Last week I talked about my preparations for Lent, and the process I am planning to follow each week. This week I have worked on putting a special journal together for the season. I did something similar for Advent and so enjoyed the journalling experience that I decided to try it again.
For Advent I used this process, but found myself a little frustrated with my inability to add and move pages around in the journal I chose. So for Lent I started from scratch. It has been a very meaningful, reflective spiritual practice.
Collecting Materials
First I needed to take time to think about what I wanted to accomplish during Lent and what would best serve my purpose. I ended up buying a simple 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 binder, some filler sheets and dividers. I also found some parchment paper out in our office that I cut down to be small enough to add pages for doodling and colouring on.
Question: What would you like to see happen in your life this year? What would be the best form of journalling for recording your journey? What materials would you need to accomplish this?
Meditating on the Cover
I didn’t like the cover on the binder I bought so decided to design my own using recycled materials. I planned to use an old woolen sweater I had knitted years ago. It was worn out but as I often found with my own handiwork, I could not bear to throw it out so intended to wash and felt the wool. Unfortunately our water was switched off on the day I set aside for this project because of some plumbing work that was being done. So I had to rethink.
It was a chance to use my imagination and creativity in new ways. In my chest of sewing materials and found some scraps from a dress I made for our honeymoon 25 years ago. It is a beautiful piece of Swiss cotton my mother gave me. So as I cut it out, hemmed it on my sewing machine which I pulled out for the first time in 10 years, and crafted it to fit snuggly over the binder. You can imagine the thoughts that were going through my mind – memories of Tom’s and my first days together, memories of my Mum and memories of the couple who gave me the sewing machine 30 years ago.
Who would have thought that making a journal cover could be such a wonderful experience!
Question: How could you make the creation of your journal into a meditative process? What might God say to you in the midst of it?
Putting the Pieces Together.
Part of what I enjoyed with my Advent journal was the colouring of the lettering of my weekly themes. So I decided I wanted to do this again for Lent. Once again I had fun choosing decorative themes:
Replace despair with hope – doodle gum
Let fear become love – zenfyrkalt
Cast out mourning with Joy – vtks encantar
transform indifference into caring – doodlowers
Triumph over oppression with Justice – spring
Let death give birth to life – Kingthings spyrogyra
I printed the words out on parchment paper so that the colour would not bleed through, punched holes in the pages and added them to the journal. I added some extra parchment pages to each section for creative doodling and drawing, some lined paper for reflection and separated each theme with tabs so that I could find where I am at easily.
Question: How would your project come together?
What Have I Learnt?
This has been a fun, reflective project as a preparation for Lent.
- It made me think about the season with intentionality – what is the purpose of Lent and what to I hope to see happen in myself during the season?
- It inspired my creativity. The moment I gave myself permission to think outside the box and imagine something new I felt God’s creative energy welling up within me. We call ourselves co-creators with God yet rarely apply creativity to our spiritual practices
- Obstacles I encountered were not roadblocks but opportunities to explore new paths. I could so easily have given up or put my project off when I realized the water would be turned off but I stopped to reflect on what new thing God would have me do instead. The new path was far more inspirational than my original thoughts.
- Any activity can become a spiritual practices if we give it our full attention and listen to what God is saying in the midst of it. The entire project only took me about 3 hours, plus the time to purchase my supplies.
- The process is as important as the product. Just as a journey is as important as the destination, so is the creative process as important and the product produced. We are not made to be consumers but creators and the process of creation enriches us and helps us grow.
- Preparing for a new season can be fun, creative and inspirational. Not only did the process inspire me but I am looking forward to Lent with renewed energy and enthusiasm too.
- Creativity is an never ending journey. I am not finished with my journal. I still want to create a design for the front cover, and I want to write out some of the prayers I have posted in the past from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Mother Teresa and others , but this is enough for now. I will mull over it and allow the spirit of God to lead me in the weeks ahead knowing that in the process God is indeed leading me out slavery and into new freedoms.
What is Your Response?
Last week I asked you to join me on this journey towards the rebirthing of Easter. Lent is meant to be a season of transformation. It is a time to create new ways to move forward into the purposes of God., to prepare us for the new life of Easter. I pray that you will take time to consider your own Lenten journey and how God would inspire you to move forward.
Block out a few hours this week to get ready. Define your own Lenten practices and use your creativity to shape them in ways that make them special for you.
Andy Wade —
I woke up this morning to one-half inch of ice covering everything, including the near-foot of snow that fell the past couple of days, which was on top of the foot of snow still covering the ground after a storm on December 9th. We’ve had a real winter here in Hood River, Oregon.
