I am on the mailing list for the Society of St. John the Evangelist, the monastic order located in Cambridge, MA. The theme of their most recent newsletter was “Growth,” and included articles titled “Awake,” “Patience,” “Know Limits,” “Anxiety,” “The Breaks,” and “On the Hard Road.” The final page if the newsletter offered some loosely connected reflection questions. Depending on how the pieces of your life are aligning just now, the rhythm of life may slow down a bit during the summer months. Maybe there is just a bit more time and space to reflect. If so, I share the following for your consideration:
• What are the focal concerns of your life: those things that matter most and give meaning and value to all else?
• What calls you to engage life? Where do you draw close to the restorative power of God’s creation?
• When and how have you discovered the goodness in waiting and slowness?
• When have you hit the red line of your own limits—and how did you respond?
• What limits have given life to you, which you did not choose? Have you made peace with them?
• Do you have struggles that you hide from God? What keeps you quiet? What would it take to share them?
• When have you met Jesus on the hard road? How did you know it was Him?
I have been finding these questions helpful in my own prayer life, and I hope something in them speaks to you in yours, too.
Blessings,
