by Christine Sine
A couple of weeks ago I was interviewed for the Dear Daughters podcast. Before the interview I was asked to write a letter to my younger self. It was a wonderfully reflective exercise that had me revisiting my childhood and remembering both the good and challenging aspects of it. Interestingly it also had me revisiting my faith journey and asking myself questions that I thought you too would like to reflect on. This was fun and renewing — reminiscing is good for us and it is the topic of one of the chapters in my upcoming book The Gift of Wonder.
Why Did You Commit Your Life to Jesus?
At 15 I had a radical conversion experience. but I look back to my early childhood and realize that God was always nudging me. I always had a craving for something more from life, an awareness of a loving presence outside myself that held me, loved me and comforted me. Wen my spirit raged with anger God brought peace. When my soul felt abandoned God drew me close. When my life seemed full of ashes God showed me beauty. It is hard for me to remember all that made me commit my life to Jesus but I think it was primarily this feeling of only being complete when in God’s presence that was the initial draw, a feeling that has only strengthened as the years progressed.
What has kept you following him?
I grew up with an authoritarian, workaholic God who was hard to follow through those early years. At times my faith stumbled over the harsh disciplines God seemed to impose on me. More that anything it was discovering the God who invites me to be creative, to ask questions and use my imagination, that liberated me from the narrow confines of my early perspectives and kept me on the journey. In later years connecting to a God who loves fun and laughter and beauty has been even more strengthening of my faith. My soul sings with delight and my spirit is full of joy whenever I think of God. It doesn’t mean my faith ignores my own shortcomings and still broken areas, or that I am unaware of the brokenness of the world around me and my need to respond, but it does mean I am more easily able to face these and seek God’s forgiveness and step out in compassionate response.
What is One hope you have for the future of your faith?
My hope is that I will continue to learn more about the wonder and wisdom of my God until the day I die. I want to learn more about what God enjoys and how I can continue to delight the heart of God every day. For now though I will be satisfied with expressing the joy and delight that bubbles up from within at this moment.
What Would You Say To Your Younger Self?
Here is the letter I wrote to my younger self. What would you say?
Dear Eight Year Old Christine,
I write this on a snowy Seattle morning half a world and a lifetime away from where you sit hankering after travel and adventure. You always wanted to travel yet I am sure that in your wildest dreams you could never imagine how this desire will be fulfilled. You will travel far and have many adventures but not as a tourist.
Let your passions drive you, not just your passion for adventure but also your passion for learning, for gardening, and above all your passion for God, now nothing more than a seed but soon to blossom into a beautiful plant that will continue to grow throughout your life.
Reach for what God has seeded in your innermost being. Your love of life, adventure and learning are part of who God has created you to be. They will open your mind to new ideas, new perspectives on faith and new understandings of who God is. As you learn to integrate these deep desires your life will unfold in incredible ways. Most importantly your faith will be strengthened and your love for God will grow deep and strong.
Reach for the extraordinary. Don’t give in to your weaknesses. Never say I couldn’t do that because… And when people tell you something cannot be done because no one has ever done it before, don’t believe them. Try it anyway. You will make mistakes, but you will also make surprising things happen. That is one of your gifts. You will encounter some incredible opportunities and accomplish some amazing things. Don’t let it go to your head though. Learn from the extraordinary people you admire who remain humble and teachable recognizing that the universe is far bigger than they are.
Don’t be afraid to stretch beyond your comfort zones or the comfort zones of those around you. Take risks, experiment, let your creativity inspire you. It is in the wonderful gifts of the unexpected that you will find your greatest fulfillment.
Relish your uniqueness. You are a strong woman. Don’t expect to tread the traditional paths in your career, your lifestyle or your life choices. Be confident in who God has created you to be and don’t let others shape you into the person they think you should become.
Smile often, be kind to others, open yourself to awe and wonder and have fun with life. Don’t be too hard on yourself and learn to love and believe in yourself at an earlier age than I did.
We have also created a special set of Gift of Wonder prayer cards to compliment Christine’s new book coming out, The Gift of Wonder. These cards are designed to enrich your study of The Gift of Wonder. Prayers from the book are illustrated with images to assist your contemplation. The back of each card provides a short excerpt with a question for you to reflect on as you study and process what you are reading. You can purchase a digital copy, 1 set or 3 sets below. There is also an option to pre-order my new book and with your purchase. This bundle is only available through the Godspace website.

by Lilly Lewin
MOVE towards LOVE
I’ve been fortunate to live in many different places. In one town Lent was what you found in your belly button or your dryer, it was not a season of the Church Year. In another town where we lived, Lenten specials were advertised on every fast food sign offering fish sandwiches on Fridays and there were fish fry dinners offered around town. What about you? When you hear the word Lent what comes to mind? What does the word make you think of or feel?