I’m now sitting here at my desk looking out over my snow and ice-encrusted garden. The dead sunflowers tower over the snow, icicles clinging to them like mini-daggers drawn in protest to the winter assault. Rain is finally falling. Not the freezing kind, but the cool wet rain that slowly dissolves ice and snow. All this reminds me of a saying from the desert monk, Abba Poemen:
The nature of water is yielding, and that of a stone is hard. Yet if you hang a bottle of water above the stone so that the water drips drop by drop, it will wear a hole in the stone. In the same way the word of God is tender, and our hearts are hard. So when people hear the word of God frequently, their hearts are opened to the fear of God. Desert Wisdom: Sayings from the Desert Fathers p. 59.
Here at Mustard Seed Associates we’re in another season of listening, of allowing God’s word and plans to drip, drop by drop, until we grasp clear direction for the coming year. This, the season of Epiphany, is a time to be surprised by revelations from God. It is a season to listen deeply and respond as God’s purposes are revealed.
Juxtaposing Epiphany with Lent, in my mind, is pure liturgical genius. Our first response to God’s revelation, beyond our initial reaction of surprise and joy, is repentance. How shall we live into epiphanies received from God? As with the travelers on the road to Emmaus, sometimes our response needs to be immediate action. Often, though, we must sit with the revelation, allowing it to sink deeply into our souls and transform us. It is out of this God-infused transformation that we act most faithfully to God’s call.
- What have you been hearing from God this Epiphany?
- Which of these revelations need to be acted on now?
- Which do you need to sit with, pray about, and allow God to prepare you for?
Resources to Help You Prepare for Lent:
- A Journey into Wholeness: Soul Travel from Lent to Easter
- Lenten Prayer Cards
- Praying with Nature Prayer Cards
- FREE:
- And this comprehensive list of ideas, links, and posts
Fundraising Update
We want to again thank each of you who gave to our end-of-year fundraising campaign. Your financial support is so crucial to us at this juncture of MSA/Godspace and we are deeply grateful. Although we weren’t able to raise nearly what we had hoped, each donation brings us a step closer to being able to continue to provide resources, connections, and inspiring posts. Thank you!
If you are still interested in contrubuting it’s never too late to donate!
Shalom,
Andy Wade
Director
Mustard Seed Associates/Godspace
This reflection is excerpted from the book, Belonging and Becoming: Creating a Thriving Family Culture, chapter 4 – “A Thriving Family Discovers a Common Story”
I’m a sucker for a good story. Actually, sucker doesn’t quite capture it. I use stories to make sense of life: made-up stories, factual stories and stories that are utterly true without having actually happened. I’m convinced that storytelling is one of the key things that makes us human and allows us to create a shared humanity. This means stories are incredibly powerful.
The stories we tell ourselves shape how we interact with the world and how we approach the challenges and opportunities in our lives. We all tell ourselves both true and false stories about our place in the world. Learning to differentiate between the true and false narratives enables us to engage God and find our true selves.
Having false narratives is part of being human. We struggle with anxiety, fear, envy, perfectionism, anger, etc., because these are human responses to the uncertainty of being alive. However, when these responses go unchecked, they become part of a story we tell ourselves that keeps us from growing and living more fully in the kingdom of God.
It’s a lot of work to change the narrative you tell yourself. It takes effort just to identify what that narrative is. Growing up, we were taught to start this process by understanding the biggest, truest things about our story. We were given opportunities from a very young age to process and discuss the larger story of God and Jesus as told in the Bible. As a family, we read Scripture together at least three or four times a week. We were encouraged to ask questions and to share our interpretation of the message being communicated.
Our parents attempted to present us with what they believed to be the most important truths about the story of God’s relationship with humans: that we’re deeply and unconditionally loved, that Jesus shows us a better way of being, that we’re called to love others unconditionally as we’re loved, etc. They also encouraged us to discuss these truths and the passages that contained them. Which gave us ownership of our personal beliefs and allowed us to build an ever-growing concept of our independent spirituality.
As an adult, I don’t think I fully understand how grounding it has been to find myself in the larger context of the grand story of God’s relationship with humanity. It gives me a sort of baseline context for who I am and provides a reference for understanding when I’m struggling with a false narrative. It’s helpful to confront those false narratives by asking, “How is this way of thinking preventing me from living into the larger, truer story?”
Hailey Joy Scandrette is Founder and Editor in Chief of Ignighted Magazine, an online magazine and community of people ages 18-30 seeking to follow the teachings and actions of Jesus through incarnational living. She is also the daughter of Mark and Lisa Scandrette, authors of Belonging and Becoming: Creating a Thriving Family Culture. This piece is excerpted from the book (pp. 101-103) in the chapter, “A Thriving Family Discovers a Common Story”.
