Life is Good

I was reminded of God's care and attention as I looked over my journal entries from the last four weeks. It has certainly been a time of reflection and spiritual growth.

I am learning very much in my current class, but even more than that, the assigned reading and discussion of the text on the message board has been a source of ministry and encouragement to me. It has helped me develop an awareness of God's presence in my life in a more "real" way that before. I also find that I am approaching prayer and circumstances of life expecting to meet God in those experiences.

It has been a challenge to keep up with my journaling requirement this last month. This doesn't greatly concern me as my time for personal writing always recedes when school is in session. A good thing about my journaling is that I find it being more true to life and heartfelt than it has been in some time. I think this is connected to being more aware of the presence of God.

The school schedule made it impractical to take this class before securing a spiritual director. But God is faithful and I couldn't have found a better spiritual director, despite being ignorant of some of the necessary qualities of this role. Spending an hour a month together to "listen" is very different from anything in my spiritual background, but I am finding it to be one of the most beneficial disciplines for me right now. I anticipate continuing on with spiritual direction after I graduate.

My Rule of Life has been the topic of discussion with my spiritual director and a matter of much personal reflection. It is currently a great compilation of the classical disciplines, but I am sensing that God is calling me to focus more intentionally on a few items than trying to "do it all."

I want to encourage certain qualities and virtues in my life, such as letting love rule my interactions with others. I also want to be more intentional about building relationships. I want to attach these ideas to some specific goals, but I need to be careful that I choose goals that cause me to stretch without becoming an unworkable burden. My director and I are going to talk about this at our next meeting.

I am incorporating aspects of spiritual direction into my Sunday School class. I now put a greater emphasis upon prayer for my classmates during the week and before class begins. A byproduct of this is that I feel a greater sense of expectation during our time together. I have incorporated some silence at the beginning of class. I also find that I have stopped being such a know-it-all with my class, preferring rather to ask people how they think God is leading them in a particular area.

I can't wait to find our how the next four weeks of class turn out!