by Kathie Hempel,
At the time of my birth, my maternal grandmother was in the Ontario Hospital. In those days it was still labeled as the hospital for the mentally insane.
In the late ’40s and early ’50s in both the United States and Canada, wives could be placed in such institutions on their husbands’ signature alone. This resulted in many women being committed, lobotomized, and given shock treatments for no more than their husband’s weariness with the marriage. Were they not mentally unstable when they entered, they certainly had depression, anxiety, and trauma when they left.
American actress Glenn Close has said, “What mental health needs is more sunlight, more candor, and more unashamed conversation.”
This is particularly true in the Christian community, where we can tend to quote scripture and feel we have answered the call to care. Scripture is helpful, but not for one in the throes of a panic or anxiety attack. “My peace I give you” does little to comfort or reassure one speaking to a portrait of Jesus on the Sunday School classroom wall, during a schizophrenic trance, believing he is Satan.
Ignoring the woman crying uncontrollably during the service or escorting her from the room does not impart God’s love. Some will even go as far as to say such as these don’t belong in church. Nor, they will say, does the addict hiding out in the bathroom, the man smelling of last night’s drink, or the woman whose depression had her seek solace in the arms of a married man.
Scriptures are wonderful to comfort and heal. However, in situations such as the above, we best first use them to correct our attitudes.
1 Samuel 16:7 (ESV): For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.
Mental illness is not heart disease.
Matthew 7 (NIV): For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
World Mental Health Day 2021 is tomorrow. As Christians, we first pray. A good one to pray is the third step prayer used by those who practice 12 Step Programs, where they know they first must heal themselves and their relationships with others to be of benefit in this world.
“God, I offer myself to Thee – to build with me and to do with me as Thou wilt. Relieve me of the bondage of self, that I may better do Thy will. Take away my difficulties, that victory over them may bear witness to those I would help of Thy Power, Thy Love, and Thy Way of life. May I do Thy will always!”
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders lists nearly 300 different disorders and variants. Many sufferers fall into more than two or three categories. Over 970 million people worldwide have been diagnosed. Approximately 1 in 5 individuals in North America–26% of Americans 18 and older, 34% of Gen Z, 1 in 6 children–are diagnosed, and those are just the ones we know about. Among the unemployed, rates are as high as 79% – 90% in those who are not working due to a mental health issue.
Categories range from anxiety and other mood disorders to trauma-related disorders like PTSD, substance abuse disorders, eating disorders, and personality and psychotic disorders. Many people we meet during the day at our jobs, out shopping, in our book clubs, our churches, online groups, and our own homes are or should be diagnosed to get help. Some can’t because of the high cost of insurance. Some are obviously ill. Most are not.
Often, we don’t want to talk to them. We are capable of a “now, now; have a cup of tea” response. Yet they need our help.
Mental illness is not something we can ignore, nor control on our own. However, we can offer our ear in addition to our prayers for those so desperate not to be shunned. Some need simple practical help to fill out required paperwork, help to understand finances, or need an advocate so they can access the right help.
For ourselves, we need to pray for tolerance, patience, and the desire to serve those who suffer. And for the courage to speak when the ill one is us.
Hugh Prather, author of Notes to Myself, wrote, “My anxiety does not come from thinking about the future, but from wanting to control it.”
As with many other life-threatening diseases, some will never recover. That does not mean we turn our backs.
Galatians 6:2 (ESV) requires that we “bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” Selah.
Join Christine and Lilly for the next session of Facebook Live on October 13th, 2021 at 9am PT. If you are not able to join live, you can check out the recording on YouTube later.
This year, Halloween falls on a Sunday. Which for me means we get to use all the flavors of the season as inspiration to pray! Jesus used things he saw along his way, like wildflowers, soil, and sparrows, so we can use things like Candy Corn and chocolate! Legend has it that St. Patrick used the shamrock to explain the Trinity to the Irish, so why not use Candy Corn at Halloween? Today we are praying with Halloween candy, and since chocolate is my love language, lots of chocolate prayers. These are just some ideas. See what they might spark in you and feel free to morph and change them.
