Green Patches

Three Ways of Making a Rule of Life

With Francistide and review of my TSSF Rule of Life still fresh in my mind,  here's some advice on the process applicable to anybody looking to live life more intentionally and holistically:

 

A rule is a document embodying the values which are central to your life, and the praxis which allows you to live this out with genuine integrity. 

 - Hermit Sr Laurel from notes from stillsong.

Developing a Rule of Life 13 Tips - from soulgardeners

 

and

Balancing Life by The Rule by Debra Farrington

I came across a wonderful piece of advice yesterday -  that  rule of life should not be a list of 'to do (s)' but of 'to be (s).'

Words, words, words...Over on the Franciscan Support Thread on Shipoffools posters are asking - Is it possible to make a rule of life without using them ? It's been suggested for the TSSF Principles in the past. Could you sign it? Paint, sing or dance it? Any other medium? Suggestions please...

For Franciscans I"d have thought creative ways like these would be spot on, given their sprituality and the famous "Preach the gospel. If necessary, use words," saying popularly attributed to our founder.

Granted we might have problems at annual renewal presenting them all at the altar - still I'm sure there are ways and means of getting over that one!

Blog of The Week - Opinionated Vicar

They're lining up!  Four blogs vied for my attention yesterday morning, hence the delay in posting here.  I just couldn't make up my mind. So, in the interests of fairness, I've plumped for the  first one I discovered, David Keen's reflections on imaginative prayer in Opinionated Vicar. (Opinionated? Surely not...?)

 

"I found all of this very fruitful, whilst being aware that I rarely have the leisure in prayer to simply use my imagination. It's much more controllable to pray set prayers, work through a list of things to pray for, and formulate my own prayers, rather than let my (rather more chaotic) imagination run the show. 

As an evangelical, I'm trained to base prayers on reason. God is found in the Word, in the left brain, prayer is based on who God is (revealed in words) and what God has said (ditto), and is verbal. Ignatian prayer is more 'right brain', and uses the imagination. Both reason and imagination can be flaky, and I came back from the walks wondering whether I'd been for a walk with Jesus, or just imagined I'd been for a walk with Jesus. Then I wondered whether perhaps both had happened, and it didn't have to be an either/or."

His account of his experiences on retreat resonated with me, not only because I'm booked into the same place later this year, but also because it touches on some of the changes I've been experiencing in my prayer  lately, especially since I moved churches.   It  offers a few clues as to why I  often struggle with particular types of churchmanship. I'm currently trying to put together  some reflections on spiritual growth and faith journeys for TSSF; reading about the changes in OV's* prayer is helping me clarify some parts of my own travels. Thank you. 

 

The other 'contenders' were:

Catholic Zen, and, for their reflections on issues relevant to last week's rioting in the UK, Good Goat and Tractorgirl.

 

* Re-discovered via The Beaker Folk of Husborne Crawley. No, I'm not being paid commission to give them blogspace, really!

Last week's Blog of The Week : Yn meddwl yn groch

Light my fire - Thunder and Rainbows

 

 -  Fremte  from Wikimedia Commons

 

 

We could do with some here - thunder I mean.  It's absolutely scorching for the third day running, with humidity at 90% if you believe everything the BBC says.  And much as I'm tempted to rush out into the garden and continue with my painting of everything that moves - and some things  that don't, (the dog is breathing a sigh of relief here), I have retained an ounce  of commonsense. We don't want Mr GP to return from his travels this evening to  discoverhis wife flat out on a bench and the dog decorating  the lawn with Jackson Pollock-type  streaks in tasteful sage and buttermilk.

I've been reflecting a little on what life's been like in the GP household over on my wibsite blog  - and on my own journeyings in particular - where the metaphors of thunder and rainbows and holding the two in tension have and continue to be part of a learning curve.  I'm trying, (famous last words) as I've said on Musings, to major on the rainbows as much as poss. Given my natural tendency to Eyorism (have I coined a new expression?) this is no mean feat.  I've always said that I don't know how I'd cope without my sense of humour. One of the warning signs that I'm beginning to get overstressed and need to lighten up is that it begins to wane. I'll admit - signing on to Youtube and grimly ploughing my way through a selection of comedy clips - as I did after a particularly 'orrible 'blip' last weekend maybe wasn't the way to go. 

However, consciously focusing on those brighter moments, (though without morphing into Julie Andrew's "My Favourite Things" mode; there are limits!) has helped. Nothing new and certainly not rocket science. Readers who are of an Ignatian bent will recognise elements of the examen here: pausing at intervals to reflect on where God's been present , what draws  energises, fires you up  (and what does the opposite). A form of this is actually written into my rule of life as a daily practice. Yes, I am Franciscan I know - but let's allow for overlap, shall we?  Did you know that Francis introduced a form of "Ignatian" meditation long before Inigo was around, with his institution of the first Creche Vivante (living crib); the forerunner of our modern crib scene.

