Tag / Christian

thankful grateful blessed in script
by Karen Twinem

This Thanksgiving List Your Blessings

Parts of the world are at war. We may be missing loved ones. And the cost of Thanksgiving may be much higher than last year. Nonetheless, the Lord has been so good to us.

Today, let’s look with intention at what’s right and how God has blessed us. Listing our blessings helps us to stay focused on what is good in our lives.

For example, I am thankful to the Lord for:

  • Our continued health.
  • Our marriage that has remained solid despite both of us in pain from shoulder and back conditions.
  • Food, water and a warm house.
  • My granddaughter and the miracles of technology that allow us to spend time together.
  • My wonderful kids.
  • A more consistent Christian mindfulness practice.
  • My spiritual director and pastors.

And there’s lots more on my list. Please make one yourself and spend time thanking God for what you have. You will feel much better.

It might be fun to keep it, so you can compare it to next year’s list.

You also can create a list of unanswered prayers to compare. Last year I prayed for travel. And yes, this year I went to Europe twice!

You also can make a gratitude pumpkin for your table! Just list your blessings on a pumpkin. It’s fun.

by Karen Twinem

Ignore Your Inner Critic

Do you remember a time when you were told who you are? It’s nice to hear that you’re kind or smart. But sometimes you hear that you are clumsy, stupid, ungrateful or worthless.

Where do those names go? Yes, they are still in your head. And often they become part of the inner critic who doesn’t like much of what you do. Today’s Christian mindfulness exercise is helping us to recognize that your inner critic is talking and to learn how to stop listening to it.

It is all part of detachment, the art of experiencing feelings without allowing them to control you. Numbing out feelings is unhealthy. That’s not what I’m suggesting. Detachment steps in to allow us to make choices about our thoughts and actions. In Christian mindfulness, we allow ourselves to walk with Jesus and to do God’s will.

Learning to focus on the presence of God helps us to recognize the negative impact of our inner critic. We do what we should do, regardless of how we feel. This allows us to be loving to people we don’t like and to participate in situations where we have felt awkward in the past. We can do hard things with hard people.

The first step is to pray. Ask God to help you listen to your thoughts. Spend some time writing down what you hear. Are you getting criticism and ridicule? That’s the inner critic. Be aware of what the inner critic sounds like. Keep a list of what you hear, if that helps. These hurtful statements from the past have little to do with your identity in Christ.

Once we recognize our inner critic’s voice, we need to deliberately ignore it. When the words arise, pray before you take any action. Ask for an increase in God’s presence. And turn your thoughts towards praise and gratitude. Then do the next right thing.

Ignoring your inner critic can help you to detach from emotional reactions and walk in the ways of peace.

by Karen Twinem

Think: It Could Be the Last Time

My former boss died last week. I worked for her for 13 years. She taught me how to be a communications strategist, how to embrace New York, and how to deal with difficult people without losing your cool. We went through her divorce, the deaths of her parents, my son’s disability, and the deaths of my father and sister-in-law. I have many good memories and a little sadness from difficult times.

The last time I saw her was at a Christmas party just before the pandemic. She was busy with a client, and I needed to leave. So I stood near her, waiting for an opening. It was brief. I gave her a hug and wished her well. I don’t remember what she said to me. It was the last time I saw one of the most monumental people in my life.

Sometimes we are fully conscious that we are saying goodbye to a loved one. It was so at my dad’s deathbed when they took him off a ventilator. My mother, brother, sister and I watched him take his last breath in full awareness of the finality of the moment.

But those times are rare.

This Christian mindfulness exercise helps us be less cavalier about seeing your loved ones. It’s simple: Just remind yourself that this could be the last time you talk to them. This sounds like Debbie Downer created the exercise, but it also helps you to be more aware of the person. After all, death comes to 100% of us, and not always in the order we were expecting.

We are often distracted, particularly around our family. We half-listen. We get annoyed. We don’t recognize how important every interaction is. I even think this colors our reaction when we lose someone to death. I wish I’d known … I wish I’d said … I wish we’d gotten past this.

