“You create a path of your own by looking within yourself and listening to your soul, cultivating your own ways of experiencing the sacred and then practicing it. Practicing until you make it a song that sings you.” --Sue Monk Kidd
“Authentic love is of one piece. How you love anything is how you love everything. Jesus commands us to “Love our neighbors as we love ourselves,” and he connects the two great commandments of love of God and love of neighbor, saying they are “like” one another (Matthew 22:39). So often, we think this means to love our neighbor with the same amount of love—as much as we love ourselves—when it really means that it is the same Source and the same Love that allows each of us to love ourself, others, and God at the same time! That is unfortunately not the way most people understand love, compassion, and forgiveness—yet it is the only way they ever work. How you love is how you have accessed Love.”
These are the words of Father Richard Rohr, from one of his most recent Daily Meditations. I receive these meditations every day by email – and you can too! For years now they’ve been part of my morning devotionals. Father Richard writes with such clarity and insight, getting right to the heart of the Biblical tradition… he’s the kind of person who makes me proud to be a Christian, when that label has become so misused and abused and rings all-too-often hollow.
This week, I’d like to invite you to sign up for a weekly or daily meditation from one of your favorite spiritual writers. Father Richard’s work with the Center for Action & Contemplation is a great place to start. The UCC also publishes its regular, excellent “Still Speaking” devotional. There are many others. Whichever you choose to follow, though, we could all use a daily reminder of what’s most important, a regular invitation to greater depth in our spiritual lives. So here’s your invitation to go deep!
May we find a home in the depths of our own souls, and inspiration in the daily miracles that envelop and enfold us, this week and all our days to come.
Blessin’s, --Tom
QUESTIONS FOR THE WEEK: Do you have a favorite spiritual writer? What daily practices do you have to remind you of your spiritual values (e.g., reading Scripture, sitting in silence every morning, journaling)? What new practice might you take on? Try it out for a week and see what happens!
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