Spring is breaking out right before our eyes! This is usually such a busy church season that I feel like I have missed Spring for a long long time. We spent lots of time in the garden this weekend, though, and signs of emerging life caught me like never before.
Lily of the Valley (l); Peony-in-waiting (t); Ginkgo(b)
These signs of creation's awakening are just what I need to balance Holy Week's journey of suffering and death - Easter is coming, just as surely as these plants are emerging! (Speaking of which: Follow our Holy Week Devotions as we 'make' the Stations of the Cross this week. You'll notice a vine with flowers twining its way through each of the stations. Even though it is a loose interpretation of Passiflora, I'm convinced it is meant to be Passion Flower Vine, whose blooms have been understood to symbolize aspects of the Passion of Christ.)
These signs of life strike me as the sort of promise that comes with spiritual practice. Dedication, determination, devotion make spiritual practice hard work. But that hard work pays off as new life unfolds in you. First as a bud, perhaps, and then an unfurling and, eventually, a magnificent bloom!
Pause and consider> Think of an important relationship in your life, maybe with a partner, friend, parent or child. What would that relationship be like if you didn't talk to one another, listen to one another or spend time with one another? What are the things that most nourish your relationship with this person?
These signs of life strike me as the sort of promise that comes with spiritual practice. Dedication, determination, devotion make spiritual practice hard work. But that hard work pays off as new life unfolds in you. First as a bud, perhaps, and then an unfurling and, eventually, a magnificent bloom!
Pause and consider> Think of an important relationship in your life, maybe with a partner, friend, parent or child. What would that relationship be like if you didn't talk to one another, listen to one another or spend time with one another? What are the things that most nourish your relationship with this person?
Solomon's Seal
Just as our relationships with loved ones require our time and attention, so does our relationship with the Triune God. Thompson starts chapter 3 by saying that "the spiritual life has to do with how God relates to us and how we in turn relate to God. Prayer is the essential expression of this relationship. As with the spiritual life itself, prayer is initiated by God. No matter what we think about the origin of our prayers, they are all a response to the hidden workings of the Spirit within." (p. 31) Just as talking, listening and spending time together are vital to our human relationships, prayer is vital to our relationship with God.
The Solomon's Seal blooming in my garden right now started me pondering "Set me as a seal upon your heart." (Song of Songs 8.6). The less poetic way to say that might have been to write, "Let your heart belong only to me." This is the kind of longing to be loved that grows out of already loving the other in this deep kind of way. When Thompson talks about this love relationship that God initiates, she says "God's desire for us ignites the spark of our desire for God." (p. 31)
How can we recognize God's longing if we don't stop and listen for it? How can we reciprocate God's love for us if we don't stop and speak with God. And how can we rest in the love we share with God if we don't stop and simply sit in God's presence for a while? All of these actions are forms of prayer and each one births something new in us as we practice them.
>Pause and consider: Find a quiet place, either indoors or out-of-doors, and gaze at something green. Let the phrase "Set me as a seal upon your heart" wash over you. When other thoughts push in, return to the phrase, rolling it around over and over again. What might the Holy One be saying to you through this phrase?
The Solomon's Seal blooming in my garden right now started me pondering "Set me as a seal upon your heart." (Song of Songs 8.6). The less poetic way to say that might have been to write, "Let your heart belong only to me." This is the kind of longing to be loved that grows out of already loving the other in this deep kind of way. When Thompson talks about this love relationship that God initiates, she says "God's desire for us ignites the spark of our desire for God." (p. 31)
How can we recognize God's longing if we don't stop and listen for it? How can we reciprocate God's love for us if we don't stop and speak with God. And how can we rest in the love we share with God if we don't stop and simply sit in God's presence for a while? All of these actions are forms of prayer and each one births something new in us as we practice them.
>Pause and consider: Find a quiet place, either indoors or out-of-doors, and gaze at something green. Let the phrase "Set me as a seal upon your heart" wash over you. When other thoughts push in, return to the phrase, rolling it around over and over again. What might the Holy One be saying to you through this phrase?
Clivea about to bloom (l); Wisteria bud (t); Hosta unfurling (b)
Thompson's chapter is filled with prayer practices that will let you listen, speak and spend time with God. If you let "Set me as a seal upon your heart" roll around in your mind and spirit, you just tried a bit of all three forms of prayer! I expect there were moments when "Set me..." felt like something God was saying to you - a way God was conveying deep love for you. I also expect there were moments when "Set me..." began to feel like something you were saying to God - maybe a way you were promising God that you long to love God as deeply as God loves you. And there were some moments when you simply rested in the vastness of God's love, the miracle of love, the joy of love.
Prayers don't have to be little letters to God, with a "Dear God" at the beginning and "Amen" in the signature block. Such formal prayers are fine, of course, but they are only a beginning. Recall the human relationship you thought about a few minutes ago and imagine you only ever nurtured that relationship with letters! Your relationship with God needs the same breadth of nurture, so share your honey-do lists, your rants and worries, your hopes and hurts and your love letters. Try and spend as much time listening for God's honey-dos, needs, worries, hopes and hurts as you spend talking. And don't forget simply to be with the God you love and who most certainly loves you and longs for you to blossom.
Pause once more: What might be coming into bud in your spiritual life? What new leaf is unfurling? What buds are about to burst into bloom? Where do you see new life on the horizon?
Until next time,
Peace
Lisa
Thompson, Marjorie, Soul Feast: An Invitation to the Christian Spiritual Life (New Rev edition). Westminster John Knox Press, 2014.
Prayers don't have to be little letters to God, with a "Dear God" at the beginning and "Amen" in the signature block. Such formal prayers are fine, of course, but they are only a beginning. Recall the human relationship you thought about a few minutes ago and imagine you only ever nurtured that relationship with letters! Your relationship with God needs the same breadth of nurture, so share your honey-do lists, your rants and worries, your hopes and hurts and your love letters. Try and spend as much time listening for God's honey-dos, needs, worries, hopes and hurts as you spend talking. And don't forget simply to be with the God you love and who most certainly loves you and longs for you to blossom.
Pause once more: What might be coming into bud in your spiritual life? What new leaf is unfurling? What buds are about to burst into bloom? Where do you see new life on the horizon?
Until next time,
Peace
Lisa
Thompson, Marjorie, Soul Feast: An Invitation to the Christian Spiritual Life (New Rev edition). Westminster John Knox Press, 2014.
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