Your Toolkit to Be an Instrument of Peace: Boundaries

Effective boundaries are held by being kind, gentle, respectful and firm.  Boundaries are your value system in action. 

Gary and Joy Lundberg

Today is Serene Sunday when we focus on the Holy Spirit's movement on love in our lives. We refresh our spirits so we can be an instrument of God's peace.  To be an instrument of peace requires setting boundaries, which is a challenge for so many of us.  We need the gift of self-discipline to make and keep those boundaries.

This is important as we strive to do God's will in our actions.  Frankly lots of people would prefer for us to to Their will.  Thus the need for boundaries.

When making a decision, ask these questions:

1. Is it Biblically sound?
2. Will this glorify God?
3. Will this advance the kingdom of God?
4. Will this help people?
5. Will this help me to grow spiritually? 

Simple Living Saturday: Feeling God's Peace

Since I - the Prince of Peace - am both with and without you, you can choose to live from this peaceful place of union with me. This enables you to stay calm in the midst of stressful situations, by re-centering yourself in Me.  We can deal with your problems together - you and I - so there's no need to panic. However, the more difficult your circumstances, the more tempting it is for you to shift into high gear and forget My peaceful Presence.

Sarah Young
"Jesus Today"


Today is Simple Living Saturday, when we ask for more of the spiritual gift of self-control.  (I guess I should put down the Jelly Bellies.)  We seek to be an instrument of God's joy, blessing our homes with order and having fun with our families in simplicity.  When our minds wander today, we will recenter them on God's presence.

I once had a little ornament that said, "The Lord never panics." I inwardly panic all the time, and I have the medicine bottle to prove it.  Today I am going to pick a sound that normally means trouble ... my cell phone ringing ... use it to refocus briefly on the Lord's presence before answering the phone. I ask for the grace of self-control to remember to do this.

Letting Go

"I let go of everything and everybody that is no longer part of God's plan for me.  I forgive and move forward with the light of God guiding me.  I release negativity.  I have all the energy I need to live my life's purpose. I have all the energy I need for myself and my family."

I wrote this quote down years ... maybe even, decades ... ago.  It's part of a series called "Mirror God."  That may sound pretentious, but it fits with my life purpose.  As you may know, many years ago I asked God to show me my life purpose.  What I saw was a lighthouse.  A lighthouse is most important when it's storming.  It shines a light to guide and stays steady.  A lighthouse does not go out into the sea, pick up the ships and bring them back to the shore. It shines a light.

Being willing to let go of things that are not God's plan has been costly.  I've let go of everything from Real Housewives to Catholicism.  I need to focus more on choosing to be happy and, if God's grace permits, holy.  If I do so mindfully, I will have the energy I need.

A Mindful Hike in the Spring

Living next to a Metro Park has always been a blessing.  The kids grew up there, rolling down the grass hills, looking for minnows in the creek, posting for their senior pictures amidst the trees. It's become an even greater blessing in minding our health.

The Seventh Day Adventists are the healthiest of Americans - vegetarians who have deep community and a respect for health.  Their health habits have made them Blue Zone people who live longer than the average American.  Since we are pescatarians, we looked into the other habits, and we discovered, to our delight, the Seventh Day Adventists often take nature walks during Sabbath day. So we have started a mindful nature walk, i.e. hike, each Sunday afternoon.

Today's hike was at Highbanks Metro Park, a short drive away, where you can see the bald eagle family guarding their nest at the observation deck. 

The hike is hilly, so my thoughts were not always centered on the spiritual nature, but they were mindful.  Sad to see so many ash trees chopped down and riddled with ash borer trails. Happy to see raccoon paw prints by the stream. Curious to look at the droppings filled with some unfortunate creature's fur left on the trail. Is it from a fox? Or a coyote?

A mindful walk is a blessing, and it does give you calm.  The one at Highbanks also ate up 619 calories, which I have made up for since.

Mother Teresa Says "Sshhh!"

Mother Teresa has become an even bigger role model for me since I read her schedule and her attitude about work not getting done. I read this in Conversion Diary, Jennifer Fulwider's wonderful blog. In a previous post, Jennifer wrote that she had learned that Mother Teresa did not feel overwhelmed ... even when faced with all the poor to help, all the work to do.  Her attitude was that God would not ask you to do work that he didn't give you the time and resources to do. "So be at peace."

Mother Teresa's life was about loving God and loving the poor.  She spent time with both equally as her daily schedule reflects.

Daily Schedule for the Missionaries of Charity
4:30-5:00 Rise and get cleaned up
5:00-6:30 Prayers and Mass
6:30-8:00 Breakfast and cleanup
8:00-12:30 Work for the poor
12:30-2:30 Lunch and rest
2:30-3:00 Spiritual reading and meditation
3:00-3:15 Tea break
3:15-4:30 Adoration
4:30-7:30 Work for the poor
7:30-9:00 Dinner and clean up
9:00-9:45 Night prayers
9:45 Bedtime

Somehow, working 7-1/2 hours a day for the poor, she got a lot done. So should we fret about being overwhelmed, not getting it all done.  Mother Teresa would say "Sshhh."

Mother Teresa didn't just seek a lack of whining.  She also wrote beautifully about why we need quiet:

"We cannot find God in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how Nature - trees, flowers, grass - grows in silence. ... The more we receive in silent prayer, the more we can give in our active life. We need silence to be able to touch souls. For the essential thing is not what we say, but what God says to us and through us."

Amen.

STOP ... a Mindfulness Tool

Kimberly Wilson, dear to my heart as the Hip Tranquil Chick, and her boyfriend took a cross-country road trip in their vintage camper this fall, holding Tranquility Popups everywhere from Richmond to Portland.  The saga was covered on her wonderful blog and podcast Tranquility du Jour.  I learned two things that are helpful to my journey.

1. Don't get a vintage camper, no matter how cute. 

We will rent something a bit more conventional for our cross-country adventure.

2.  Use the STOP tranquility technique.  I've altered it to fit my Christian approach to mindfulness.  When confronted with a problem or a tense moment, STOP:

• Stop
• Take three breaths.  Three counts in, four counts to hold and five counts to exhale.
• Observe with love.
• Pray, put on the mind of Christ and proceed under grace. 

I like it.  Thanks, Kimberly.

A Mindful Cold

"May today there be peace within. May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be. May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith. May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you.  May you be confident knowing you are a child of God. Let this presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love. It is there for each and every one of us."

St. Theresa

Where I am today is getting over a cold that I've decided was actually some kind of flu.  Which is great since I got a flu shot for the first time in decades this year.

I had a couple of  no-kidding deadlines this week, so I had to haul myself into work when it was roughly 1 degree and icy.  I stayed home on Wednesday in the midst of a snowstorm, originally planning to work from home.  But taking three naps isn't really a work day, so I ended up taking it as sick time.

Being mindful of illness actually is allowing yourself to be more gentle with yourself... as least as far as I'm concerned.  I've had very little patience with the need to rest and hydrate during my life, and I've always powered through. In the '80s, I went on a work trip to Florida, concealing the fact that I had scarlet fever.  Mindful or not, that was pretty stupid and inconsiderate.

So now I am listening to a body that's been screaming at me for decades.  I will be nice to me today.