I’d love to hear about how you use these. Have a chocolate today, or another favorite candy and Taste and see that the Lord is good!
HALLOWEEN CANDY PRAYERS:
Have a bowl of mixed Halloween candy, at least one piece for each person.
This meditation can be done with a group as a corporate prayer or as an individual prayer station.
Remember that younger students are much more concrete in their thinking so this probably works better with high school age and beyond, but don’t be afraid to try it with younger students just give them more examples and guidance of what you are going for, since they don’t all think in metaphor/comparisons yet. If you are doing this prayer activity with a group, be aware of any nut allergies and have an alternative choice or avoid the nuts completely.
The candy choices will also be determined by where you live. So think about the varieties that can be used for prayer! I was just thinking about how much better the UK Kit Kat bars are than ours here in the States!
Example candy:
Small Hershey bars, Kit Kat bars, M&Ms, Mounds, regular Skittles, sour Skittles, Tootsie Rolls, Tootsie Roll pops, mini Snickers, Mars, etc.
PRAYER 1: Praying with a Piece of Candy
One idea is to have each person in the group choose a piece of candy out of a mixed bowl of candy.
Another way to go is to have everyone have the same type of candy and do a prayer with that particular candy.
Example 1: Praying with Kit Kat Bars.
Pass out a Kit Kat bar to each person. Hold the Kit Kat in your hand and consider how you are sharing your life right now. Ask God to show you. Ask: “Who can you share with or who is God inviting you to share more of yourself with by serving or giving?” Take time to pray about this.
How do you share your gifts with others? With whom do you need to break off a piece of the Kit Kat bar and share? How is God inviting you to share your life with other people? Talk to God about this.
Give participants time to reflect between each question, or have the questions written out and have participants write their responses and then after a given time invite people to share their thoughts with the group.
Example 2: Pick out a piece of Halloween candy.
Consider how your life is going right now, how is your life like that piece of candy?
Consider the flavors, the textures of that piece of candy.
Ask God to show you.
Hershey bar (or plain chocolate bar):
Is life feeling plain, not very exciting, like a plain chocolate bar?
Or maybe it’s feeling nutty? Like a bar with almonds like an Almond Joy?
Talk to God about this.
Kit Kat:
Are you sharing your life, like your real self, who you are with anyone?
Like sharing a Kit Kat bar?
With whom would you like to share your life? Your time?
How would you like to serve or give to others? Talk to God about this.
Skittles:
Is your life an adventure like different flavors of Skittles?
How would you like to add more flavor or more color to your world, to your life?
Talk to God about this. Ask God to begin to show you the adventure ahead of you.
What color or flavor represents your life right now?
Other: Caramel/Taffy/Tootsie Roll
Is life hard? Perhaps life is rather hard to endure like a chewy Tootsie Roll…or does it have the potential for adventure and unknown like a Tootsie Roll pop?
What things are you chewing on right now? What questions or problems are you facing? Talk to God about this. Ask God for help.
Maybe life is colorful like a handful of M&M’s with lots of great things going on. Talk to God about this. What are some of the great things that you’ve experienced lately? What are you thankful for? Take some time and thank God for these things.
Snickers ETC.
Some candy combines lots of flavor and textures together. Like Reeses or Snickers.
Consider your week. What things have you experienced? How have you seen God in these things? What are the good things? What are the bad things? What are the plain boring things, and the sweet and sour things that occur all week long? God is present in all of them. Take some time and consider your week. Where did you see God? Talk to God about your life.
Take some time…consider, think about your life.
Where have you seen God at work even in the plain and boring parts?
Even in the sour parts of your life? Thank God for being there in all aspects of your life.
Eat your candy and thank Jesus for all that he is up to in your life and all the wonderful flavors in our world.
