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We all have the soul force within us to spring back to form when life tries to knock us down . . . . We all possess this inner spiritual resilience, this life spring of soul and relationship that we can tap to carry us through and beyond our traumas and trials . . . . Every Lent, Holy Week, and Easter we celebrate the great soul resilience of Jesus who graces us with, and models for us the ultimate resiliency that can lead us through all of our journeys through suffering and death to resurrection and new life.
So, whenever or however life challenges you, recall the light and strength that is within you, around you, and beyond you. Draw from your enormous soul capacity to spring back into shape. Ask yourself the following questions:
• How can I reconnect with, nourish, or create spiritually empowering relationships with individuals and with faith communities?
• Who are my soul friends, and how can I deepen my relationships with them?
• What are productive and hope-enhancing meanings, purposes, and narratives that I can discover about my challenges?
• Who am I still, and who can I become, despite what I am experiencing?
• What plans do my soul and my God have for me in regard to this life challenge?
• What is the seed of hope buried in my trauma? How might the present suffering someday be transformed for me into new purpose, new life, ministry, and service?
The answers to these questions are often slow to come in the midst of crisis and dislocation, or in the pain, temporary paralysis and blindness of trauma. However, just asking them of your soul and of your God will begin to summon the resilience that resides deep within you. Trust that it is there, even though you may not yet discern it or feel it. Your God-given resilience will, in time, spring you back to wholeness and to deeper and even more abundant life. [Adapted from "Springing Back," Weavings: A Journey of the Christian Spiritual Life, Vol. XXVIII, No. 2 (Nashville, TN: The Upper Room, 2013), 22-23.]
Prayer for the Journey by Junius Dotson
God of power, victory and might,
we confess to you that we are slow
to accept new possibilities for our lives.
Forgive us for being paralyzed by fear
and thoughts of what could have been.
Send your anointing to move us
beyond our places of fear and grief.
Send your anointing to strengthen us
for the twisting, turning journey
that lies ahead.
Send your anointing to guide us
into our destiny and to reap the harvest
you have in store for us.
In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
[From The Africana Worship Book, Year B edited by Valerie Bridgeman Davis and Safiyah Fosua. Copyright © 2007 by the Discipleship Resources. Used with permission.]
The Gift by Steve Harper
Something happens when life changes suddenly. Life looks different than it used to. Values change; conversations change; perspectives shift. We use our time differently. People become much more precious to us than possessions. Ordinary moments become charged with significance and with the energy of eternity. Prayer weaves its way into this tapestry, creating moments of reflection and gratitude. What seems to be loss on one level gets transformed into gain on another level.
[From Talking in the Dark: Praying When Life Doesn’t Make Sense by Steve Harper. Copyright © 2007 by the author. Used with permission of Upper Room Books.]
Transitions
April 2015
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