Noticing God in Everyday Life
Thursday, January 28, 2010 at 12:55AM | in Everyday Spirituality, Life The past couple weeks have been full of many surprising adventures!
Front and center is the unexpected trip I took to the Pacific Northwest for my new job. I had so much fun and made unforgettable memories too numerous to count with my new co-workers. So many aspects of that trip created a solid foundation for our team to bond while sharing compelling, incarnational work experiences together.
While there, I even had a chance to share a great conversation over dessert with the lovely Kirsten Michelle and her loving hubby, James. That was such a treat and a gift. Thank you, my friend, for taking that time with me!
Then there are all the fun surprises and adventures I’ve been encountering back home in our local office! Our company is doing such a superb job preparing us well for the work we’ll be doing together. We’re having a blast as we go along.
Kirk gets quite a kick out of my exuberant downloads at the end of each day. But usually after that high-energy download and a bit of dinner, I crash. This is my naturally introverted self learning how to hit the recharge button. :)
It will be interesting, as I resume classes with Spring Arbor next week, to see how my course-load responsibilities come alongside and support my work life. It seems serendipitous that I’m beginning with a course called “Spirituality in Everyday Life,” geared toward noticing how God shows up in the nooks and crannies of daily life. This ties in well with my recent prayer that God would help me learn how to notice him in the midst of busyness.
As I’m adjusting to these new aspects of life for the next few weeks, I expect to be keeping a lighter presence in this space. It feels important to give myself room to take in these new experiences, focus on learning to do my work well, and keep myself as rested, refreshed, and nourished as possible.
(However, I will mention as an aside that I’ve rejoined Facebook after my 7-month hiatus. If you’d like to be connected in a more informal, ongoing basis that way, send me a friend request — and be sure to mention you’re a reader of this blog if we’ve never personally connected before.)
And in this moment, I’d love to hear from you: What opportunities are you being invited to notice, receive, and relish right now?
Reader Comments (8)
This year I've been "invited" to rediscover God's word. While I typically have a few verses that go with our devotionals, our church started a "year through the bible" project that I decided to get on board with.
The reading is typically a chapter or 2 out of the OT and a chapter out of the NT. There's no thematic order or anything, just Genesis through Malachi / Matthew through Revelation.
However, with study bible in hand, I've been gaining a lot of new insights, even the small ones from my morning reads. I love it!
Oh, sweet friend!! It was such a treat to see you. I'm only sad that we didn't have more time together so you could tell us all about Storeyville and the work for which you're preparing. It's exciting and important stuff and I'm thrilled on your behalf for this amazing new phase of your life.
As for the invitations looming before me now (well, there's the one I haven't yet announced publicly), I sense an invitation to deeper prayer and devotion to our Lord. I also sense a season of risk coming forward -- I'm stepping into so many things, so many unknowns and I find myself more and more prepared in my spirit to step forward without having a specific plan, with all the details hammered out beforehand.
It was such a treat to see you, my dear!! I do hope we can come and see you sometime soon.
The opportunity to celebrate my little girl's babyhood. To learn to love and serve her well, even when I'm tired and she's crying and won't be comforted. To enter into the mystery of parenthood and contemplate what it actually means to be a child of God.
Congrats again on your new job. I was telling Nathan last night that I spoke to you and how excited you are about your new job and how excited I am for you. It is wonderful to watch how God is moving in your life.
As for me, there is not much to be said beyond our phone conversation the other night. I'm like a bird that doesn't know which way it is suppose to be flying for the Winter. Who knows where I am headed? I would like to take comfort in the fact that maybe God knows, but since I am leading the Holy Spirit these days- we are both blind.
@Sean: Sean, that is so great! It made me smile to hear you share the passion you have for rediscovering God's Word this year. How cool to give yourself some time to just let the Scriptures seep into you without too much analysis at the moment. I am sure this adventure will deposit so many rich seeds in the fertile soil of your life!
---
@Kirsten: I so agree, my friend! I loved seeing you, but I only wished it could have been longer. But I'm stoked we made it happen with the time we had! As for what you're stepping into, I have the utmost respect for that "stepping into risk" process. It is not easy by any means. And I know you've been toeing your way to that line for a bit of time now, continuing to check in with God to discern, "Is now the time? How about now? Now?" I'm glad to hear that the moment to jump is looming closer and closer these days. Love you.
---
@Sarah: Your comment is another one that made me smile because I'm just imagining you with your little Mirren-bird-girl each day in all the many ways you demonstrate care and love for her. I wish I could see you in those moments because I have no doubt it's a precious sight (even when some moments aren't as glamorous as others!).
---
@Tammy: Hmm. A bird that doesn't know which way it is supposed to be flying for the winter. That is a powerful image, my friend. I wonder where you are headed, too ... and whether God is leading you by a way you do not yet know. Love you so much.
I just started reading God Hides in Plain Sight and it is about seeing God in the everyday by Dean Nelson. I also plan on reading The Sacrament of the Present Moment by Jean-Pierre de Caussade here soon. Both have great insight in to just giving the gift of your presence in the time and moment you are in. Not arrogantly, but just focusing on being where you are when you are there and seeing God speak.
Take care good friend, and happy belated birthday.
@Carl: It is so uncanny that you mentioned de Caussade's book Sacrament of the Present Moment ... Not only is that one of the required texts for my course at Spring Arbor this term, but it's the book I just picked up off my desk a few minutes ago because I need to start reading it today! Very uncanny.
I saw the quote you shared on Facebook this week from God Hides in Plain Sight and really liked it. Glad you've got some good reading material to prompt you to see God in the everyday right now, too!
It does not follow that because we do not subsidize smoking, we should not regulate unhealthy activities. Costs and savings are not the only variable. The fact that obesity creates costs is merely an additional reason to regulate it, not the only one. The main reason is its danger to an individual. kcussc kcussc - moncler outlets.