Daily Meditation: The Great Gift of Parenthood

Having trouble viewing this email? Click here

Wednesday March 7, 2012       The Great Gift of Parenthood  Children are their parents' guests.  They come into the space that has been created for them, stay for a while -  fifteen, twenty, or twenty-five years - and leave again to create their own space.  Although parents speak about "our son" and "our daughter," their children are not their property. In many ways children are strangers.  Parents have to come to know them, discover their strengths and their weaknesses, and guide them to maturity, allowing them to make their own decisions. The greatest gift parents can give their children is their love for each other.  Through that love they create an anxiety-free place for their children to grow, encouraging them to develop confidence in themselves and find the freedom to choose their own ways in life.   Comment on this Daily Meditation. Journey with us this Lent. Reflect on COMPASSION.   Visit our website for inspiration, resources, news, events, community. Text excerpts taken from Bread for the Journey, by Henri J.M. Nouwen, ©1997 HarperSanFrancisco. All Scripture from The Jerusalem Bible ©1966, 1967, and 1968 Darton, Longman & Todd and Doubleday & Co. Inc. Photo by V. Dobson.

Forward this Daily Meditation to a friend!
This email was sent to cbgamb@gmail.com, by email_lists@henrinouwen.org Update Profile/Email Address | Instant removal with SafeUnsubscribe™ | Privacy Policy.
Henri Nouwen Society | PO Box 220522 | St. Louis | MO | 63122 | USA Henri Nouwen Society | John M. Kelly Library, 3rd Fl. | 113 St. Joseph Street | Toronto | ON | M5S 1J4 | Canada

Daily Meditation: Shadowland -- Mar. 7, 2012

Having trouble viewing this message? Click here to view as a webpage.

Texas Canyon by © Shirin McArthur   SHADOWLAND In the second half of life, we have been in regular unwelcome contact with the shadow self, which gradually detaches us from our not-so-bright personas that we so diligently constructed in the first half of life. Our “stage mask” (persona in Greek) is not bad, evil, or necessarily egocentric; it is just not “true.” It is manufactured and sustained unconsciously by our mind; but it can and will die, as all fictions must die. Person and shadow are correlative terms. Your shadow is what you refuse to see about yourself, and what you do not want others to see. The more you have cultivated and protected a chosen persona, the more shadow work you will need to do. Be especially careful therefore of any idealized role or self-image, like that of minister, mother, doctor, nice person, professor, moral believer, or president of this or that. These are huge personas to live up to, and they trap many people in lifelong delusion. The more we are attached to and unaware of such a protected self-image, the more shadow self we will likely have. Conversely, the more we live out of our shadow self, the less capable we are of recognizing the persona we are trying to protect and project. It is like a double blindness keeping you from seeing—and being—your best and deepest self. As Jesus put it: “If the lamp within you is, in fact, darkness, what darkness there will be” (Matthew 6:23). From Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life, pp. 127-128, pp. 127-128 Prayer: I long for the light.     Share on  • Share on  More sharing options ... Permalink (for linking to this): http://conta.cc/yDePt7 Click here to forward this to a friend.   Wondrous Encounters: Scripture for Lent Book & CD or DVD bundle available from the CAC Resource Center at a special price! Donations in any amount in support of the Daily Meditations are gratefully appreciated! Did you get this message forwarded from someone else? Wish to sign up for CAC's email lists yourself? Subscribe to CAC email lists here. You are receiving this message because you subscribed to the CAC's "Daily Meditations" email list. You can unsubscribe or change your preferences or email address at any time. Please direct inquiries to cac@cacradicalgrace.org. Copyright © 2012 Center for Action and Contemplation 1705 Five Points Rd SW, Albuquerque, NM 87105 (physical) PO Box 12464, Albuquerque, NM 87195-2464 (mailing) (505)242-9588 www.cacradicalgrace.org

This email was sent to cbgamb@gmail.com by cac@cacradicalgrace.org |   Update Profile/Email Address | Instant removal with SafeUnsubscribe™ | Privacy Policy. Center for Action and Contemplation | 1705 Five Points Rd. SW (phys) | PO Box 12464 (mailing) | Albuquerque | NM | 87195

