3rd Step in Loving God: Surrender

Dec 19, 2016

In the last two weeks I have written about the first two steps in loving God with all of ourselves, 1- giving up our own very negative self-image and 2- exchanging our anxiety and fear for a deep trust in God for taking care of everything for us and listening for God’s wisdom in everything. […]

St. Teresa’s Garden Metaphor For Prayer

Nov 14, 2016

Years ago as I was still struggling to understand and to let go the hell-fire-and-damnation god of my childhood, I was led to read a number of the writings of the saints of the church from Julian of Norwich to John of the Cross to Catherine of Siena, but my real favorite was Teresa of […]

The Iceberg

Nov 07, 2016

One-seventh of an iceberg is visible above the water surface after it breaks off or calves from a glacier and plunges into the northern seas. There it slowly drifts southward into warmer waters than the arctic ones it first encountered. Gradually, as the waters warm the iceberg melts and releases up to 5,000 years of […]

What the small self, the ego wants:

Oct 10, 2016

No problems or challenges All the stuff it wants Lots of good attention from others An easy life To be self-sufficient To be left alone, to be free to do whatever s/he wants when s/he wants to. To be in control of its life. Following the wants of the small self only leads to more […]

Unpacking our Stuff

Sep 12, 2016

When we move, we pack up and then unpack our stuff, choosing to keep what is still useful to us and giving away or selling what no longer works for us. Whether we are moving to a bigger place or downsizing, we choose to move with what suits our new life. The same is true […]

Fear

Aug 29, 2016

  I’ve been researching fear in my Bible concordance and here is what I have found. First there are many passages in the Old Testament that speak of the fear of God. The Hebrew word used in most of these passages, yare, means two things: to be afraid or frightened and to honor, respect, awe, […]

If God is Your Co-Pilot, Change Seats

Apr 25, 2016

“If God is your co-pilot change seats!” read the sign at Avondale Presbyterian Church in Charlotte for a week or more this February. This sign amused me because I have long thought of my life as an airplane with God as the pilot and me the co-pilot. There is a lot of back and forth […]

The Body of Christ is Unity in Diversity

Mar 07, 2016

Pride in our church’s beliefs, putting others down because they don’t have the right beliefs, preaching at others’ sins without acknowledging our own and without getting to know who the person really is—these are very human ways of calling attention to ourselves and taking it away from others. They are ego-based actions which elevate us—that […]

Spiritual Surrender

Mar 30, 2015

Surrender is a loaded word. Give up. Give in. Yield. Capitulate. Submit. Acquiesce. Concede. These are a few of the synonyms for surrender. For an American person surrender often looks like quitting or giving up yourself. Waiving the white flag is not something we are taught. We fight. We take possession. We conquer. We don’t […]

Do you know who you are?

Mar 23, 2015

There is a quote from Shakespeare that has always rung so true to me that for a long time I thought it came from the Bible: “To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, that thou canst not then be false to any man.”[1] Today I am writing […]