Lent condenses the journey of life into 40 days, yet when those days are traveled with awareness, discipline and care, blessings emerge that might never have been expected.
This is especially true of the practice of keeping silent, which invites us to cease unbridled talking, quiet the voices inside our heads, and listen with the ears of our souls for God's call to renewal and rebirth.
We offer today's reflections with prayers for God's peace~
We all need a place to retreat from life distractions and connect with the sacred center that grounds and guides us. For millions, explorefaith is that place—a calming, centering way station for refueling and restoring their souls and spirits.
Grappling with and understanding the patterns of our personality structure is crucial to our spiritual growth. So, how can we get a clear picture of the patterns of our personality that are stumbling blocks to deepening our spirituality?
True silence—the absence of words, the absence of unnatural sound—is nearly impossible to find these days. Yet ancient spiritual wisdom says that silence is a prerequisite for spiritual growth.
In silence, our outer senses can rest and our inner, spiritual senses—the ears and eyes of our soul, so sensitive and discerning—can shyly come forward. We begin to see and hear what is usually invisible and inaudible to us.
Test yourselves to make sure you are solid in the faith. Don't drift along taking everything for granted. Give yourselves regular checkups. You need firsthand evidence, not mere hearsay that Jesus Christ is in you. Test it out. If you fail the test, do something about it.
—II Corinthians 13:5, The Message Bible
The Journey into Emptiness
May the days that beckon the journey open a space
between what is and what will be,
a space of emptiness waiting to be filled.
May the things that sit at the edge of revelation
move silently into that emptiness.
May they be noticed with attention and claimed as gifts
given from the holy hand of heaven.
Sorting it Out:
How We Change God, today, help me be honest about all that I am doing and not doing that makes my heart feel like it is drenched in hopelessness.
