Lessons for Your Soul

Matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers – Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Lessons for Your Soul

I love reading anything Melody Beattie wrote—including this chapter of the book Handbook for the Soul. Somehow, I can connect with almost everything she writes. (It’s both a funny/ha-ha thing as well as a funny/that was strange! kind of way.)

Like, for example, where Melody wrote that “we are all at different stages of growth, so we each need different things to trigger that connection to the soul.” [1]

That is so true. I have been thinking for a number of recent years about this life I live. When I consider myself, and the things I’ve stopped doing, and I see how far I’ve come. Or, when I think of what is happening in the experiences of people around me, and feel for them. About what is going on in their lives.

I’ve reflected just recently that life is a journey and that we are all at different stages. (My words, precisely.) And then, I read the same words in Melody Beattie’s chapter tonight. In a word, wow.

I also resonate with Beattie’s comment that we all go on automatic pilot, sometimes. (Don’t we, though?) I was just mentioning this to my daughter the other day. Sometimes I don’t realize it until afterwards—how much time on automatic pilot I have spent. And what has this “pilot” been but a limitation? Just keeping time? Making the same-old, same-old. Marking time, setting for second best. That’s what I can get up to, in my head.

Keeping time and zoning out is definitely not staying in touch with my soul.

I’m not sure, but I suspect that even that is part of this journey all of us are on. Hopefully, God willing, I will see whether I can concentrate on getting closer to God. And, that is a good thing. I pray that I may continue much longer than a month in June.

@chaplaineliza

Like what you read? Disagree? Share your thoughts with your loved ones and continue the conversation.

Why not visit my sister blogs, “the best of” A Year of Being Kind.   @chaplaineliza And, read my sermons from Pastor, Preacher Pray-er .

[1] Handbook for the Soul, Richard Carlson and Benjamin Shield, editors. (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1995.), 186.

Soul and Experience(s)

Matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers – Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Soul and Experience(s)

I’ve worked as a chaplain here in Chicago for a number of years. Yes, I have striven to walk alongside many people in my time being a chaplain, sometimes more successful, sometimes less. These patients, their loved ones, and others have come from many faith traditions and various backgrounds.

I suppose that’s one large reason I have interest in a number of different ways of approaching God, the Higher Power, or the Source. Or, Great Spirit, or the Holy. Different ways of naming the ineffable, that transcendent experience.

It is a similar interest I bring to the chapter from Handbook for the Soul today. Brian Weiss brought up a number of interesting ideas, things that I am not particularly familiar with. Like regression back to previous lives. This is something unfamiliar. However, the feelings and emotions Dr. Weiss brought out were very much familiar. And, right in my area of expertise.

One statement Dr. Weiss says is one I can totally agree with: “We are souls having a human experience.” It doesn’t matter whether the experiences are good or bad, positive or negative. Each of us is a flesh and blood human with a soul. Each of us goes through all kinds of stuff, regardless of our faith traditions or belief structure.

Yes, Dr. Weiss brings up an interesting idea. I have my reservations, true. Yet, I believe some people are helped by what the doctor says and the actions he takes.

I hope and pray some people are similarly helped by what I say, and by the actions I take, too. Please, God, may it be so.

@chaplaineliza

Like what you read? Disagree? Share your thoughts with your loved ones and continue the conversation.

Why not visit my sister blogs, “the best of” A Year of Being Kind.   @chaplaineliza And, read my sermons from Pastor, Preacher Pray-er .

Internal Life? Or External Walk?

matterofprayer blog post for Monday, December 30, 2013

For the past few years, I’ve been concerning myself with—myself. I have been striving to maintain some kind of spiritual balance, working on my internal, spiritual component. I pray regularly (or at least, try to). I visit my therapist and spiritual director regularly, work out on a weekly basis at the local YMCA gym, and I even practiced relaxation and meditation in an intensive way for several months. In all of this, I have been working on the inner “me.”

I have also been intentional with my prayer life. Not only have I been praying on an increasingly regular basis, but I’ve also started a prayer chain and prayer blog, so we all can be encouraged in our personal prayer lives. This helps my inner relationship with God prosper, too.

But, what about my relationship with others? How about my family? Friends? What about those at church, or at the gym? What about my co-workers, or strangers I meet on the street? Have I been as studious and diligent at developing my relationship with them?

Yes, I am called by God to be in relationship with God—the vertical relationship.  But I am also called to be in community, as well—the horizontal relationship, one with another. One of my spiritual gifts is helping people. And by nature, I am kind and compassionate in my relations with others. It’s my relationship with others and with my local community (as well as their relationship with me) that I want to work on in 2014.

That’s why 2014 is my year to be kind. To help. To be of service. Intentionally.

(I will explore my thoughts and experiences of my year of service throughout 2014. I’ll do this at a new blog— www.ayearofbeingkind.net, starting on January 1, 2014. I’m excited! Visit me there, too.)

Let’s pray. Dear God, as the old year ends and the new year begins, I see new hopes ahead. New opportunities. New experiences. God, be with me as I begin a year of intentional service. I pray that this service be God-honoring. I ask You to lead me into places and experiences that You intend. Even challenging and difficult things. Protect me, guard me, guide me. I know You will be there, holding my hand. Thank You for my friends and prayer partners, who will be right by my side (in prayer!). God, in Your mercy, hear our prayers.