What if we saw the season of Lent as a MOVEMENT towards LOVE this year?
This is a confession prayer station that I created for a Sacred Space prayer experience long ago and I’ve used it many times since, most recently in a Sacred Space called “MOVE TOWARD LOVE” You can use this prayer of confession on your own, with your family, your small group, youth group, or even your entire church. You can create it as a prayer station or pass around the Lint Brush in your small group or around your dinner table and talk about the Lint, the junk, the sin, that sticks to each of us. If you do it with your entire church or a bigger group, you can create multiple prayer stations around the worship space. You also can do it as a corporate response, by having a Lint Brush on each row and have people pass it down as they pray.
Find a Lint Brush.
LENT OR LINT?
When you hear the word LENT what comes to mind?
Do you think LINT or LENT?
Do you think about MOVING towards Easter?
Or do you just think about the stuff in your dryer?
Do you think “sack cloth and ashes”? Does it make you feel guilty?
Do you think about giving stuff up for Lent like chocolate or cokes/soft drinks?
Or do you think of LENT as an opportunity to MOVE closer to Jesus?
Consider LENT…
Ask Jesus to show you today.
LINT…the junk that sticks to each of us.
What JUNK sticks to you ?
What is the SIN that entangles you and
Keeps you from where God wants to take you?
What is keeping you from MOVING and starting an Adventure with God?
USE THE LINT BRUSH.
As you roll the lint brush on your clothes.
Use it as an act of confession.
Ask Jesus to remove the LINT in your life,
The junk, the sin that keeps you from MOVING toward the Love of JESUS!
Ask Jesus to remove the stuff that keeps you from MOVING into the Adventure you are called you to live!
Tell Jesus your LINT.
Give it to HIM.
Ask Jesus to remove it!
He will because He loves you!
MOVE towards LOVE this Lent!
With Lent only a few weeks away, I know that many of you are looking for apps, scripture plans and devotionals to guide your journey. Obviously there are hundreds out there. Written, online, downloadable; you choose. I have tried to provide a few from a variety of theological perspectives. If there are others you think should be on the list, please let me know. And by the way, the photo is of a 500 year old Bible – seemed appropriate for the season especially (at least to me) that though the method we use to study may change, the message is timeless.
Daily Readings
- Sacred Space – Daily Prayer with the Irish Jesuits
- Pray as You Go – also from the Jesuits. Daily prayer for portable MP3 players.
- Live Lent – Embracing Justice. Lent for 2022. Here on Apple or on Android
- Biblegateway.com’s Reading plan for Lent – can also be downloaded as an app.
- Church Father’s Lenten Reading Plan – a downloadable reading plan
- Download The Bible App – The plans deliver a relevant scripture verse to users each day that are themed around the topic selected by the user with one specifically for Lent.
- Interesting 5 apps for Lent from ccr.org.uk.
- Prayers for Lent and Advent on Googleplay
- Seven Apps to Help You Through Lent
- 10 Catholic Apps for Lent
- The Daily Office From the Book of Common Prayer
- Presbyterian USA daily readings
- Presbyterian Mission for 2021, 2022, and also 2023
- Catholic Gallery – Daily Mass Readings for 2022, and for 2023
- Reflections from Forward Day by Day
- Pittsburg Theological Seminary for 2022 and for 2023
And don’t forget the free resources available from Godspace
- 40 Daily Ideas Guide for Lent – FREE download
- Hungering for Life – Creative Exercises for Lent – FREE download
- Maundy Thursday Agape Liturgy – FREE download
- Gospel Eyes by Jeannie Kendall – FREE download
- Resources For Lent
- Music For Lent
- Five Ways to Foster Creativity in Kids During Lent
- Seven Tips for Creating Sacred Space For Lent
- Let’s Get Creative with Lent
- Let’s Get Creative – Doodle Your Way Through the Lenten Calendar
- Stations of the Cross – by Lilly Lewin
- Lenten Reflection Video by Christine Sine
- Is This A Fast – meditation video by Christine Sine
- An Invitation To Journey – Lenten Video by Christine Sine
- Were You There When They Crucified My Lord? This meditation is designed for Good Friday and does not have music.
Please check out our complete list of Godspace resources for Lent through Holy Week including our free downloads.
By Emily Huff —
On the United Nations’ webpage dedicated to the World Day of Social Justice, social justice is defined as “an underlying principle for peaceful and prosperous coexistence within and among nations. We uphold the principles of social justice when we promote gender equality or the rights of indigenous peoples and migrants. We advance social justice when we remove barriers that people face because of gender, age, race, ethnicity, religion, culture or disability.”