Digging Deeper this week: Consider the justice issues around Halloween treats. What about people without candy? Or about the people who produce the chocolate for your favorite treat? Where does the candy come from and who is producing the chocolate? We can all be more aware of areas of pain and suffering caused by the mass production of chocolate and sugar. And we can consider buying fair trade chocolates as a part of our justice practice.
PRAYER 2: Have example candy types/mini candy bars displayed, empty candy wrappers, pieces of chocolate to taste.
Look at and think about the candy on the table.
Now consider your life with God, your relationship, your journey with Jesus.
Which candy reflects your life with Jesus?
Your life with God…Is it good and rich like your favorite candy bar?
Or maybe your life with God is like an empty candy wrapper with nothing inside.
Is it plain and boring like a plain candy bar?
Or maybe it is rich like dark chocolate?
Maybe life is rocky, you know, filled with nuts. Or hard to chew because of the nougat and caramel.
Is your life with Jesus tasting sour like sour Skittles or sweet like M&Ms?
TALK TO GOD about this. Tell God where you are and then tell Jesus where you’d like to be on your journey with Him.
Take a piece of chocolate. You can use chocolate chips rather than small candy bars depending upon the size of your group.
Eat the Candy. TASTE and SEE that the Lord is GOOD.
Jesus longs to be in relationship with you.
You just have to open the door to your life and ask Jesus to come in.
EAT the chocolate as a symbol of your willingness to start a relationship or get back on track in your relationship with Jesus.
PRAYER 3: Box of Chocolates
You will need a box of chocolates and an empty box. You could show the clip from the movie “Forest Gump.”
In the movie “Forest Gump,” Tom Hank’s character says “life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get. “ Consider your life and compare it to a box of chocolates.
Maybe the pieces of candy that you have tried out of the box have been gross, maybe you were expecting a piece filled with rich chocolate and you got a piece of slimy fruit filling instead. Or, you were expecting plain and got nuts instead.
TALK TO GOD ABOUT THE BAD pieces of chocolate, the bad pieces, the negative pieces of your life, both in the past and going on now.
God’s not afraid of your feelings. God wants to hear you. God is listening.
Thank God for both the good things and the yucky things happening in your life right now.
Ask Jesus to show you where he is and what he is up to in your life.
TAKE the TIME TO LISTEN to Jesus.
Maybe you’ve felt like an empty box of chocolates rather than a full box.
Talk to JESUS about this.
Ask Jesus to fill your life with new things and show you what he is up to in weeks ahead.
When you see a candy box, and candy bars in the store, Let them remind you that God is filling your box with GOOD THINGS. Let the Candy box remind you that God is at work in your life. Know that God is working and filling your life with God’s love!
YOU are not an empty box, you are not flavorless, YOU ARE CREATED, HAND CRAFTED by the Master Craftsman!
God created you to be God’s favorite.
Taste and See that God is Good!
©lillylewin and freerangeworship.com
The Spirituality of Gardening Online Course is available for 180 days of access for only $39.99. This interactive course includes video sessions with Christine Sine as well as 8 other guest gardeners. Visit our store page for more information.
by Emily Huff,
This is what our kids have to deal with having a mom who is a teacher.
Our family assignment every year around Thanksgiving is to write a letter about what we are grateful for and to share these letters around the table. While there might be some eyes that roll when I remind them of this exercise each year, I am convinced that this is such good work for us all to build these muscles and to practice giving thanks together. The notebook where we keep all these letters from years past also serves as a pretty sweet time capsule (as we started it in 1995), and we get some good laughs looking back through different reflections, drawings, and handwriting through the years.
Thanksgiving Letters
Our Thanksgiving Notebook
Notebook Page
When we have celebrated Thanksgiving at other family’s houses, we would not ask everyone to participate, and just the four of us in our immediate family would write letters and read them together later over the holiday weekend.
