How might you name and claim your birthright gifts your own spiritual DNA?
What gifts have others mirrored back to you?
-----
How do you nurture true self? What conditions support your soul's well-being? What does your soul yearn for and need in order to thrive and guide your life?
What conditions conspire to silence your soul's voices and hungers? How do you conspire to silence your soul, conspire in your own diminishment? Can you think of a particular time when you did so?
-----
For me:
My birthright DNA (a guess): I'm a peacemaker, able to listen to two sides of any topic and meet with people where they are; I'm an organizer, able to create order from chaos and see the potential for good in things; I'm a soul searcher, able to look inside myself and others and spend time there. (this is the inside of the Mobius strip)
How to claim these gifts...use them in the world (the outside of the Mobius strip): Help others create spaces that speak peace into their chaos - my organizing/cleaning business fits here!; help others take the inward journey...spend time with them "looking inside."
Nurturing my true self means spending time and effort "looking inside myself" - this centering of myself brings me great peace when I'm getting enough of it. It is quiet time, at home or in nature, listening to God & my own soul. Also, spending time with others and using my gifts with them nurtures my true self - makes me feel connected on a deeper level with the world around me. Not just social time, but time with others where I'm digging into who they are, what they struggle with, how they come to their own peace in the world.
When I don't get enough good "me and you time" - too much kids-in-my-face time, too busy, too surfacy in my connections with others, too little self-expression - then I diminish myself, feel flat in a 3-dimensional world.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Chapter II Questions
Reflect on how you used to play as a child.
Let yourself remember where you most often played. Was it in nature, your room, your backyard? Did you have favorite games, friends (real or imaginary), toys, stories? Did you have a secret life of play and imagination? What gifts or interests might be reflected in your childhood play?
How do you play now? Have your childhood play and interests carried into adulthood into ways you may not have considered before? Whether or not they have, how does it feel to compare your life of play and imagination as an adult to the one you had as a child?
-----
For me:
I've considered these things before and wondered some of the same questions. I had a very vivid imagination, and I always role-played based around a tortured hero concept, where I would be a great and mighty hero (whether it was a lego character, a barbie doll, or just in my imagination), and I was in big trouble and suffered a lot, then rose out of the mire somehow, despite it all. Maybe it was a foreshadowing of what my life would be. =)
Actually, I think it may have stemmed from a desire to be loved and admired (the hero is always, of course, very loved and admired). And living through suffering always made the hero greater, therefore even more loved and admired. ...Hm, first time thoughts for me.
How does this apply today? I still long for love and admiration, I still sometimes imagine I'm that hero - in fact, I'm writing a novel that has a character based on the hero I imagined up as a kid (of course, with a little more complexity!). And I guess I have the gift of a big imagination!
Let yourself remember where you most often played. Was it in nature, your room, your backyard? Did you have favorite games, friends (real or imaginary), toys, stories? Did you have a secret life of play and imagination? What gifts or interests might be reflected in your childhood play?
How do you play now? Have your childhood play and interests carried into adulthood into ways you may not have considered before? Whether or not they have, how does it feel to compare your life of play and imagination as an adult to the one you had as a child?
-----
For me:
I've considered these things before and wondered some of the same questions. I had a very vivid imagination, and I always role-played based around a tortured hero concept, where I would be a great and mighty hero (whether it was a lego character, a barbie doll, or just in my imagination), and I was in big trouble and suffered a lot, then rose out of the mire somehow, despite it all. Maybe it was a foreshadowing of what my life would be. =)
Actually, I think it may have stemmed from a desire to be loved and admired (the hero is always, of course, very loved and admired). And living through suffering always made the hero greater, therefore even more loved and admired. ...Hm, first time thoughts for me.
How does this apply today? I still long for love and admiration, I still sometimes imagine I'm that hero - in fact, I'm writing a novel that has a character based on the hero I imagined up as a kid (of course, with a little more complexity!). And I guess I have the gift of a big imagination!
Friday, July 23, 2010
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Chapter One (Questions from the back of my book)
Where in your life and work do you feel most whole? Where do you feel a sense of integrity that comes from a sense of "being what you are?"
