The Heroic First Steps on a Spiritual Journey

The Heroic First Steps on a Spiritual Journey

“The heroic first step of the journey is to step out of or over the edge of your boundaries, and it often must be taken before you know you will be supported. The hero’s journey has been compared to a birth; it begins warm and snug in a safe place, then a signal grows more insistent that it is time to leave. To stay beyond your time is to putrefy. Without the blood, searing, and pain, there is no new life.”—Diane Osbon in A Joseph Campbell Companion (N. Y.: HarperCollins, 1995).

People sometimes seek spiritual direction as they take that first step toward becoming the person God created them to be. It is a fork in the road, and they are always on the road less traveled. Sometimes the path is so undeveloped or uncared for that it becomes overgrown. Someone who has traveled that way before can only see a recognizable path. Therefore, we look for and need spiritual friends along the way.

Sometimes, someone may need to hold our hand just to get us started. At other times, we see the way after minimal help. Sometimes, we need a companion for a longer stretch until we become familiar with the path and adjust to its twists and turns. The journey and the first step are a birth, offering a multitude of opportunities for rebirth. Before hearing our new voice, we can always count on labor pains and a messy experience. Friends and family may have difficulty accepting our change, our new birth, and the unique path we are now on. 

Treasuring the journey instead of focusing on a goal can always keep us from straying from the path.

Thank you for supporting Camp Mitchell, our camp and conference center atop Petit Jean Mountain, by purchasing this book from the daily series of writings for the liturgical year, A Daily Spiritual Rx for Ordinary Time: Readings from Pentecost to Advent. All proceeds from book sales will benefit Camp Mitchell. If you enjoy this book, please take a moment to write a brief recommendation on its Amazon page. https://smile.amazon.com/Daily-Spiritual-Ordinary-Time-Pentecost/dp/B08JLTZYGH/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=joanna+seibert+books&qid=1621104335&sr=8-1

 More thank-yous than we can say!!!

Joanna  https://www.joannaseibert.com/

Photographer and Writer Eve Turek Talks about Fox-Walking

 Photographer and Writer Eve Turek talks about Fox-Walking

Guest Writer: Eve Turek

“Come, follow Me…” -Jesus (Mt. 4:19)

I have always defined “Christian” for myself as “Christ-follower.” I take that phrase both literally and spiritually.

Fox Tracks

In the mid-1980s, I became interested in animal tracks. I practiced identifying the tracks I saw in the sand. I tried to imagine how the animal might have moved and where it paused or lengthened its stride, based on its footprints. I quickly learned to recognize obvious tracks, like those of rabbits, mice, and raccoons. I puzzled over bug trails. I marveled at the many tracks fanning out from a single ghost crab hole. 

But my favorite tracks belong to my favorite animal: the fox.

Fox tracks are unusual in that they almost always occur in a straight line. Foxes’ normal gait exhibits a “perfect register” – their back paws land precisely where their front paws do, creating a single line of tracks. Their footprints speak to me of purpose and direction. I have tried to walk in a perfectly straight line. It’s not easy, especially in rough or uneven terrain. “Fox-walking” requires focus, concentration, and balance in the natural world. “Christ-walking” takes all of that in the spirit.

So, what stride, direction, and pace do I strive to maintain?

Simple, but not easy. Challenging and demanding both focus and balance, no matter the surrounding terrain or circumstances.

Love is what I strive to follow. The kind of love that says to love God with all you are and have, or, in Bible words, with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Love. The kind of love that says, “Love your neighbor as you would love yourself.” And then, just so we don’t misunderstand, Love Himself gave us a story about “neighbor” being the least like us, the one we might more naturally despise or feel superior to. Love THAT one.

Love. The kind of love that says, “Love your enemies.” (Really? You have got to be kidding! How does an ordinary person do that?!?) Yes, those parenthetical sentences sum up the arguments I have tried to have with God many times.

 Over the decades, I have found an answer: I ask for healing, a blessing, forgiveness, restoration, and better choices. I ask to see as God sees, as a loving parent sees, who wants only and always the best for every child. 

I don’t, I’m sorry to say, always think in a perfect register. And I don’t always speak or walk in one either. However, I’m grateful to say that I’m very aware when I “step out of line.”

The idea of “fox-walking after Jesus” informs every conversation I have, every decision I make, and all my choices. It will guide my vote in the upcoming election. I will not vote for hatred or division, nor for any candidate who advocates despising others for any reason. Are there perfect people, perfect candidates, or a perfect nation? No. 

But I am determined to fox-walk, as best I can, in the life I have been granted, and for my part, that means trying, with focus and balance, to walk the walk of being a Christ-follower, not just talk the talk.

Eve Turek

Joanna Joannaseibert.com https://www.joannaseibert.com/

Thomas Merton and his Practical Thoughts on the Spiritual Life

Thomas Merton and the Spiritual Life

“The only trouble is that in the spiritual life, there are no tricks or shortcuts. Those who imagine they can discover spiritual gimmicks and put them to work for themselves often ignore God’s will and his grace.”—Thomas Merton, Contemplative Prayers.

Thomas Merton’s concise book, Spiritual Direction and Meditation, is another excellent resource for those seeking to learn about spiritual direction and the spiritual life. I often recommend it to spiritual friends before we meet for the first time to discuss the spiritual life. It should also be a frequent reread for those giving spiritual direction. Merton reminds us that spiritual direction is not psychotherapy and that directors should not become amateur therapists. He recommends that directors not worry about unconscious drives and emotional problems. They should refer. 

Merton’s sections on meditation are classic, straightforward, and practical. For example, he uses the story of the Prodigal Son as a model for reflection, noting that the son “entered into himself” and meditated on his condition, starving in a distant land far from his father. Merton also suggests that the Incarnation, the birth of God into human form, serves as a focus for another meditation on birth events within our own spiritual life.

Merton emphasizes the importance of holy leisure, believing that meditation should not be treated as work and that it requires time. He reminds us of promising artists ruined by premature success, which drove them to overwork in an attempt to continually renew the public image of themselves. On the other hand, wise artists spend more time contemplating their work beforehand than putting paint on canvas; poets who respect their art burn more pages than they publish.

In our interior life, we must allow for silent transitions in our prayer. Merton reminds us of St. Teresa’s words: “God does not need our works. God has need of our love.” Our prayer aims to awaken the Holy Spirit within us so the Spirit can speak and pray through us. Merton believes that in contemplative prayer, we learn more about God through love than through knowledge. Our awakening is brought about not by our actions but by the Holy Spirit’s work. 

Merton also cautions us about what he calls informal or colloquial “comic book spirituality,” which flourishes in popular religious literature. For example, when Mary becomes Mom and Joseph is Dad, and we “just tell them all about ourselves all day long.” For some, this may be a helpful path to God, but it was not Merton’s.

Joanna. https://www.joannaseibert.com/

Thank you for supporting our camp and conference center, Camp Mitchell, located atop Petit Jean Mountain, by purchasing this book from the daily series of writings for the liturgical year, A Daily Spiritual Rx for Ordinary Time: Readings from Pentecost to Advent. All proceeds from book sales will benefit Camp Mitchell. If you enjoy this book, please take a moment to write a brief recommendation on its Amazon page at https://smile.amazon.com/Daily-Spiritual-Ordinary-Time-Pentecost/dp/B08JLTZYGH/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=joanna+seibert+books&qid=1621104335&sr=8-1

 More thank-yous than we can say!!!

Joanna joannaseibert.com