Thursday, February 5, 2009

Short blog break - prayers welcome

Acts of Hope is on blog break for a few days and welcomes your prayers.

We're alive and reasonably well, all things considered, but needing to focus and be quiet and as we work toward completion of some writing projects.

Keep us in your prayers. Whatever you ask, we probably need it!


P.S. If you wish, discuss in the Comments section:

What are you doing to be good stewards of your time and energy? How is the issue of "balance" playing out in your life? Is the Rule of St. Benedict helpful? Do you engage in any kind of mindfulness practice (Buddhist or other)? How do you remain both disciplined and kind with yourself? What are you doing this winter to stay healthy and care for yourself? What role does community play in any or all of the above? What are your greatest challenges these days? (Assuming you can discuss them in this public forum, which not all of us can or want to.) How do you protect your boundaries, your time, your commitments to relationships, to sanity, to solitude, to silliness, to prayer? Any stories of hope? Where and how do you find and build solidarity? Where is Godde for you these days, in all this? May peace be with you.

6 comments:

it's margaret said...

God bless you Jane. You are in my prayers.

Paul said...

Excellent questions and since I'm usually lousy at all of that I shall settle, for the moment, with offering prayers for you and the FBE, with graces abounding for every task, including self-care. Mwah!

PJ DeGenaro said...

Prayers and vibes and happiness and discipline for you, Jane. :)

Those are some great questions.

Thinking.

Still thinking. :)





My security letters are WAWSP, btw.

Anonymous said...

Prayers ascending for you..as always.

Mike Farley said...

Sorry I've not responded before, Jane, but I have been praying!

Some thoughts in response to your questions:

I'm not a good steward of my time and energy, but my Third Order Rule helps prevent me being even worse. Praying the Hours is essential (for me) and when I let it slip, everything else slips.

How do I protect my boundaries? Oh, and yet be present in love? I don't know. Some people think I'm good at this, but to me it feels an incessant muddle, and that I'm too often being fair neither to myself not to those who may need (things of) me.

God? Hope? For me the Jesus Prayer is still the pearl of great price, like the guy in The Way of a Pilgrim said. I am always held in that mercy - but praying the Prayer I know it. And as much of a sinner as I am, his mercy, his grace, is greater - always!

Much love & all blessings...

Mike

Shannon said...

I recently made two decisions re: time. The first is that I will take 24 hours before responding to an invitation that is a ways in the future (meaning I can still go to the movies tonight if you ask!). The second is that I will schedule 4 hours a month to go someplace I haven't been and just have fun exploring.

The other practice is something I heard at a workshop with Richard Rohr. He said that the Name of God contains no consonants, that the first syllable is an inhalation, the second an exhalation. And so we were born speaking God's name and we will die speaking it.

When I can remember, I breathe the Name mindfully.

And MY security word is "misinest"!