potent pause: an invitation to re-center

“Knowing one’s self, finding one’s self, and expending one’s self for another are intertwined activities. Love of self, love of God, and love of neighbor are interdependent.”
 
- Sidney Callahan, With All Our Heart and Mind