Where do you feel most divided, "so far removed from the truth we hold within that we cannot know the "integrity that comes from being what you are." (p. 4)
-------
For me:
I think wholeness is about "calling." When I follow God's "call" for my life - in Palmer's words, "catch sight of the soul" (p. 2) - I feel whole. And, when I do not, I feel divided. Something in my soul squirms when I have worked in church nursery, for example, and something in my soul awakens when I help a friend organize her photos (wink to you, Jan!).
Once I learn what things make my soul squirm, it's my duty to avoid them, even when outward obligations and pressures insist. The same goes for the things that awaken my soul. It's my duty to obey my soul's yearnings.
"I yearn to be whole, but dividedness often seems the easier choice. A 'still, small voice' speaks the truth about me, my work, or the world. I hear it and yet act as if I did not." (p. 4)
Where do you feel most divided, "so far removed from the truth we hold within that we cannot know the "integrity that comes from being what you are." (p. 4)
-------
For me:
I think wholeness is about "calling." When I follow God's "call" for my life - in Palmer's words, "catch sight of the soul" (p. 2) - I feel whole. And, when I do not, I feel divided. Something in my soul squirms when I have worked in church nursery, for example, and something in my soul awakens when I help a friend organize her photos (wink to you, Jan!).
Once I learn what things make my soul squirm, it's my duty to avoid them, even when outward obligations and pressures insist. The same goes for the things that awaken my soul. It's my duty to obey my soul's yearnings.
"I yearn to be whole, but dividedness often seems the easier choice. A 'still, small voice' speaks the truth about me, my work, or the world. I hear it and yet act as if I did not." (p. 4)
Saturday, July 17, 2010
new revelation...
"There's a part of who God is that gets only expressed through who you are."
Someone sent that to me in the midst of some other writing...it seems to be about that hidden wholeness. We can only know (in terms of knowing, not just knowing about)pieces of God as we get to know people - who are all made in His image. If we shut others out or withdraw ourselves we are limiting God's expression on the earth and our knowledge of Him. On the other hand, as we draw others out, we get closer to God. What do you think?
Jan
Someone sent that to me in the midst of some other writing...it seems to be about that hidden wholeness. We can only know (in terms of knowing, not just knowing about)pieces of God as we get to know people - who are all made in His image. If we shut others out or withdraw ourselves we are limiting God's expression on the earth and our knowledge of Him. On the other hand, as we draw others out, we get closer to God. What do you think?
Jan
Jan
Bella wrote, "That soul of ours, the teacher within, isn’t she/he…herself/himself broken and a part of the fallenness? This is such a mystery for me, and while I don’t want to make this to be a theological discussion, what is this…soul’s relationship with God and/or his word? Is Jesus there too?"
I thought of it as the Holy Spirit dwelling in us...
John 14:15 "If you love me, you will obey what I command. 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— 17the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[a] in you.
John 14: 23Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me. 25"All this I have spoken while still with you. 26But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
John 15: 26"When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. 27And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.
John 16
The Work of the Holy Spirit
5"Now I am going to him who sent me, yet none of you asks me, 'Where are you going?' 6Because I have said these things, you are filled with grief. 7But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt[a] in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: 9in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; 10in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.
12"I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. 15All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.
2Timothy 1:14 Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.
Hebrews 10:5Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:
"Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but a body you prepared for me;
6with burnt offerings and sin offerings
you were not pleased.
7Then I said, 'Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—
I have come to do your will, O God.' "[a] 8First he said, "Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them" (although the law required them to be made). 9Then he said, "Here I am, I have come to do your will." He sets aside the first to establish the second. 10And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 11Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. 13Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, 14because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.
15The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says:
16"This is the covenant I will make with them
after that time, says the Lord.
I will put my laws in their hearts,
and I will write them on their minds."[b] 17Then he adds:
"Their sins and lawless acts
I will remember no more."
1John 3:21 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. 23And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. 24Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.
1John 4:13 We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. 16And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
I thought of it as the Holy Spirit dwelling in us...
