Reflect: As you go about your daily round today, formulate brief “grace on the go” prayers so you can experience the companionship of the Spirit everywhere you go and in everything you do.
FEBRUARY 9 • Feminine Aspects of God
A few years ago, some young seminarians—both men and women—expanded the container of my God image by urging me to pay attention to the feminine aspects of the divine nature as well as the familiar masculine images.
These young people pointed me to scripture citations like these: “I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother” (Ps. 131:2) and “‘How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings’” (Luke 13:34). Part of God’s nurturing nature surely resembles a mother caring tenderly for her offspring. By associating God with masculine images only—King, Conqueror, Prince, Lord, Judge, Sovereign, Father—we limit the wholeness and inclusiveness of divine presence.
Rather than having me give up my accustomed address to God (Heavenly Father), the seminarians encouraged me to add to it more and more aspects of the divine. In truth, honoring the feminine aspects didn’t change my God “container” so much as enlarge it. I began to appreciate the truth that God is neither male nor female; “God is spirit, and those who worship [God] must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24).
When we open our hearts to ongoing revelation, we claim mother-like attributes of God in addition to father-like qualities. Our relationship to God is enriched, and the avenues to spiritual experience become boundless.
Reflect: Recall times when you have experienced the nurturing, motherly aspects of God. Expand your notions of who and what God is, honoring more parts of the divine mystery as the boundaries blur.
FEBRUARY 10 • The Whole Shebang
Not only do we limit our images of God, we also limit our sense of God’s presence. No matter how we express it, we often posit the notion that God is present when things are going well and absent when things are not.
When we feel inspired or happy or fulfilled, we equate those feelings with being “close to God” or saying “God was with me.” By contrast, when we feel depressed, sad, angry, or defeated, we tend to feel abandoned, separated from divine presence.
Before we can discern God’s will for us, we must begin to see life as a whole—both the light and the dark, success and failure, illness or health. As Romans 8:38 affirms, “Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God.”
We can understand our human, knee-jerk reaction during hardship, “How could God let this happen? What did I do wrong? Where is God?” Our persistent questioning why often blocks us from the redemptive ongoing presence that shows us the next step, that heals our wounds, that weeps with us.
One function of faith is to ground us in a love that will not leave us or let us go, even if for a time we cannot feel that comforting companionship. In those dark times, we trust that God participates with us as we pick up the pieces of whatever is broken.
Reflect: Ponder times in your life when you have felt separated from God. How did God’s love reach you during those times? Did that love come to you through family, friends, neighbors, your own resilience? As you look at those times in retrospect, express gratitude for the grace that emerged in surprising ways.
FEBRUARY 11 • The Three-Storied Universe
Heaven is up there; hell is down there; and I’m right here in between.” So goes our traditional rendering of the structure of the spiritual cosmos. Our literal acceptance of this language may reflect a notion we need to reexamine and deprogram.
Jesus never offered only one definition of the kingdom of heaven. He expressed its many facets through a variety of rich metaphors, likening the kingdom to a mustard seed, a pearl of great price, a portion of yeast, and other images—all hidden treasures that, when honored, have a larger effect on the external world. While we see evidence of the kingdom at work in the visible world, its germination begins in the heart: “The kingdom of heaven is within you.” No amount of forced external “good behavior” makes up for the fact that the kingdom of heaven has its roots in the soul. It is an inside job.
In like manner, the Sermon on the Mount records Jesus’ response to specific sins like murder and adultery by pointing to the recesses of the heart where hatred and lust reside before they blossom into actions. (See Matthew 5:21-48.)
Jesus’ specificity about the importance of the inner world suggests that we need to take notice and allow the barriers of space and time to disintegrate. Let’s face it; we know when we experience heaven or hell in our daily lives; we use those words to describe an inner condition. As we come to realize that God’s omnipresence supersedes our childish image of “a white-bearded man on a faraway throne,” we make room for the power of mystery.
The poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning said it well: “Earth’s crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God.” Rather than being tethered to physical descriptions and locations of heaven and hell, spiritual maturity invites us to see them as part of the human condition—right here, right now.
Reflect: Take a few moments to mull over your sense of heaven, hell, and earth. How have you experienced each of those places in your life?
FEBRUARY 12 • Disarming Our Defenses
The path to spiritual discernment involves some deprogramming and some disarming—letting down our defenses, taking off the armor of control, trusting that God’s Spirit can lead us in the direction of a wholeness we can scarcely imagine.
Prayerful discernment needs to be more than asking God to approve our agendas. Entering the decision-making process under the guidance of the Spirit means we make room for such guidance by letting go of our idea of what we need to happen or want to happen. Being sincerely open is a difficult matter; self-deception abounds in the unconscious. Being wide open allows the Spirit to shape what we want and leads us to love and growth. We surrender to a wisdom greater than our own.
The word surrender has gotten a bad rap. It conjures up images of a defeated soldier waving a white flag in utter helplessness. But surrender to a loving God involves saying “Yes!” rather than “I give up.”
Surrender to God need not mean we’ll board the next ship to the Congo or quit our jobs. Most likely we’ll stay in the same place and look the same; but instead of an agenda-driven life, we will move toward a soul-centered life guided by the Spirit.
Life is not a secret blueprint but a process of becoming all God created us to be, no matter where we are or what we do. As we disarm ourselves and become cloaked in genuine humility, we will gain the wisdom to discern the things that foster faithfulness.
Reflect: Fling open the door to your heart today, releasing preconceived notions, worn-out ideas, judgments, resentments . . . making a gracious space for divine guidance.
FEBRUARY 13 • Disarming the Ego
A minister-friend confessed recently, “When I pray for discernment as I write a sermon, the process can get contaminated pretty easily. Instead of listening to the Spirit’s leading, I can get derailed by unspoken questions like, ‘Will the congregation like this? Will so-and-so go ballistic if I say what I really believe to be true? If I use that commentary, will I sound more academic and intelligent?’ I have to get my ego out of the way, or I can’t really listen!” These are the words of an honest and self-aware person.
Praying for guidance requires that we let go of “What will they think?” as the major aspect of our attitude. The same goes for the shoulds and oughts and supposed-to-bes of our lives. And the pride. And the control. Being completely disarmed strips us of our defenses and barriers, making us vulnerable and alert for the