Try listening to a loved one with the idea that it could be the last time. It makes the future better.

symbol of God pouring out his spirit
by Karen Twinem

Prepare for Pentecost

Today we have arrived at the peak of all blessings. We have reached the capital of feasts. We have obtained the very fruit of the Lord’s promise.

John Chrysostom

Pentecost is one of the holiest, happiest days of the Christian year. Coming 10 days after the celebration of the risen Christ’s ascension into heaven, Pentecost commemorates the gift of the Holy Spirit upon the first Christians. This was the day that Peter stepped forward to speak to the crowd. As a result, thousands of people who first thought the Christians were drunk at 9 a.m. decided that Jesus really was the Messiah after all.

How can we prepare for this day, which falls on May 28th this year? We have time to devote ourselves to opening up to the power of the Holy Spirit before Pentecost. Here are a few intentional ways to do so.

  • Before Pentecost, every time you see a bird, say “Come, Holy Spirit.” This honors the symbol of the dove representing the Spirit. But it also opens us up to calling on the Holy Spirit throughout the day.
  • Review your Lenten resolutions. How did it go? Pray over them again. Perhaps you should continue doing some of them, in part or in full.
  • Listen to songs about the Holy Spirit. Several in this list have similar names, but they are different songs.
    • “Come Holy Spirit” by Vineyard Music
    • “The Change in Me” by Casting Crowns
    • “Spirit of the Living God” by Vertical Worship
    • “Spirit of the Living God” (Fall Afresh on Me) by Phil Wickham
    • “Spirit Fall” by Chris Tomlin
    • “Fresh Wind” by Hillsong Worship
    • “Come Holy Spirit (Need You Now)” by New Wine Worship
  • Meditate over the role of the Holy Spirit in your life. I think about the traditional gifts of the Spirit:
    • Wisdom
    • Understanding
    • Counsel
    • Fortitude
    • Knowledge
    • Piety
    • Fear of God
  • Pray that God with bless you with the graces necessary for you to demonstrate the fruits of the Holy Spirit:
    • Love
    • Joy
    • Peace
    • Patience
    • Kindness
    • Goodness
    • Faithfulness
    • Gentleness
    • Self-control

Preparing for Pentecost Sunday can bring more intention to your life.

by Karen Twinem

The Church in Crisis: Jesus Who?

“Is the church in crisis? If so, what?” That’s the answer I found in a notebook I retrieved to go a community meeting.

I don’t even remember the meeting where we discussed the question. But my answer is there: “The crisis is that the truth of Jesus has been obscured, often by His own people.”

I wrote it about a year ago, and it’s more true that ever.

Exhibit A: The failure of my Lenten pledge.

I wanted to find a group of committed Christians to deepen my experience of contemplative prayer. The first two Christian groups I tried were miles away from the truth about Jesus. For example, this is the meditation passage I was sent this week from one of the groups:

“Jesus answered: I am the way of love, I am the truth of love, and I am the life of love. No one comes to God except through love.”

Hmmm, that’s not what my Bible says. It would be fairly easy for these folks to persuade others that all religions worship the same God. Because some faiths believe in multiple gods, that’s not really possible. .

Exhibit B: Christian nationalism

Americans aren’t God’s chosen people. Look it up. Self-righteousness, particularly when exhibited with hate and vile name calling, doesn’t reflect God’s character. It makes Jesus look bad when people say they are Christians and hate others, particularly other Christians. These days many people don’t even bother to keep quiet about it.

Exhibit C: Hypocrites

Religious leaders who are hypocrites or abuse their position, hurting others, are poor reflections of Jesus. In fact, the Bible indicates that they are among Jesus’ least favorite people.

I believe, from experience, that a close relationship with Jesus results in love, joy, peace, patience and the other fruits of the spirit. The Lord teaches that you can tell a good tree by its fruit.

How can we reflect the truth about Jesus? Through kindness. Through empathy. Generosity. Listening to understand. Respect. But, most of all, love.