To get back to Inigo -  at the excellent BRF Festival of Prayer  recently one speaker told of a similar exercise which has really caught my imagination: their spiritual director had challenged them to try and list 100 (Yes, you read it correctly, one hundred) things that energised and brought them alive. Talk about a challenge. Is it really possible? Time will tell. To date my 'list ' has around 30 or 40 items on it; there are days when it sits at the back of my journal untouched, others when I add several at a time.  It certainly resonates with the way in which I've been experiencing a sense of quiet prayerfulness in some of the most unlikely activities recently - hence the mad garden painting spree.  It's a far cry from the rather (at times) grim, greyish, often extremely cerebral 'Quiet Time' which even  if  it's not actually used up much   of my time, certainly has provoked a lorry load of guilt  in the past.  I'm not the only one it seems. There's a discussion currently over on The Ship on the self same topic. I just love the poster who describes her  prayer practice nowadays as more "Every Now and Then with Jesus."

Happily I'm beginning to loosen up nowadays and am trying to balance regularity and spontaneity.  Not quite in the same way as those delightful Beaker Folk, thank  the Lord, but I'm getting there. Though maybe counting my exploits with a Kelly Kettle and homemade bunting (my latest craft project) as meditative prayer practices is carrying the definition a tad too far. I'll be into fire eating and prophetic banner waving before you can turn round, and then, where will we be?

Blog of The Week - Spiritually Directed

I fear this blog is losing the plot.  I place the blame fairly and squarely at the door of Archdruid Eileen and her wretched Beaker Folk.   Yes, I know I'm  metablogging .  The navel fluff is piling up to such an extent that before long I'll have enough  there to knit myself my own Fluffy Bunnie prayer shawl.  And no, this does not mean that Beaker Folk have made it as BOTW for the second week running, even if they've made me laugh so much I nearly baptised my keyboard with the best Fairtrade coffee Sainsburys can provide. 

Though keeping to the coffee theme, BOTW goes to another long-term resident in the Greenpatch feedreader: Roberta at Spiritually Directed. From the looks of it, she has a caffeine problem as well. I feel your pain; this last week's been a definite 'just one cup' time for me, too! Though seriously (about time too - given we're three quarters of the way through this post), Spiritually Directed makes me laugh - a lot of the time; it also makes me think - all of the time. Which is no bad thing for a blog to do, I reckon.

Last week's Blog of The Week:  Yes, you've guessed it: The Beaker Folk of Husborne Crawley - where no bunnie goes unhugged.

 

 

 

 

My Top Four July Posts (1): Get Knotted

From yesteryear. Seeing as we're nearly in the summer silly season, I thought I'd have a trawl through the Greenpatch archives and rake out some favourites from The Month of July. (Shades of Sesame Street; no , that's not Kermit in the photo - Ms GP won't thank you for thinking that!).  So, our first Greenpatch is:

 

From this time last year - Get Knotted. The whole month fell into the 'vocational angst' category, a theme that runs and runs as far as I'm concerned. I was finishing a year long spirituality course and wondering about the next step.   Get Knotted still makes me smile (Who says The Almighty doesn't have a sense of humour?!). I've more knots than a Girl Guide, and a year on, the both of us are still busily engaged on the untangling process; a process which, like the angst, is set to run and run.  

More thankfully - 2009-10 was also The Year of The Medical Test for me - much waiting and worrying about the state of the Greenpatch internal plumbing. These all came clear, thankfully, but the process has been an incentive for me to keep going with the vocational wanderings whenever my confidence has faltered.  There's nothing like gaining a perspective on one's own mortality to make you make the most of the time you have.

 

Next up: Graduation.

A time to give and a time to receive

To enter into solidarity with a suffering person does not mean that we have to talk with that person about our own suffering. Speaking about our own pain is seldom helpful for someone who is in pain. A wounded healer is someone who can listen to a person in pain without having to speak about his or her own wounds. When we have lived through a painful depression, we can listen with great attentiveness and love to a depressed friend without mentioning our experience. Mostly it is better not to direct a suffering person's attention to ourselves. We have to trust that our own bandaged wounds will allow us to listen to others with our whole beings. That is healing...

It is important to know when we can give attention and when we need attention. Often we are inclined to give, give, and give without ever asking anything in return. We may think that this is a sign of generosity or even heroism. But it might be little else than a proud attitude that says: "I don't need help from others. I only want to give." When we keep giving without receiving we burn out quickly. Only when we pay careful attention to our own physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual needs can we be, and remain, joyful givers.

There is a time to give and a time to receive. We need equal time for both if we want to live healthy lives.

 

 - Henri Nouwen

With the last session of  my course  tomorrow,  and with it, the stocktaking, reflection and 'Where to nows?' the arrival of the same Henri Nouwen passage in my feedreader via two different writers  is pretty apt, don't you think?  It says much about the steep learning curve that we've all been on. Do read Mike F and  A Man Breathing's Andy Wilkes take on Nouwen's thoughts on the wounded healer.   

Slow, Quiet, Small

Adam McHugh, author of Introverts in the Church, reflects on spiritual direction  and its place in an often extroverted culture.