A Quiet Prayer Weekend

Mark 6:31 "Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while."  

Our world is full of chaos, hatred, and noise.  Jesus called the disciples to come away and rest awhile.  It would be good for you as well.

Friday, April 29-Saturday, April 30 I will be leading "A Quiet Prayer Weekend" for 10 women.  We will gather at Benet Hall on the grounds of the Sacred Heart Monastery in Cullman, Alabama.  Benet Hall is located on the banks of a beautiful lake.  The Hall has a lovely porch for quiet reflection, in addition to the rest of the beautiful Monastic grounds and buildings. 

We will explore various quiet prayer methods including "Praying in Color," journaling, praying the Liturgy with the Sisters at Sacred Heart, and quiet time alone.

Meals will be provided for Breakfast and Lunch on Saturday.  You will need to have eaten before you arrive on Friday night.

We will begin our weekend activities at 6:30 on Friday night.  You will be provided with a private sleeping room and a shared bathroom with one other participant.  A small kitchen is provided where you can store snacks, drinks in the refrig, and use the coffee maker.
  
The Monastery provides the bedding, sheets, towels, and washcloths..  Guests need to bring their own toiletries and personal items.  Comfortable clothing and shoes are recommended; however the Sisters prefer that shorts not be worn in the monastery chapel for celebrations of liturgy. Meals are served cafeteria-style.

There is limited availability for 10 participants only.  The cost per participant is $120.  A $25 non- refundable deposit is required by Feb. 20th.  The balance is due at the time of check-in.  Check in will begin at 6pm on Friday night.  You spot is not secured until the deposit is received.  

If you are interested in attending, please email me at kusmith@hiwaay.net to arrange payment. 

  

Inspired by Coloring Books and Colors

As I sat curled up in my Daddy's green recliner, I could hear my mother cooking supper in the kitchen of our little house on Chenault Drive.  Momma always had supper waiting on the table for my Daddy when he came home from work.  This scheduled, little ritual was soothing and made me feel safe.  Pushing a long blonde curl out of my eyes, I looked down at the Barbie coloring book in my lap and the big box of 96 count crayons tucked safely beside my leg. I was in little girl heaven. 

I love to color.  Picking out a new coloring book and box of crayons is one of my most favorite things!  It doesn't matter how many crayons I already have, I always seek the pleasure of opening a brand new box and smelling that incredible scent that wafts up from beautiful, new, unused crayon.  I don't believe there is any smell that inspires me so! 

At every single desk I have ever inhabited, I have kept a coloring book and crayons.  When I get stressed out, it is the most simple and cost effective way to decompress and relieve growing anger or frustration.  I have used the coloring supplies more at some jobs than others.  Many a fellow co-worker has been saved by a simple page out of a Minnie Mouse coloring book. I have always loved Minnie. 

As I've grown older, my love of coloring has remained. One of my guilty pleasures while shopping in Walmart or a bookstore is looking through the new coloring books.  And yes, I still adore opening a fresh box of crayons for the simple pleasure of sniffing them. 

It's the current "in thing" for adults to color.  I told someone lately "I was coloring as an adult when coloring as an adult wasn't cool."  Many artists are developing coloring books with themes directed toward adults.  I especially love the ones with scripture themes.  But I will admit my current favorite coloring book features winged fairies busy at their daily tasks. 

At the direction of my friend Tracy, I picked up the book "Praying in Color."  I have shown this method of prayer to many ladies and also children.  It allows for resting and stilling the mind while one thinks of those they need to pray about.  No one has to be extremely creative to pray in color.  One simply needs to consent to praying. 

Bible journaling is currently popular.  It is simply drawing and coloring illustrations on an actual bible page.  My old bible, the one I use the most, is colored and journaled in HEAVILY. My sweet bible is worn out, but I just can't give her up.  The cover came off so I bound her afresh with packing tape.  I have bought many  new bibles, but this old, taped version holds all my notes and thoughts from over the years of my adult life.  It is precious to me.

I bought a bible specifically for journaling and I love it too.  This method encourages me to practice Lectio Divina, which is sacred reading.  In Lectio Divina you are encouraged to focus on one passage.  Read it over and over, at least three times, and see what words jump out at you. Then ponder those words and pray about what the Lord is saying to you.

There are so many ways to contemplate God's word.  So many methods to help you arrive at "be still and know." I encourage you to consider what ways you can "be still and know."  Do whatever it takes.  Just do it. 

Basics with no Fru-Fru

I cleaned out my refrigerators today.  We have one in the kitchen and a small one in the garage for drinks and overflow storage when we are preparing for big get-togethers.  Over the past 6 weeks or so, we have been blessed to entertain someone every single weekend.  We also were blessed to be invited to visit with friends and family.  This makes for lots of food being prepared.  I literally had so much food at times, I couldn't find one square inch of space left.  The food was all so good...so rich...so yummy...so heavy. 

