Month: March 2025

Gracists

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Last month I had a conversation that left me with a feeling I didn’t want and, for sure, didn’t see coming. A few weeks later while attending a community event one speaker mentioned moral injury. And that feeling suddenly had a name. Check out this video to learn more about it.

This incident led me to intentionally choose to read several YouVersion devotional plans addressing the topic of racism. One of those was based on David Anderson’s book Gracism. Day 3 of that plan was very helpful, so I want to share this segment from that devotional:

From 1 Corinthians 12, I have identified eight principles or sayings that can guide us as we develop as gracists. These sayings lead us to actions that we can engage in to build bridges across the deepest divides of color, class, and culture. As you meditate on these verses, look for each of the eight sayings listed below.

  1. I will lift you up. “Special honor” means lifting up the humble among us.
  2. I will cover you. “Special modesty” means protecting the most vulnerable among us from embarrassment.
  3. I will share with you. “No special treatment” means refusing to accept special treatment if it is at the detriment of others who need it.
  4. I will honor you. “Greater honor” means God, as a gracist, has given greater honor to the humble.
  5. I will stand with you. “No division” means when the majority helps the minority, and the stronger helps the weaker (gracism), it keeps us from division within the body (an opposite view than normal).
  6. I will consider you. “Equal concern” means having a heart as big for our neighbors as we do for ourselves.
  7. I will celebrate with you. “Rejoices with it” means when the humble, or less honorable, are helped, we are to rejoice with them.
  8. I will heal with you. “Suffers with it” means empathizing with the pain of another and walking empathetically with the injured party.

To connect with that day of the plan, follow this link: Gracism: The Art of Inclusion – Day 3 of 5

Here’s to our collective development as Gracists.

The Third Door (book recommendation)

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Took a 24-hour jaunt to GA to celebrate our mother’s 88th birthday this weekend. Alex Banayan rode along through audible.

I feel like I’m late to the Alex Banayan party. So nothing elaborate to share. Follow the link to his website; it’s all there. And go ahead and follow him on instagram. Worth it.

Two thoughts:

  1. Don’t read the book. Listen to it. SO MUCH MORE MEMORABLE AND IMPACTING!
  2. If you’re my age (57) or older, stop worrying about the generations coming behind you. Yes, their world is different, but God isn’t. CHEER THEM ON!

Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening (book review)

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If you identify as one of these people, this book may be for you:

  • Contemplative
  • Meditative
  • Pursuing Spiritual Formation

Chances are the terms Centering Prayer or Welcoming Prayer are new to you. They were to me, which drew me to the book.

The first three sections of the book include 10 chapters teaching the method, tradition, and psychology of centering prayer.

The final section focuses on inner awakening and introduces welcoming prayer in chapter 13. That chapter by far was the most resourcing. This tool is meant to help surrender be an underlying attitude and practice for meeting daily life.

The welcoming prayer follows a three-step process:

  1. Focus and Sink In: Focus on how emotions or physical pain are being experienced in your body. Stay present without analyzing.
  2. Welcome: By welcoming the emotion or pain, you are not attempting to eliminate it but disarm it.
  3. Let Go: Two ways to go about this. 1) Short: “I let go of my anger,” or “I give my anger to God.” 2) Litany using the following formula: “I let go my desire for security and survival. I let go my desire for esteem and affection. I let go my desire for power and control. I let go my desire to change the situation.”

This quote sums it up quite well:

Here now, is the right place for you to wrestle before the divine face. If you remain firm, if you do not bend, you shall see and perceive great wonders. You will discover how Christ will storm the hell in you and will break your beasts. -Jacob Boehme

I don’t know about you, but I welcome the image and reality that the hell in me doesn’t have to be battled alone. I challenge you to try the welcoming prayer in the next 48 hours. Remain firm. Don’t bend. Welcome the beasts.

Four One Liners from The Shack

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Hullabaloo is not a party I enjoy. So forgive me if I’m eight years late to The Shack conversation (referring to the movie; 18 years since the book publication).

My free evening in Las Vegas was not going to be about hullabaloo either. So I turned on the TV for the first time in four days to see what I could find to watch. Up popped The Shack. It was time.

Papa (Octavia Spencer) and Mack Phillips (Sam Worthington) in “The Shack.” (Photo Credit: Jake Giles Netter) 

As the story unfolded, I was drawn to all the one liners; so I started this draft to share the ones that got my attention the most. Here are those four.