Learn to Bless

Learn to Bless Madeleine L'Engle How do we learn to bless, rather than damn, those with whom we disagree, those whom we fear, those who are different? ... All of Creation groans in travail. All will be redeemed in God's fullness of time, all, not just the small portion of the population who have been given the grace to know and accept Christ. All the strayed and stolen sheep. All the little lost ones.... To look for hell, not heaven, is a kind of blasphemy, for we are called to live in hope. Source: A Stone for a Pillow Add your thoughts at inward/outward This message is a daily service of inward/outward. Was this message forwarded to you? Click here to sign up. No longer interested in receiving these readings? Click here to unsubscribe. Having trouble unsubscribing? Email Church of the Saviour Office: churchofthesaviour.office@gmail.com

Daily Meditation: True Hospitality

Having trouble viewing this email? Click here

Tuesday March 6, 2012      True Hospitality  Every good relationship between two or more people, whether it is friendship, marriage, or community, creates space where strangers can enter and become friends.  Good relationships are hospitable.  When we enter into a home and feel warmly welcomed, we will soon realise that the love among those who live in that home is what makes that welcome possible. When there is conflict in the home, the guest is soon forced to choose sides.  "Are you for him or for her?"  "Do you agree with them or with us?"  "Do you like him more than you do me?"  These questions prevent true hospitality - that is, an opportunity for the stranger to feel safe and discover his or her own gifts.  Hospitality is more than an expression of love for the guest.  It is also and foremost an expression of love between the hosts.   Comment on this Daily Meditation. Journey with us this Lent. Reflect on COMPASSION.   Visit our website for inspiration, resources, news, events, community. Text excerpts taken from Bread for the Journey, by Henri J.M. Nouwen, ©1997 HarperSanFrancisco. All Scripture from The Jerusalem Bible ©1966, 1967, and 1968 Darton, Longman & Todd and Doubleday & Co. Inc. Photo by V. Dobson.

Forward this Daily Meditation to a friend!
This email was sent to cbgamb@gmail.com, by email_lists@henrinouwen.org Update Profile/Email Address | Instant removal with SafeUnsubscribe™ | Privacy Policy.
Henri Nouwen Society | PO Box 220522 | St. Louis | MO | 63122 | USA Henri Nouwen Society | John M. Kelly Library, 3rd Fl. | 113 St. Joseph Street | Toronto | ON | M5S 1J4 | Canada

Daily Meditation: Shadowland -- Mar. 6, 2012

Having trouble viewing this message? Click here to view as a webpage.

Texas Canyon by © Shirin McArthur   SHADOWLAND The ego is that part of the self that wants to be significant, central, and important. It is very self-protective by its very nature. It must eliminate the negative to succeed. (Jesus would call it the “actor” in Matthew 23, usually translated from the Greek as “hypocrite”.) The shadow is that part of the self that we don’t want to see, that we’re afraid of and we don’t want others to see either. If our “actor” is well-defended and in denial, the shadow is always hated and projected elsewhere (we tend to hate our own faults in OTHER people!). One point here is crucial: The shadow self is not of itself evil; it just allows you to do evil without recognizing it as evil! That is why Jesus criticizes hypocrisy more than anything else. He does not hate sinners at all, but only people who pretend they are not sinners! Jesus’ phrase for the denied shadow is “the plank in your own eye,” which you invariably see as the “splinter in your brother’s eye.” Jesus’ advice is absolutely perfect. “Take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly enough to take the splinter out of your brother’s eye” (Matthew 7:4-5).  From Things Hidden: Scripture as Spirituality, p. 76 Prayer: I long for the light.     Share on  • Share on  More sharing options ... Permalink (for linking to this): http://conta.cc/zvkkm2 Click here to forward this to a friend.   Wondrous Encounters: Scripture for Lent Book & CD or DVD bundle available from the CAC Resource Center at a special price! Donations in any amount in support of the Daily Meditations are gratefully appreciated! Did you get this message forwarded from someone else? Wish to sign up for CAC's email lists yourself? Subscribe to CAC email lists here. You are receiving this message because you subscribed to the CAC's "Daily Meditations" email list. You can unsubscribe or change your preferences or email address at any time. Please direct inquiries to cac@cacradicalgrace.org. Copyright © 2012 Center for Action and Contemplation 1705 Five Points Rd SW, Albuquerque, NM 87105 (physical) PO Box 12464, Albuquerque, NM 87195-2464 (mailing) (505)242-9588 www.cacradicalgrace.org

This email was sent to cbgamb@gmail.com by cac@cacradicalgrace.org |   Update Profile/Email Address | Instant removal with SafeUnsubscribe™ | Privacy Policy. Center for Action and Contemplation | 1705 Five Points Rd. SW (phys) | PO Box 12464 (mailing) | Albuquerque | NM | 87195