Over the last few years when we have hosted Thanksgiving at our house, we have invited those gathered with us to write a letter if they wanted to (making sure they understood that there was no pressure) to read around our table after our Thanksgiving feast.
1996 Letter
2012 Reading of the Thanksgiving Letter
2012 Letter
This 2012 letter was from our son Taylor when he was 7 years old. I love that he added Legos after he realized that was not on his original list. 🙂
2012 Anna’s Letter at age 10
2017 Thanksgiving Reading
2017 Thanksgiving Reading
A few years ago, we invited a friend to join us for Thanksgiving during her sophomore year in college to be her home away from home, and we invited her to write a letter. I pulled out our notebook of Thanksgiving letters and was able to show her three letters from 1998 when we spent Thanksgiving with her and her family when she was just 2 1/2 years old. We were able to reminisce and read letters from her parents and see the list of things she had dictated to her mom 17 years ago. What a treat to have her add another one to our notebook so many years later! Milk and sunshine made the list back in ’98 so she made sure to put them on her list that year too. 🙂
This world dishes out plenty of things that can weigh us down so I believe it’s essential to carve out intentional time to focus on the good gifts we have been given and to cultivate gratitude together.
Join Christine and Lilly for the next session of Facebook Live on October 13th, 2021 at 9am PT. If you are not able to join live, you can check out the recording on YouTube later.
by Sara Easterly,
It made no sense. I’d done everything by the book—nurturing tiny seeds into starts, fertilizing the soil with rich compost and rabbit manure, watering regularly, pruning with love. I’d read countless gardening books, attended seminars through the local nursery, talked with master gardeners, studied what-to-plant-when charts, and, in my downtime, clicked through gardening apps on my phone. I even bought myself some overalls, hoping to channel the inner homesteader lying dormant in me. In other words, I worked to ensure I had control of everything in my garden.
But … by the end of the summer, which included a record-breaking heatwave, I was reminded that incredible effort does not always equal control. Sure, I got lucky with some lush basil and my garden yielded enough cucumbers to make five jars of pickles. But rodents ravaged the snow peas, a disease destroyed my green peppers, bugs besieged my parsley and kale, and crows capsized the corn. Pumpkins, cantaloupe, and tomatillos that once held great promise either withered or suffered from arrested development, unable to get the hydration needed to flourish during the hot, hot season.
While despairing over my gardening woes, I found comfort in scripture:
“Though the cherry trees don’t blossom
and the strawberries don’t ripenThough the apples are worm-eaten
And the wheat fields stunted,
Though the sheep pens are sheepless
And the cattle barns empty,
I’m singing joyful praise to God.”
—Habakkuk 3:17-19 (MSG)
I still think a little garden-grumbling was valid. I’m not a fan of toxic positivity and believe in the importance of expressing our frustrations and emotions, lest they build up. And … this reminder from Habakkuk gave me an opportunity to praise God for the many things that went well with my garden—with or without a tangible reward in hand.
For instance, there was the warm sun on my face all season long, the smell and feel of dirt on my hands, and the blessings of being outside. There were master gardeners and other green thumbs God has placed in my life, who were a pleasure to consult with and depend upon (when depending on others is a growth area for me). What about the rodents, bugs, and birds I inadvertently fed? I enjoy their company year-round … is it really so bad to share some of the summer harvest with them? Didn’t God design them to be foragers, and aren’t I asked to be a steward of the earth and all living things?
When I paused to reframe the situation through a lens of gratitude and praise, I didn’t feel that all was lost. In fact, had I thought I had it all under my complete control, I may not have even noticed such a bounty of blessings. How sad that would be—like my tomatillos, my own display of stunted growth.
In what areas of your life are you sensing a lack of control right now? What blessings can you root out when you let go of your own expectations and look for the gifts God is giving in the situation? How might you praise God?