“Don’t forget we love each other.”

Nan, the wife, said this to Mack, her husband. He was withdrawn, and she wanted to find a way to reach him. This was a good reminder for those who are tempted to isolate when dealing with pain. Remember that people love you…and that you love them.

“Love always leaves a mark.”

God said this to Mack. Mack was expressing doubt and lack of trust in God’s love due to all the pain in his life. He learned that he was judging God, blinding him from just how much God loved him and everyone in his life, even the ones who had hurt him. This line was God expressing the extent of his love for Mack.

“You have no idea how much I’m doing right now.”

Mac was trying to make a joke about what God was doing. And his judgment brought this response. What a reminder! Our finite minds find it hard to comprehend exactly what all is going on in the universe and God’s part in it. Our humility grows when we consider the magnitude of that work.

“Does what I do really matter?”

This was Mack’s question toward the end of the movie. It caught my attention because it somewhat seemed to come out of left field. Yet, anyone floundering in their pain would most likely eventually ask this question. Purpose has a way of healing wounds.

Yes, one could dislike the movie and the book for theological reasons. Being late to the party, I’m choosing to listen and grow, one line at a time.

Show Up & Show Support

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A shoutout to Bakersfield Behavioral Healthcare Hospital!

They had an exhibit table at the Honor Run at Hart Memorial Park yesterday. The table rep explained why they were there.

I told my husband, “You have a hard job, and you deal with a lot of stress. We understand and are here to show our support and make our services available to all first responders.”

As colleagues in the field, it was a reminder of two things:

  • Even when you may not think it matters, show up. Exhibiting at a Saturday morning race isn’t fancy or sexy, but it says to the community, “We’re here for you.”
  • Regardless of working on opposite sides of the country, show support. It took just a few minutes to walk over to the the table and say, “Thanks for being here. It matters.”

Flying Through the Clouds

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The last leg of my trip from Sarasota to Bakersfield, California, yesterday started in Phoenix. I had been watching the weather forecast for weeks, curious what to expect for the race tomorrow. So I knew it had been rainy that morning and was supposed to be clearing. When the pilot said he expected the last part of the ride to be bumpy, I nodded.

Sure enough, about 20 minutes before landing the clear skies gave way to a blanket of clouds. I decided I’d watch the decent through my window-seat view.

For quite a while we flew just above the clouds. That’s all you could see beneath the plane. I was waiting to see when the pilot decided to dive. When he did, I looked at my watch.

It was roughly six minutes later when the plane was beneath the clouds, the blanket shadowing Bakersfield.

I wondered what goes through a pilot’s mind before and during a decent into such coverage. If I could, I wanted to ask the pilot to give me one word to describe what he felt during that six minutes flying through the clouds.

Often we feel like that. Those six minutes could literally be six weeks, months, years, or decades. The possible one-word list is long:

  • Unsettled
  • Edgy
  • Heavy
  • Antsy
  • Lost
  • Tired
  • Frustrated
  • Guarded

The truth I was reminded of watching out that window is this: God doesn’t change.

During that twenty minutes while experiencing the beauty above the clouds, the uncertainty through the clouds, and the darkness under the clouds, my location and my experience didn’t impact Him. Our relationship remained the same every second.

Wherever you find yourself in relation to the clouds, hold on to this truth. The clouds were created. Their Creator is not drained or threatened by them. He remains the same above, through, and under.

Photo by Johannes Mändle on Unsplash

Ladder to the Light (book review)

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Finished listening to Steven Charleston’s Ladder to the Light this afternoon. I’m fairly certain I checked it out after following a reference in Becoming Rooted.

Charleston’s ladder analogy is the crux of the book, seen by these chapter titles:

Charleston’s explanation of a kiva lays the foundation for why and how the darkness we experience should and can be addressed. A gradual ascent on each rung takes you out of the darkness and into the light.

Charleston’s theology is a mix of various religions, but its basis is Christianity. What I found most connecting for anyone of any religion is his constant contrast between the darkness and the light. We may not all agree on what falls in the category of dark, but hopefully we all could agree on the need to climb out of it.

The authors of both of these books have broadened my faith through their meditations, convictions, and actions based on their faith. I believe you could find the same by reading or listening to these works.

FYI, Charleston posts daily spiritual reflections on his facebook page. Follow this link.