After a month of that, I'm ready for lighter, real food without the addition of extra butter, sugar, cream.... It makes me full just to type that sentence. 

I also cleaned out our rather large baskets of reading material in the bathrooms.  Those baskets are where magazines and catalogs go to die.  I suppose I'm afraid that if I throw one of them out, I will need it at some point in future.  Truth is that I should toss them first thing and be done with it.

I'm also gathering up all the Christmas decorations.  Most of the knick-knacks are currently residing in the floor of our foyer waiting on me to box them up and rest up for next year.  I put out a lot of Christmas decorations this year.  When I first decorate a tree, I could sit and watch the twinkling lights and sparkling ornaments for hours...and I have.  The glitter, clutter, fluff, and fru-fru of  the Christmas season is beautiful. 

But now as I'm cleaning up and putting away I realize how much I love the clean lines, subdued colors, and uncluttered surfaces in my house.  I love a clean refrigerator and an organized house.  I honestly work better when things are in order.

When I first got sick, my house cleaning fell way behind and because I live with men, they never noticed.  But I noticed.  It made me sick, but I didn't have enough energy to take care of it.  My men did help with laundry and dishes, but it's not the same type of attention that the mom gives. 

I find I'm in a season of my life where I feel the same way about worship and prayer.  I like an uncluttered, fru-fru-less atmosphere of praise, worship, and prayer.  Give me a dark closet, my bible and quiet.  That is a recipe for a spiritually happy Kelley.

I know it's hip and considered "in" right now for there to be all manner of theatrical lights, rock or country-style loud bands, emotional dramas, colorful and power power-point presentations, headlining celebrity speakers, etc.  And while I have no problem with that on occasion, it's not what I hunger for on a regular basis. 

I hunger for the quiet, stillness of lifting the whispers of my heart to the God of all creation.  He hears those whispers.  He doesn't need it to be amplified by a high dollar sound system.  He sees me without the use of flashing, colored theatrical lights.

Fru-fru and fluff might be nice for a time, but not for all time.  

I am loving getting back to the basics of life. 

January Promises

Christmas celebrations are behind us, which makes me happy and sad all in the same breath.  I absolutely adore when the decorations are in full splendor.  My calendar is full of events to attend and to host.  Advent has filled my heart with expectation.  Most everyone gathers in close to family and friends, appreciating them as they rarely do during other times of the year.  But now we are on to those January resolutions, goals, and promises.  They all seem so lovely and chivalrous.

While cleaning out a basket today, I discovered a journal from 2011.  It had settled down to the bottom of the basket, long forgotten, yet still full of many empty, awaiting pages.  I flipped the journal open to see that on January 1 of the year 2011, I had been resolved to keep a gratitude journal.  The last entry was in March.

I had lofty intentions.  I wish I had kept my promise to continue this practice throughout the year. I was going to need a full strength attitude of gratitude. Little did I know that in December of 2011, after a year battling my own war with Dysautonomia, my best friend of 35+ years would be diagnosed with aggressive Stage C3 ovarian cancer.  We were literally in for the fight of our lives.

I can use my illness as an excuse for not keeping up with the practice.  I could tell you all about how busy I was during that time with my oldest son moving away to college and my youngest son busy in high school.  I could tell you all about how busy I was with a new job.  But the bottom line is that each day I chose not to continue with the practice of daily writing down the things I was grateful for that specific day.  Then after a time of choosing to leave behind the practice, I just simply forgot about it. 

Life is a series of choices.  I will be 50 in March of this year and as I look back, I see all the forks in the road where I had a choice to turn left or right, or even to remain.  As a child of God, I have always wanted to do the right thing, but honestly sometimes I didn't even consult Him when I arrived at the fork in the road, much less when I determined which way to turn.  I made a choice to move forward without Him.

Sometimes I wonder if these were deliberate choices or if I was so caught up in the moment at the fork in the road  I simply forgot to consult the maker of the universe.  (Funny how when you type things out, it sounds so ridiculous.)  Either way it was a choice to forget Him.

Which gets me to the topic of January promises.

I looked back at my calendar for late 2011, 2012 and 35 days into 2013, with the hindsight of Angie's illness and death.  Knowing what I know now, I wouldn't have spent much time considering my resolutions. With only one month left with her, I would have been better at living in the moment, not looking forward or backward, just being with her.

January promises/resolutions/ or whatever you call them are important.  But I know that I've been guilty of choosing to focus on the future and not enough focus on the now.  So this year, my resolution, my promise, my goal is to be more present in the moment where I reside, not looking behind or before, just being in the moment.

I wish I had the first 35 days of 2013 to live over.  I'd sure savor the moments more.