Suzanne’s 2012 Theme Song - SHINE

 ”Stand in the moment renewed and vitalized. Claim it like you own it…Go out in the world and shine and light up the world.” - Wahoo Shine (Osunlade’s Yoruba Soul Mix)

When I was a little girl I adored that Sunday school song This Little Light of Mine. It made me feel empowered and special like I was obligated by God to let my goodness and talents spill into the world. It made me feel like God was demanding that we all fill the world with our unique gifts. I guess Shine is my 30-something version of that Sunday school song.

Enjoy and get your SHINE on.

Suzanne’s Prayer for 2012 - Joyously jumping head first into the unknown

My Lord, God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But, I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always, though I may seem to be lost in the shadow of death I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone. - Thomas Merton

This is my prayer for the year. I just have this feeling about it. It keeps popping into my mind. I came across it playing around on line. I went to the National Cathedral to walk the Labyrinth and it was the suggested contemplation prayer for the walk. The words are resonating with a part of me deep down. The past five months have been full of big changes. Today my life feels full of joy and in many ways brand new. But brand new also means unknown……. So I guess with this prayer on my mind, I’m joyously jumping head first into the unknown.

An observation

I think about God and Jesus and the flow of the universe pretty regularly throughout the day. I feel God trying to get me to make space in my day to spend with her. But work has been so busy and this has definitely been a summer of weekend travel. Burning the candle at both ends that’s what I’ve been doing. I feel alive and energized and excited for the next adventure. I haven’t always felt this way. It started when I decided to actively pursue a relationship to God and dive into the flow of life. Right now I feel immersed in life, but it doesn’t seem as purposeful without daily conversations and meditations with God. Life can carry me away down many different roads I may not really want to travel if I forget my compass. My daily quiet time with God set my compass to it’s true north. I know this, but oh it’s easy to push aside in a busy life. I started this blog as an exploration into prayer and meditation and any other practice that would build my relationship to God. It’s helping me see clear patterns. When I don’t write here, I’m not praying as I should. When I don’t pray as I should I feel a little scattered. When I feel scattered I can skip off my heart’s path. This is just an observation.

I’m so feeling this. I was thinking the same thing. I’m reading a book about the Holy Spirit. The author asks would you give up everything you know in your life to follow the Spirit. Tough question. Today’s earthquake made me think about a few things. 1) Don’t cling to the material stuff. It can be smashed in an instant. 2) Do I want my last minutes to be spent doing some crap that I hate when my gut, my heart is tugging me in another direction? Nope. freespiritsunited: My lesson of the day!!!!
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I’m so feeling this. I was thinking the same thing. I’m reading a book about the Holy Spirit. The author asks would you give up everything you know in your life to follow the Spirit. Tough question. Today’s earthquake made me think about a few things. 1) Don’t cling to the material stuff. It can be smashed in an instant. 2) Do I want my last minutes to be spent doing some crap that I hate when my gut, my heart is tugging me in another direction? Nope.

freespiritsunited:

My lesson of the day!!!!

Riven means broken, it means shattered or wounded or unhealed, and I think that notion is very important to me and my notion of God and of religion: that we are broken creatures, very broken creatures. And I don’t think of God as necessarily healing that brokeness as much as participating in it.

—Christian Wiman, the editor of Poetry magazine from his interview with Radio Open Source on his book of poems, Every Riven Thing.

Shattered by David Shield“Shattered” (photo: David Shield/Flickr, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Confession: Why?

Spiritualityisreality is concerned about me confessing. Wants to know why I would do such a thing and what am I going to confess. And told me that God already knows my thoughts and deeds. Thank you for your interest and concern. I really do appreciate it. If spiritualityisreality is concerned that I am going to used confession as a way to torture myself, don’t worry. I’m not into self-degradation anymore.

I’m practicing confession for the same reasons that I write grocery lists, tell my loved ones that I love them, share hugs, do yoga regulary. I’m a simple human. I need actions and interactions to make life real for me. I need to consistent practices to create good habits, to stay flexible and healthy.

I know that God knows everything about me, has seen me in every light possible. I know this. I’m cultivating a relationship with God, the universe, my heart. Relationships are work. This is my work for now. I would like to practice confession because I know that I must co-create my life on this earth along with the creator. For me, part of the co-creation is acknowledging where I am and using that knowledge and God’s guidance to move forward. I’m still learning and growing into this life. I still have cobwebs to clear out of my mind and my heart could let a little more light in.

I am curious why you are concerned? Do you suggest I do something different? Let me know.

Confession

Confession has been on my mind since simplyorthodox posted the Jesus Prayer on this blog. I’m not very familiar with the practice of confession. I grew up in an Episcopal church and we did a weekly pre-scripted group confession. I never went very deep into the specific actions for which I needed to confess or repent.

I have always been intrigued by Catholic confession that I see in movies. There is a power in speaking words. Breathing sound into my deepest thoughts has an illuminating effect. It can reveal the shallowness, mean-spiritedness, truth, genius, sweetness,etc. of my current attitude about a situation. Once I release words into the atmosphere I must own them. It’s much easier to ignore and shove down secret thoughts.

I heard a sermon once that concerned sin. It was a while ago, but I believe he was saying that sins are real and that we all sin. No one is perfect. He defined sin as anything that causes a separation between you and God. He said that we should learn from our sins instead of dwelling in the sadness of sinning.

So my sins may send me to my own personal Hell. But the point is to let these times burn away what is no longer serving me so that I walk away renewed, a little wiser, more humble and I do not repeat the same mistake. And ideally make fewer new messes in life. But first I must recognize and take responsibility for my shortcomings.

So I guess that’s it. I’ll be practicing confession. I don’t really know what that looks like yet, but here I go.