John 14:15 "If you love me, you will obey what I command. 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— 17the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[a] in you.
John 14: 23Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me. 25"All this I have spoken while still with you. 26But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
John 15: 26"When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me. 27And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.
John 16
The Work of the Holy Spirit
5"Now I am going to him who sent me, yet none of you asks me, 'Where are you going?' 6Because I have said these things, you are filled with grief. 7But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt[a] in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: 9in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; 10in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.
12"I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. 15All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.
2Timothy 1:14 Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you—guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us.
Hebrews 10:5Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:
"Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but a body you prepared for me;
6with burnt offerings and sin offerings
you were not pleased.
7Then I said, 'Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—
I have come to do your will, O God.' "[a] 8First he said, "Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them" (although the law required them to be made). 9Then he said, "Here I am, I have come to do your will." He sets aside the first to establish the second. 10And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 11Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. 13Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, 14because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.
15The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says:
16"This is the covenant I will make with them
after that time, says the Lord.
I will put my laws in their hearts,
and I will write them on their minds."[b] 17Then he adds:
"Their sins and lawless acts
I will remember no more."
1John 3:21 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. 23And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. 24Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.
1John 4:13 We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. 16And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Bella 7.13
Aa! Check this out!
Holy:
ORIGIN Old English hālig, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch and German heilig, also to whole . (New Oxford American Dictionary)
AND
holy
O.E. halig "holy," from P.Gmc. *khailagas (cf. O.N. heilagr, Ger. heilig, Goth. hailags "holy"), adopted at conversion for L. sanctus. Primary (pre-Christian) meaning is not impossible to determine, but it was probably "that must be preserved whole or intact, that cannot be transgressed or violated," and connected with O.E. hal (see health) and O.H.G. heil "health, happiness, good luck" (source of the Ger. salutation heil).*
==
Holiness has something to do with wholeness. That makes so much sense! I think this sheds a different kind of light in the encouragement to “be holy for I am holy” (1 Pet 1:16, quoting Leviticus 11 etc) which now sounds like a call for us, ppl living and struggling with the plague of disconnectedness, to…perhaps preserve whole that which cannot (or shouldn’t?) be transgressed, that…soul and the voice of what Palmer calls, the teacher within?
I love the acknowledgment that we have such a “vast capacity of self-delusion.” (p. 10) HUAHAHAHAHA..sigh…
That soul of ours, the teacher within, isn’t she/he…herself/himself broken and a part of the fallenness? This is such a mystery for me, and while I don’t want to make this to be a theological discussion, what is this…soul’s relationship with God and/or his word? Is Jesus there too?
===
*http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=holy&searchmode=none
Holy:
ORIGIN Old English hālig, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch and German heilig, also to whole . (New Oxford American Dictionary)
AND
holy
O.E. halig "holy," from P.Gmc. *khailagas (cf. O.N. heilagr, Ger. heilig, Goth. hailags "holy"), adopted at conversion for L. sanctus. Primary (pre-Christian) meaning is not impossible to determine, but it was probably "that must be preserved whole or intact, that cannot be transgressed or violated," and connected with O.E. hal (see health) and O.H.G. heil "health, happiness, good luck" (source of the Ger. salutation heil).*
==
Holiness has something to do with wholeness. That makes so much sense! I think this sheds a different kind of light in the encouragement to “be holy for I am holy” (1 Pet 1:16, quoting Leviticus 11 etc) which now sounds like a call for us, ppl living and struggling with the plague of disconnectedness, to…perhaps preserve whole that which cannot (or shouldn’t?) be transgressed, that…soul and the voice of what Palmer calls, the teacher within?
I love the acknowledgment that we have such a “vast capacity of self-delusion.” (p. 10) HUAHAHAHAHA..sigh…
That soul of ours, the teacher within, isn’t she/he…herself/himself broken and a part of the fallenness? This is such a mystery for me, and while I don’t want to make this to be a theological discussion, what is this…soul’s relationship with God and/or his word? Is Jesus there too?
===
*http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=holy&searchmode=none
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