Non-Christians watch Christians. When they see exhibits A, B and C, they think that is who Jesus is. Those of us that want the world to know Christ need to strive for holiness. So when people think “Jesus who?” they can see He’s reflected in your behavior.

by Karen Twinem

Resource: Enjoying the Presence of God

The most delightful experience I had this Lent was reading “Enjoying the Presence of God: Discovering Intimacy With God in the Daily Rhythms of Life” by Jan Johnson.

I met Jan Johnson on Zoom doing a class during 2020. Calm and funny, she seems like a person who has great insight into God. She also was a close associate of Dallas Willard, so she was well taught.

Her wonderful short book gives examples of how others have spent the day … and night … with Jesus during their ordinary circumstances. As the back cover says, “It shows that continual awareness of God is not just for the super-spiritual, but that anyone can sense His companionship in the mundane, in-between moments of life.”

Easy and quick to Read, Yet Profound

The contents are divided into three sections: Moments to Turn Over, Skills to Develop and Questions to Ponder. The first chapter is “Trying Too Hard,” which has been a serious problem for me. I have tried to practice the presence of God by talking to him continually, which gets tiresome, I’d guess, to both of us.

Jan Johnson talks about weaving prayer into activities and praying without words. She also dispenses good advice about asking God questions and addressing our deeper fears, including coming to believe that God actually loves us.

For example, in the chapter “Hearing God,” she writes, “Continual conversation with God means that there are moments when God speaks and we listen. Even though it may be scary to think of God speaking to us, it is normal and not weird.” Some of those ways include:

  • Recurring thoughts
  • New ideas
  • Fictional characters
  • Works of art
  • Kinesthetic experiences
  • Journaling

I’m not alone in loving this book. It has an average 4.41 star rating with 150 readers on GoodReads and a 4.9 star average rating with 87 readers on Amazon. Trust me. This book can change your walk with God.

cross and crown of thorns
by Karen Twinem

Fridays in Lent

Adding the Stations of the Cross to your Lent routine allows God to vividly display what Jesus endured for us. During Lent, I add this to my lunchtime routine on Fridays. The prayer “Look Down Upon Me, Good and Gentle Jesus” is another good addition.

The Stations of the Cross developed out of a desire for Christians to walk “The Via Dolorosa” in Jerusalem, the route from Pontius Pilate’s praetorium to the cross. It’s popular in Western Christian traditions, including Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran and Methodist.

In churches, 14 pictures or plaques are on the walls or on an outdoor walk that allow Christ followers to go from station to station. We stop at each station to pray and reflect.

This free PDF from the Diocese of Manchester takes you through the stations so you can do them at your desk or your kitchen table. The Archdiocese of Portland offers this PDF of the stations, with some preliminary prayers.

Stations of the Cross are available on YouTube. I particularly like this one, which is less than 15 minutes long.

When you only have a few seconds to yourself on Friday at noon, you can pray this:

Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus, while before Your face I humbly kneel and with burning soul, pray and beseech You to fix deep in my heart lively sentiments of faith, hope and charity, true contrition for my sins and a firm purpose of amendment, while I contemplate with great love and tender pity your five most precious wounds, pondering over them within me and calling to mind the words that David, your prophet, said of you , my Jesus, “They have pierced My hands and feet, They have numbered all my bones.”

by Karen Twinem

How Do You Want to Spend Lent?

Ash Wednesday is this week, so today is a good time to prepare our Lenten resolutions. I’ve used Lent to give up bad habits, but more often I take this time to create positive habits.

Think about how we can improve our prayer life, fasting and giving. Some families pick a charity and put their change into a bowl each day. Others give up eating out and give away the money they saved. My church took a recent pledge to not have cell phones at the dinner table. We can find many things to improve if we think and pray about it.

I also always have a Lenten reading program. In the past, I read a biography of a Christian I admired, a devotional and a general book about faith each Lent. Today it’s a lot more random. I just look at the bookshelves to see what I think would be helpful and inspiring.

Take some time today to figure out how you want to spend Lent. Your resolutions can be positive and prayerful. May you have a blessed Lent.

by Karen Twinem

Try Scripture as a Breath Prayer

Breath prayer is an important part of my Christian mindfulness practice. That’s common. The Christian breath prayer is a supercharged mantrum: the repetition of a word or phrase repeated in conjunction with a breath to center the mind on the presence of God.

