GOD OF MY UNDERSTANDING
Voices and the Power of the Personal Narrative…
I have been doing a lot of praying. My spiritual life and my spiritual practices have moved into the non-negotiable range. In case you were wondering Writing for me and I suspect that for many of you… falls into the repetitive practices that keep us sane and in right order no matter what is going on around us.
I write my way out and through a lot of things and often when I look back and read something I wrote way way back ago, I wonder who wrote that; having no recollection of the words or the insight that lay as a reminder of something I was so confused about at the time.
I have just recently claimed my creativity as a writer and a spiritual being. Nothing monumental, it is just a part of the fabric of who I am. I think it’s called Elder status. No apologies, no limitations and in some respects much less worry about the audience, what they might think, or how they might react.
Almost 2 years ago now, I wrote feverishly and consistently and curated a body of work as part of the writers ministry of my spiritual community.
writing at my desk
We made absolutely no efforts to promote or sell the work at the time. Mission accomplished , I completed what I thought was my ancestral duty as the in-house scribe. My heart’s desire is to be a really good listener. Be a curious compassionate observer, share love and tend to my anger and grief. I am passionate about the story teller and the story.
What Caroline Myss calls “Holy Listening”
https://youtu.be/nHFfl3wSe40?si=4Hv_KlQNnTpIrwRF
As writers with a spiritual practice, who from time to time see our creativity as a gift: let’s continue to create platforms and sacred spaces where folks can speak, be heard, and heal. Perhaps if we are very lucky writers and readers may also see a different perspective and version of themselves, the world and the folks in it.
While today I might really struggle with calling myself a “christian” or any label or even a pronoun that seems a self-limiting descriptor of who I am. I do see the benefits of discipleship. Being a follower that learns how to be more loving, more open and a more better version of myself. Co creating with the Divine offers me an empowered sense of responsibility for a relationship with God by whatever name Spirit is called.
Are there still mystics out there; spiritual teachers and just ordinary folk that help us along the way to see that things are not always what they seem it be and can actually see the best in us? Come as you are, take the next step. We are all growing and hopefully learning.
The Christian moniker is especially hard when the poster child on the daily news and the congressional church steps is not in keeping with my discovery or relationship. We have been here before and don’t have to figure it out today.
Could I possibly associate or be mistaken for beliefs and attitudes and values that leaves no room for me nor the GOD of my understanding. What’s the risk/benefit ratio on that experiment?
This book so indulges my passion for the story, oral history and assuring that everyone is welcome and there is a place at the table. It is an anthology that I can be proud of that respectfully allows each voice to claim a style that works for how they wish to be represented. To be included to be welcomed is to be loved…I loved being a witness to the journey along the path. How folks healed and how they came to have a better understanding of God and what it might mean to be a spiritual force at this time.
Ten storytellers share a leg of the journey, what is it like to look for God; to try to understand God and to be in community and to have a place at the table when perhaps you never felt you could be truly yourself and truly belong. Where might you be nurtured and fed?
Keep writing, keep reading, encourage one another. Make room for a bit of holy listening and having a spiritual life whatever that looks like for you. Buy a book, support an author and the preservation of a story not often heard. Share with a friend or someone who you don’t know or don’t like. You might save a life, or better yet enhance a life that is excited and relieved to know that you existed and that they were truly never alone and were understood by someone.
If you subscribe and I get an email from you. I will share my audio narration of the PROLOGUE of the book where you will get to hear my voice and have the preview of what it is like to practice being a good listener and the joy of being read to….
Notes
inclusion and cult followers of jesus
