Hello everyone,
Most of you will be starting your new courses between September 22 and October 1. Because you are all extremely busy people, I thought I'd share my own reflections on a spiritual discipline that helps busy people stay in tune with God in the cut and thrust of their day to day activities.
I wrote these reflections in 2017, at a time when I was not seeing my way clearly, in so far as completing my studies in the prescribed time was concerned. I share them with you then, in hope that you will be encouraged towards approaching each day, mindful of the presence and enabling grace of God and hence, your ability, busyness notwithstanding, to experience true joy and heavenly shalom.
Let me know what you think.
Blessings,
Grace+
SEVEN SACRED PAUSES: Living Mindfully Through the Hours of the Day
By: Macrina Wiederkehr
· " Our being is often crowded out by our doing."
· "If we practice living mindfully, we slowly begin to see the holiness of so many things that remain hidden when we choose to rush through the hours, striking tasks from the list of things we must accomplish before day’s end. It will be a happy moment when we remember to add the wise act of pausing to our to-do lists."
The foregoing are direct quotes from the book highlighted above. Here’s what I wrote in response to the gift and practice of mindfulness, as a clergy person, caught in the daily grind of too much doing (even those things presumed to be God-ward) and consequently, too little being.
The world as we know it is changing and so too must our methods of engagement if we are to impact it in cogent and relevant ways. Since the source of our ability to so engage is God, we must embrace, as a matter of priority, the paradox of Eternal Changelessness upheld by dynamism, a characteristic of God’s being. It is this God whose presence we must be intentional in acknowledging – being mindful of – throughout the hours of each day. Such mindfulness assumes even as it enjoins, spiritual rootedness, the kind that produces a grace-filled way of being…of living.
And this is why you need to be head-to-toe in the full armor of God: so you can resist during these evil days and be fully prepared to hold your ground. (Eph.6:13. The Voice)
The authenticity of our vocation and ability to exercise our various ministries in ways that make a difference, does not [necessarily] rest on our knowledge of Creeds, Canons or Codes but on openness to God’s Spirit. Through the practice of mindfulness, we become increasingly aware of God’s presence, power and the infinite possibilities, in all aspects of life, for us to experience and so become agents of God’s amazing love and shalom.
©G.J.