Spirituality Classroom Blog
Naming Your Blessings During Difficult Times
Wow! Last week brought the coldest temperatures I have ever felt. I live in the Texas Hill Country, where single digit temps with a chill factor of below 0 are uncommon. And days on end of snow and ice, rolling power blackouts, and angst about whether my plumbing pipes would burst. I'm extremely cold natured, and I can tell you that I had on so many layers of clothes that I looked like I was ready for Siberia.
I know that those of you who live in some of our northern states and are used to these kinds of temperatures for several months, not just a few days, probably think I'm a wimp. But we're not prepared for that kind of weather.
I hope and pray that all is well with all those who also experienced such a wintry and dangerous storm.
I am very blessed. No burst water pipes. All the snow and ice are gone. Temp rose to 79 degrees today! My bones and muscles are happy.
But that's not the only reason I'm blessed. I pray a...
Do You Want to Follow Jesus?
“Come, follow me.” Jesus gazed intently at those who became his disciples, and said those simple words: “Come, follow me.” There was something in his demeanor, in the way he spoke, that caused Andrew and Peter, James and John, and all the rest to immediately drop what they were doing, in order to follow this unusual man who had suddenly appeared in their lives.
Jesus gazes intently at those in every generation who become his disciples. He gazes intently at you and at me. Sometimes we follow him instantly. Sometimes it seems we have to struggle to let go of whatever it is, that would keep us from following him – including the struggle of traumatic abuse in our church. But we are still drawn to those words. “Come, follow me.” We will find our healing when we follow Him even – or maybe especially when we are tempted to believe that our pain is more powerful than the Presence of the...
Pray Always. Laugh Often. Grow in Christ.
Why do you suppose I chose the phrase "Pray Always. Laugh Often. Grow in Christ." to be the logo for Spirituality Classroom?
Each of those short sentences means a lot to me in the way that I maintain my own spiritual wellness. So let’s take a look at each of them. Perhaps you'll glean meaning from them too.
Pray always.
Does it seem possible or impossible to you – to ALWAYS be at prayer? If you’re thinking, “No, it’s not possible, then why would St. Paul tell us to do exactly that – to pray always? Yet which of us, even on good days, manages to pray all the way through any set of waking hours, even when we haven't been hurt badly?
Spiritual abuse can cripple our faith at a deep and basic level, affects the health or dis-ease of our prayer life. When it seems as though we can’t pray any more, then is it absurd to talk about praying always? I think not.
In the...