“My granddaddy always said, if you got a problem you can’t solve, it helps to get it out of your head. Pie, it’s good.” These words from Men in Black III caught me off guard. But when I stepped back I realized it’s really a great lesson for us Jesus Followers. Watch the clip then check out my comments below.
Don’t you just love J’s response, “…you know, we’ve been doing smart stuff. We’ve been following clues, doing real police work… it might be time we do something stupid, somethin’ that ain’t got nothin’ to do with nothin’. You know what K, now I want some pie!”
So often our spiritual growth and creativity is stymied precisely because we’ve spent too much time focusing on “the problem”. We need to set it aside and get away. We need to eat some pie!
As K and J are at the diner eating pie, J is agitated. “World class serial killer out there, and we’re having pie!”
“I sense you’re not embracing the concept here” K responds. “Pie don’t work unless you let it.”
It’s a funny line, but how often have I gone on “retreat” only to take all my problems with me and stew over them the whole time I’m away. It’s like I’ve never heard Jesus’ words:
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Mt. 11:28-30
Just like pie, retreats, whether extended and away from home, or mini-retreats right where you are, don’t work unless you let them. Too often I’m like the young ox yoked to the mature lead ox. Instead of letting the mature ox carry the weight and let me follow him through the fields, I plunge ahead attempting to lead the way and, as a result, end up pulling his weight and mine until I crash into a heap of exhaustion. Can you relate to that?
I know my tendency is to go, go, go. It’s difficult for me to stop. In fact, it feels “stupid” to stop and do nothing – eat some pie, rest. How will I get everything done if I don’t keep going? Consistent with God’s upside-down Kingdom, forward progress, whether spiritual or on a particular project, requires us to rest.
I rarely solve problems by banging my head against them without a break. In fact, most often breakthrough comes as I let it all go and I’m drifting off to sleep, soaking up the warmth of a morning shower, or outside plunging my hands into garden soil. Like stopping to eat some pie, disengaging from the issue often frees my mind to rest, allowing new insights and creativity to emerge.
There’s a reason God didn’t suggest, but rather commanded, we take a day of rest each week. Our souls need it. Our bodies need it. And if we’re honest, we realize our communities, our churches, our involvements all need us to rest.
During this season of Epiphany, I find the simple reminder to rest a powerful invitation from God. Soon we’ll be transitioning from Epiphany to Lent, a season more noted for times of rest and reflection. Why not begin now? Why not enter into God’s rest today, allowing Jesus to carry the burden of the yoke across our backs? Simply recognizing our need and God’s invitation may be the greatest epiphany of the season.
Will you join me?
A couple of weeks ago I posted this prayer in my Monday Meditation Sit Still, Breathe Deeply.
Since then I have spent much of my time getting a new writing project on creative spirituality underway. One thing my life coach suggested is that I reward my weekly progress with a fun project that energizes and renews me. Last week that project was expanding my prayer and putting it into a video meditation which I have enjoyed using throughout the week.
I hope you enjoy it too. I suggest that you sit still, close your eyes and allow the sound of the words and the running water in the background to sooth your spirit.
I deliberately did not include the words on this video as it is intended to encourage us to relax into the presence of God, something which is more challenging when we read along as our focus is on the words rather than on God.
However for those who want to use the meditation as a focus for more prolonged meditation here is the text:
Sit still, breathe deeply,
Inhale the eternal breath.
Imagine it rushing into your lungs.
Absorb it into your bloodstream,
Allow it to course through your entire being.
Through the life giving heartbeat of God,
See it infused into every cell in your body.
Sit still, breathe deeply,
Plant your feet firmly
On the earth beneath your feet.
The earth from which you are made,
Uniquely shaped by your Master’s hands.
The earth, this rich and fertile gift from God,
For which we are responsible, caretakers, preservers,
Stewards of God’s good creation.
The earth, beginning and end of all life,
The place to which we will return,
Dust to dust, ashes to ashes.
Sit still, breathe deeply,
Lift your hands towards heaven,
Sense the eternal presence,
Above, beneath, behind, before.
Let God’s holy love flow through you,
Filling your heart,
Nourishing your soul,
Renewing your spirit.
Sit still, breathe deeply,
Calm your spirit.
Listen in the silence
To the gentle whisper of God’s voice
Let it call you
To inner wholeness and outer response.
Let it equip you with footsteps of peace,
Love, compassion caring, generosity and justice.
Sit still, breathe deeply,
Let the ever present, everlasting, never failing One
Abide in you
Amen.
If you are interested in breath prayers you may enjoy this series of breath prayer cards too.