February 20th has been a United Nations special observance day annually since 2008 in an effort to promote global awareness and action around issues of social justice to promote development and human dignity. The focus has been on working to guarantee fair outcomes for all in the areas of employment, social dialogue and social protection.
As a way to honor this day, I wanted to share a recent reflection after reading one of Martin Luther King Jr.’s sermons when he preached on Luke 10:33: “But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity.”
Dr. King said, “The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: ‘If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?’ But… the good Samaritan reversed the question: ‘If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?’”
When I first read the second part of the quote, I actually misread it. I thought it said, “If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to me?”
And I think that this mistake in the reading is quite helpful in understanding social justice. First we must ask if we do not stop, what will happen to our brothers and sisters? Yes- but also, what will happen to me if we do not take the time to stop? For in the body of Christ, our neighbor’s pain certainly is our business. If we look away and think it has no connection to us, we are foolish and we are missing God’s call to serve.
As we ponder what this means in our own lives and what an invitation to us might be on this day observing Social Justice, I want to offer Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s words again as a guide:
“Thou Eternal God, out of whose absolute power and infinite intelligence the whole universe has come into being, we humbly confess that we have not loved thee with our hearts, souls and minds, and we have not loved our neighbors as Christ loved us. We have all too often lived by our own selfish impulses rather than by the life of sacrificial love as revealed by Christ. We often give in order to receive. We love our friends and hate our enemies. We go the first mile but dare not travel the second. We forgive but dare not forget. And so as we look within ourselves, we are confronted with the appalling fact that the history of our lives is the history of an eternal revolt against you. But thou, O God, have mercy upon us. Forgive us for what we could have been but failed to be. Give us the intelligence to know your will. Give us the courage to do your will. Give us the devotion to love your will. In the name and spirit of Jesus, we pray. Amen.”
For many of us, Lent is a season for listening – to God, to each other and to the world around us.
Here are some suggestions – from many different perspectives and understandings. Some are classics like Foster, Keating and Merton.
Enjoy and make sure you listen well!
- Anderson, Keith: A Spirituality of Listening: Living What We Hear
- Baab, Lynne: The Power of Listening: Building Skills for Mission and Ministry
- Bill, J. Brent: Holy Silence: The Gift of Quaker Spirituality
- Boss, Gayle: Wild Hope: Stories for Lent from the Vanishing
- Brenner, Juliet: Contemplative Vision: A Guide to Christian Art and Prayer
- Buechner, Frederick: Listening to Your Life
- Cyzewski, Ed: Flee, Be Silent, Pray
- de Caussade, Jean-Pierre: The Sacrament of the Present Moment
- Deere, Jack: Surprised by the Voice of God
- Goll, James W.: The Lost Art of Practicing His Presence
- Guenther, Margaret: Holy Listening: The Art of Spiritual Direction
- Fr. Gabriel: Divine Intimacy
- Foster: Prayer: Finding the Heart’s True Home
- _______ Sanctuary of the Soul: Journey into Meditative Prayer
- Hart, Thomas: The Art of Christian Listening
- Hipps, Shane: Flickering Pixels
- Huggett, Joyce: The Joy of Listening to God
- Iyer, Pico: Art of Stillness: Adventures in Going NoWhere
- Keating, Thomas: Invitation to Love
- Kelly, Thomas: A Testament of Devotion
- Kidd, Sue Monk: When the Heart Waits: Spiritual Direction for Life’s Sacred Questions
- Lenton, Joy (A Godspace Writer!): Experiencing Lent: Sensing the Sacred in Our Midst
- Long, Anne: Listening
- Loring, Patricia: Listening Spirituality
- Merton: Thoughts in Solitude
- __________ Contemplative Prayer
- __________ Dialogues with Silence
- Nepo, Mark: Seven Thousand Ways to Listen: Staying Close to What Is Sacred
- Newell, J. Phillip: Listening for the Heartbeat of God
- Nouwen, Henri: The Way of the Heart: Connecting with God Through Wisdom, Prayer and Silence
- Palmer, Parker: Let Your Life Speak
- _______________ A Hidden Wholeness
- Phillips, Susan: Candlelight: Illuminating The Art of Spiritual Direction
- Rohr, Richard: Everything Belongs: The Gift of Contemplative Prayer
- Schade, Leah: For the Beauty of the Earth – A Lenten Devotional
- Valters Paintner, Christine: Lectio Divina: the Sacred Art
- _____________ The Soul’s Slow Ripening
- Virkler, Mark: How to Hear God’s Voice
- Wilson, Rod: How Do I Help a Hurting Friend
Please check out our complete list of Godspace resources for Lent through Holy Week including our free downloads.
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