Embark on this healing journey with Christine Sine, Lilly Lewin, and Bethany Dearborn Hiser with the Time to Heal Online Course. Each session is lead by one of our instructors and allows you 180 days of access for only $39.99. The goal of this course is to provide time, space, and tools to work toward healing.
Yesterday was the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi. During the weekend, across denominational lines and throughout the world, his life and legacy were celebrated. Annual pet and animal blessings were held. St. Francis is so compelling that you can walk into a Lowe’s or a Walmart store, or any number of plant nurseries, and buy a statue of his likeness. Where do we see him most? In gardens and adorning birdbaths. There are numerous accounts of him preaching to birds.
Francis straddled the 12th and 13th centuries, dying in 1226. Born into a wealthy family, he was a wild youth fond of partying. He served in the military for a short time. While on the road it is said that he met a leper whose appearance had a profound effect on him. During that time, he fell sick, had dreams and visions, and experienced a conversion to Christ. Following a break with his father who disowned him, Francis renounced his father’s wealth. Taking off his clothes, he handed them to his father declaring his marriage to “Lady Poverty.”
What is often overlooked or forgotten about Francis is his total identification with poverty. For years he was homeless by choice, caring for street people who had not made that choice. He ministered to the sick, especially lepers. Perhaps we need to be planting statues of Francis in places where the urban poor are. Statues of Francis placed near soup kitchens and homeless shelters would remind us of his identification not just with animals but with “the least of these.”
Francis, like Jesus, cared about reforming and mending a broken world. One biographer says of St. Francis, “His life and his relationship with the world – including animals, the elements, the poor and sick, as well as princes and prelates, women as well as men, represented the breakthrough of a new model of human and cosmic community.” (Richard Rohr)
A new model of human community and cosmic community. Such a vision might be called God’s shalom. Theologian Walter Bruggeman says that shalom is the central vision of the Bible in which “all of creation is one, every creature in community with every other, living in harmony and security toward the joy and well-being of every other creature.” To care about the well-being of every other creature was at the heart of the vision of St. Francis of Assisi.
Murray Bodo wrote a spiritual and imaginative biography of Francis and said this, “God was everywhere and God’s presence charged creation with a power and glory that made everything shine with beauty and goodness in Francis’ eyes.” (The Journey and the Dream.)
For Francis, the Earth was alive. And the earth is alive. It is a community of life dependent on other life forms for existence. All living organisms on the planet breathe, inhale and exhale the same air. We share the other elements of water, earth, and fire. The Earth does not belong to us, we belong to it.
I think if Francis was among us today, his central message would be one of repentance. He would remind us to think and walk in a new direction, letting go of the idea that humanity is higher, greater, and more valued than or separate from the rest of creation. He would remind us that not only is creation good; it is sacred because it is a manifestation of God. He would invite us to better care for God’s beautiful creation, this Earth, our fragile island home.
Earthrise
“Earthrise,” the first known picture of the Earth from the vantage point of the moon, was taken by astronaut William Anders on the Apollo 8 mission in 1968. We now have the ability with our own eyes to see a world without borders, a radiant but vulnerable gem floating in space. Yet, without the ability to view the Earth from this perspective, Francis had a cosmic awareness of the inter-dependence, the “Oneness” of all living things.
Although the feast day to celebrate the life of Francis has come and gone; his vision remains. There is always time to honor his legacy by a mindful practice of seeing life through his eyes. Consider contemplating the sacredness and wonders of our cosmos, the galaxies, stars, and the planets. Spend time with each of the elements, plants and animals. Give thanks for the ways they nurture and care for us. Practice listening to the Earth, and seeing God in creation and in all of humanity. I close with this prayer as I can imagine Francis reciting it.
“Earth-maker God, as the hand is made for holding and the eye for seeing, you have fashioned us for joy. Grant us your vision that we may find it everywhere— in the sunlit faces of our world, in the wild flower’s beauty, in the lark’s melody, in a child’s smile, in a mother’s love, in the face of a steadfast man. Our society is ever restless always craving one more thing to do, seeking happiness through more and more possessions. Teach us to be at peace with what we have, to embrace what we have been given and received, to know that enough is enough until our striving ceases and we rest content in you alone.”