Its time to get ready for Lent. It begins with the celebration of Ash Wednesday on March 1st and ends with Maundy Thursday April 13th. Last week I updated all our Lent, Holy Week and Easter resource lists, reread some of my posts from previous Lenten celebrations and started to think about what I want to do for Lent this year.
Lent is often seen as a season of giving up. It is easy to focus on the negative rather than the positive during this season. I am convinced however that giving up is not meant to be an exercise in self denial, rather it is about transformation. We give up so that something new can be birthed in us.
In The Book of Joy, written by the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu in conjunction with Douglas Abrams it says: the three factors that seem to have the greatest influence on our happiness are our ability to reframe our situation more positively, our ability to experience gratitude, and our choice to be kind and generous. (The Book of Joy 49) I think this is a great place for us to start as we shape our Lenten practices. How can we focus on the positive and not the negative? How do we express gratitude? and how does that overflow in kind and generous actions?
What would you like to give birth to?
So this year I challenge you to start Lent early:
1. Set aside time during the month of February to reflect on what new, positive things you want to see birthed in you by Easter this year.
2. Make a list of up to six places or attitudes you would like to see transformed this year – one for each week of Lent and one for Holy week. If you feel six is too overwhelming choose one, two or three areas of transformation.
My list is:
Fear into love
Despair into hope
Mourning into joy
Hate into compassion
Oppression into justice
Death into life.
2. Get or make yourself a Lenten journal to record your journey over these weeks. I am planning to make one this year as part of my preLenten reflection and focusing time and will share about the process next week. I will probably also put together another Lenten garden to remind me of my commitments throughout the week.
3. Shape a Lenten practice that provides one activity each day to move you forward in your journey towards wholeness.
4. Create a schedule for your reflection time during Lent. I am really finding that the practice of tracking what I do every day is very helpful in providing work/life balance and not allowing myself to become overloaded. Make sure your schedule incorporates all the daily and weekly commitments you already have. How does it make you feel – excited, inspired, overwhelmed?
A Lenten Challenge – Will You Join Me?
Here is the process that I am planning for the season. It was inspired by my recent post A Glimpse of Hope. It might change as I continue to reflect, create my journal and bring together the other items I need to see it happen but I feel it is a good starting point.
- Sunday – reflect on my words for the week. Linger in silence, savouring the word and listening for a sense of God’s presence in this word.
- Monday – do a word search on Biblegateway.com on what I want to see birthed – love, hope, joy, compassion, justice, life. Write down the descriptive words and phrases that most resonate with me.
- Tuesday – reread the words and phrases I have written down. Linger once more in the silence and allow God to speak to me about this word. What images, prayers or poetry bubble up from your heart? Start to shape a picture in images or words, a prayer of a poem from these words.
- Wednesday – Reread what I wrote on Tuesday, sit once more in the presence of God and allow the prayer/poem/image to more fully take shape.
- Thursday – Time to take action. Love, hope, joy, compassion, justice, life are not just feelings they are actions. What is one way today I can be more loving, hope-filling, joy providing, compassion showing, justice bringing, life giving to those who live in our household?
- Friday – Time to take action in my community. What is one way today I can be more loving, hope-filling, joy providing, compassion showing, justice bringing, life giving to those who live in in my neighbourhood?
- Saturday – Time to take action in our world. What is one way today I can be more loving, hope-filling, joy providing, compassion showing, justice bringing, life giving to those who live in our global community?
Create Your Own Unique Process
This is not about following a process that I have put together. The rebirthing of God’s presence within us comes not primarily from the instructions of others but from our own unveiling of that presence already hidden deep within us. So as you put your own Lenten process together consider some of this very good advice I have received from my life coach Myrna Hill:
- Follow your heart. Create a process that is unique for you, uses your God inspired talents and reflects where you are at in your faith journey.
- Have some fun. Create an enjoyable process that inspires you each day with a desire to draw close to God. Plan some fun things to do in relationship to your themes – colouring, doodling, gardening, walking labyrinths, playing with your kids may be some of the ways that you stir your creativity and inspire yourself to move into a more intimate place with God and out into the world that God loves.
- Take away the pressure of performance. This is not about who can be the most transformed or do the most good deeds during Lent. It is about allowing God to move us at God’s pace into newness and wholeness.
- Let your “shoulds” become “coulds”. So many of us live with the guilt of “I should have done this…” and lay unnecessary burdens on ourselves. In the process we often miss the sense of satisfaction in what we did do. “I am grateful I could do…. “
What is your response?
Will you join me on this journey towards the rebirthing of Easter? Prayerfully consider ways in which God would like to see you transformed during this season. Take time to develop your own process. Allow God to change you. And please share your journey with us – either as a comment here, in our Facebook group, on instagram, or on twitter.
Watch the video below and use it as a focus to consider Why do you need lent this year?
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