The Holy Spirit invites each of us to spaciousness and lightness, “to be a feather in the breath of God” as Hildegaard described it. Jesus described His yoke as “easy and light” (Matt. 11:28). I came out of my 13 week Sabbatical with three very clear invitations from God: to deepen/broaden my prayer life, to write, and to feed His sheep both at NLF and beyond. Yet, after only three weeks back in my “active” routine, I found myself challenged and besieged. The demands were both external and internal. Breaking old habits and developing new rhythms with God is no small task. After one and half days in which I attended too many meetings, talked about too many things, engaged in too many conversations, and ignored my body that was telling me to stop, Ireturned home to “reboot” my life. In order to center I did the following: 1. Meditated on Ps. 130-131. “I wait for the Lord, more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.” 2. Spent time in centering prayer (silence before Him). 3. Listened for the Holy Spirit by paying attention to the Spirit (consolations, the fire in my belly, passions) and to desolations. 4. Meditated on the biblical truth on “Receiving the Gift of Limits” (see The Emotionally Healthy Church, chapter 8). “A person can receive only what is given to Him from heaven” (Jn.3:27). Wondered what was I doing, or thinking about doing, that was not “given” from God. 5. Re-read my journals from the last 3 months to remember what God had taught me on Sabbatical. 6. Concluded by spending time in lectio divina and centering prayer. I am convinced that any time we seek to deepen our rhythms of being and doing, of contemplation and activity, we will hit strong resistance. What has been most helpful to help you to “reboot” when you find yourself off center?
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