Amen.
Come walk with us in Wonder through the Advent season. Join Christine and Lilly for a virtual retreat on November 20th, 2021 from 9:30 am-12:30 pm PDT. Save the date and watch this space for more details to come!
by Lisa DeRosa,
We are pleased to announce and introduce the journal that is used in conjunction with the Lean Towards the Light this Advent & Christmas devotional that we published last year and updated for this year. The journal is a great tool to use with the devotional. Each day has a reading of either a liturgy, reflection, poem, or prayer that correlates with the journal which includes scripture, questions, and suggested activities.
There are many ways to experience these resources that we are offering for the season of Advent. For example, we are offering the Advent devotional and journal as a bundle pack (available as a download) as well as bundled with the Advent Prayer Cards (as a download too). The Advent Prayer Cards are sold as 1 set, 3 sets, or downloadable PDF.
Come walk with us in Wonder through the Advent season. Join Christine and Lilly for a virtual retreat on November 20th, 2021 from 9:30 am-12:30 pm PDT. Save the date and watch this space for more details to come!
by Christine Sine
Another week enamoured of my new morning mantra:
Thank God for the gift of life, this wondrous gift so freely given.
This week my focus was on the gift of breath, so intimately interwoven with the gift of life. This is a recurrent theme for me, but I have never felt so deeply moved by my meditations. Breath is the first gift God ever gives us, and the last. It is the gift that is given every moment of every day over and over and over again. It is a gift given to every living organism. In some way, every single part of creation inhales and exhales. Yet we so easily take this incredible gift for granted. Though perhaps one of the lessons we learned from COVID is not to take our breath for granted.
So today I sit looking at the prayer above, which I also have printed on a canvas board, and thinking about my breath and the wonder of a God who reached down into the soil, molded it into the shape we call human, breathed on it and formed that first human being. (Genesis 2:7 The Voice) Then I fast forward to the New Testament and imagine myself as one of Jesus’ disciples. I close my eyes and sense his warm breath as he moves close and breathes his spirit into me and says: “Welcome the Holy Spirit of the living God.” (John 20:21-22 The Voice)
Now I cup my hands and take a deep breath in through my nose and out into my hands. The warmth of it feels good against the chill of the morning air. I walk outside and repeat the process, imagining my breath moving out into the atmosphere laden with carbon dioxide that the trees in our back yard eagerly grab hold of, replenishing the air I exhaled with oxygen then sending it back to me or on to someone else. Wow, this act of breathing is far more wondrous and far more complex than I imagined. My breath is connected not just to the great Creator of the universe, it is connected to every other creature on our planet. God’s breath instills life into all creation. This wondrous gift of life and breath is truly incredible and I pray you will pause to think about it today.
I thank you God for the gift of breath,
First gift and last of my life,
A gift that fills me every moment of every day –
over and over and over again.
I thank you God for the wonder
of waking each day with breath in my lungs,
and your love in my heart.
I thank you for the breath you breathe,
On me, in me, through me.
Thank you for the gift you keep on giving
your life filling me each moment with love and mercy and joy.
(c) Christine Sine 2021
So much to give thanks to God for in every single breath of every day.
If you have time watch the video below and rejoice in the wonder of breath and of the God who continually gives us this wondrous gift.
You might also like to check out the series of breath cards I created a couple of years ago.
They are available as a downloadable pdf or as a set of cards
As an Amazon Associate, I receive a small amount for purchases made through appropriate links.
Thank you for supporting Godspace in this way.
When referencing or quoting Godspace Light, please be sure to include the Author (Christine Sine unless otherwise noted), the Title of the article or resource, the Source link where appropriate, and ©Godspacelight.com. Thank you!