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 […]

Willingness. Commitment. Surrender. These three attitudes of openness are the keys to our growth into a deeper relationship with God. He does not wrestle or command or even grab us away from our personal trajectory or take away our free will. She knows better than to make us a draggee by trying to convince us […]

Surrendered. Embracing. Peaceful. Calm. Centered. I first encountered some women who radiated these qualities in 1998 when I entered a training program for spiritual directors at the Mercy Center in Burlingame, California. I’ve met a number of Sisters of Mercy since then and most all of them emanated these same qualities. The essential quality is […]

Pale pink blossoms on branches reaching up for the sky. White or pink petals on arms gracefully arching right or left. Like ballerinas the flowering trees express a longing for sun and beauty and space. They shine brilliantly for a week or two or three, then the blossoms fall like snow to the ground, becoming […]

Pale pink blossoms on branches reaching up for the sky. White or pink petals on arms gracefully arching right or left. Like ballerinas the flowering trees express a longing for sun and beauty and space. They shine brilliantly for a week or two or three, then the blossoms fall like snow to the ground, becoming […]

What is inviting me now? What am I pushing away? What is God saying to me? What are my priorities?  Sitting with God means not having all the answers; sometimes there are only questions. Other times there are clear priorities, a clear direction. So when it’s clear, go do it. When there are questions only, […]

       What potential lies within us, untapped and untried? What dreams lie unrealized? What do we not know about ourselves? I suspect that the unknown potential within us would speak volumes about us if we let it speak. How can we live our lives so that we begin to bring forward to consciousness the untapped […]

Surrendering our lives to God is the dividing line in our lives. Before surrendering we live in the physical world that we see and the world that we’ve been taught to expect. After surrendering we still live in what we call the “real” world, but our eyes start to focus on what Paul in 2 […]

You know, it’s a relief to surrender your life to God. Have you noticed how difficult it is to retain control of your life? It’s as if the more you try to control it, the harder it gets to do. When you surrender your self to God, you experience a great sense of relief at […]

For a friend of mine, let’s call her Mary, it is her daughter-in-law who drives her nuts. Her son’s wife violates everything that my friend holds holy and natural, but it is the neglect of the health of her grandchildren that she has the most trouble turning over to God. Mary has a very close […]