I have used the phrase “Come, Holy Spirit” frequently during the day for more than 20 years. I inhale on the word “Come” and exhale on “Holy Spirit.” I plan to continue that practice for the rest of my life, but there are times when I could use another phrase.

Some Christians use short pieces of Scripture in breath prayer, and I see an advantage to this. I’ve found several ideas on Christian websites. For example, a piece written by Joe Iovino for the United Methodist Church website nicely summarizes various ways to expand our prayer lives, including using breath prayer. As he says,”The Holy Spirit is as near as the air we breathe.”

The mennoniteusa.org website offers a pdf on breath prayers with good ideas for using breath prayer. Two are different from anything I’ve seen before:

  • Confessional Breath Prayers: Exhaling, you breathe out a confession of a personal failing or worry. Inhaling, you breathe in an assurance of God’s love. An example that they give is: (exhaling) I breathe out worry. (inhaling): Grant me your peace.
  • Breath Prayers for the World: In this style, we exhale as we live up the sins of the world. We inhale as we breathe out corrections, such as “I am the hands and feet of God in the world.” The corrections are about love and justice. One example from me: (exhaling) I lift up all the suffering in Ukraine. (inhaling) May you bring peace and justice.

Finding Answers

Finally, the website Soul Shepherding talks about breath prayers as a way to “deal with stress, overcome anxiety and be more effective in ministry to others.” The author, Bill Gaultiere, offers more information in his book “Your Best Life in Jesus’ Easy Yoke.” He recommends using Bible verses in breath prayers.

One of Gaultiere’s suggestions that I love is asking God a question first. Then do a breath prayer to “Speak Lord, your servant is listening.”

You can find Bible verses that meet your needs in “The Bible Promise Book,” which has verses organized by topic. Any other source that presents Bible verses for various situations could work as well.

The breath prayer is an important tool in Christian mindfulness. Using the Lord’s own words can expand its use.

emotionally healthy woman
by Karen Twinem

Resource: Everything Belongs

Fr. Richard Rohr’s outstanding book “Everything Belongs: The Gift of Contemplative Prayer” is for people who “hunger for a deeper spiritual life but don’t know what contemplation is.”

He does an excellent job explaining it, and, even more, he helps us to understand a form of prayerful living that’s not based on speech. I’ve seen the book called “meandering” in my reviews. I think it follows the forms and shapes of real life.

Repeatedly Rohr challenges us to move beyond our comfort zone to a deeper rest in God. There, he says, we can find the freedom to become all we can be. Only when we “live and see through God can everything belong.”

What does that mean? Rohr writes, “Everything belongs; God uses everything. There are no dead-ends. There is no wasted energy. Everything is recycled. … I believe with all my heart that the Gospel is all about the mystery of forgiveness.”

Contemplative prayer can help us to see that God loves us as we are. And then we can better see who we are.

But it’s not easy. Rohr notes, “Our first response to anyone calling us to truth, greatness, goodness or morality at a higher level will be increased anxiety.”

Later on, he writes, “That’s what happens in the early stages of contemplation. We wait in silence. In silence all our usual patterns assault us. Our patterns of control, addiction, negativity, tension, anger, and fear assert themselves. That’s why most people give up rather quickly. When Jesus is led by the Spirit into the wilderness, the first things that show up are wild beasts (Mark 1:13). Contemplation is not first of all consoling. It’s only real.”

Yet, once you open yourself to this journey, you discover more peace. “Know that things are okay as they are. This moment is as perfect as it can be. The saints called this the ‘sacrament of the present moment,’ ” he writes.

The book has been revised and updated with a reading guide. It received 4.25 stars out of 4,556 ratings on Goodreads and 4.2 stars out of 4,541 ratings on Amazon. It is a book to read and re-read. Enjoy the journey.

Fr. Rohr is on a journey himself as he has stepped back from public ministry after a cancer diagnosis last year. May God bless his life and work.