Tag: emergency

Episode 4 (Wine Tasting Crash Course and how to do a Retreat)

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Spark My Muse – Episode 4 (Wine Tasting Crash Course and how to do a Retreat)

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This episode is brought to you by:

Narnia Retreats 

-customized, guided, quiet, refreshing

 

Wine segment:

Involve all the senses as to wine and enjoy wine.

Take your time and build your awareness. (This makes for a great spiritual practice as well.)

Sparking your Muse:

Today’s topic:
A personal Retreat – critical for creativity, spiritual sensitivity, and well being.

The retreat center I go to.

Spiritual Thirst:

By the time you are thirsty, your kidney’s have sent an emergency signal to your brain. Now the brain tries to regain health for your body with urges to drink. It’s better to provide for the body ahead of time, of course. The same is true for a thirsty soul. Don’t let yourself get morbidly parched. It’s not healthy for you or anyone in your life. It’s terrible for your art and your creative muse, and your mission in the world. You have to be well to do right by others. You have to be well to do well. But most of all you have to properly BE.

 

Getting it wrong:

A retreat that’s more of a social gathering with activities…That’s a Protestant, Western, answer to a problem that misunderstands the question.

Catholic tradition with it’s long history of spiritual retreats and spiritual guides was too much spurned by Protestant protest against it in favor of being busy at work and productive, while too often letting the soul starve for want of divine tranquility and peace.

God is best found in stillness and when the boisterous yammering of our heart and mind are soothed by rest and unplugging in every way.

The real question is not how can I find a party so I can feel whole….but How do I find my whole way home?

Home is within.

You become quiet and you go inside. God is within. You won’t find a God of Sabbath rest “out there” or at a place.

3 Most Important Tips:

1. put it on the calendar. mark it off. It’s a vacation day.
Or as the British say it (better) “you need to go on holiday!”

HOLY DAY.

Holy means set apart. That’s exactly what retreat should be.

If you take take off from work for doctor’s apps, then think of it like that.

Block off 4-6 hours at minimum

8-10 is better and 24-48 is really when things get very beneficial.

AND Go away from home and people. A retreat center, a natural setting, a private room at a church or someone’s home.

 

2. Do all you can to minimize all distractions and obligations.

Plan ahead. Tell people you WILL be off the grid. Not able to be contacted. at all.

Leave your phone in your car. A few hours won’t kill you. If you think that it might, or that you can’t possibility be out-of-contact…or maybe that you are too important and busy to do this.

Then you have to be even more serious able doing it. Delusion has set in. You have become blind. You are starting to die a soul death. Get away RIGHT away!

(You may be afraid of what thoughts are going to come up when things get quiet. Be brave!)

3. Let the chatter die out.
If your mind is clamoring…and it will be if you have a lot to be responsible for….then you really can’t get to a place of rest.

•  Jot everything down quickly and put it to the side. It will be there when you get back and you will be able to deal with it better.

A simple Worksheet that’s perfect for retreats:

• The SHARPENING Ritual 

• The SHARPENING Ritual
(PRAYER-centered VERSION)

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Correspondence from a Haitian friend

A fellow student of mine is Haitian. Though he lives in Pennsylvania, his whole  family lives in Haiti. I contacted him directly to see if he had any ideas about how to help. Below is my initial email, followed by his response. His confidence in God is awing. Stay tuned for future posts on how to help Haiti, in ways that make a real difference. (Leave feedback, if you’d like.)

(from me)

Greetings Brother,

We’ve had a few classes together, and Ellis mentioned that you may be  

one to ask about how some of us, or ETS could be of assistance during  

this time of calamity in Haiti. Your family, and your country are in  

our prayers. I hope we might be a blessing in a tangible way to those  

who are suffering.

I hope to hear from you soon.

Thank you.

Lisa DeLay

(from Chezaire)     

Dear Brothers and sisters,

Thank you for your emails, I truly appreciate them and they give a sense of comfort that my familiy and I are in your prayers.  My brother works at the epicenter of the earthquake, was he at work that day is still unkown?  The area where he lives with his family is completely crumbled, and another brother was visiting, and I don’t know if he was in town or left that day. I have over a dozen of cousins in that city with their families, only one is acounted for with a broken leg.  I am still praying and hoping some sorts of good news to come my way. I was in contact with that cousin’s mother, and encouraged her to give God praise for that son with a broken leg because as bad are things in Haiti, it could have been worse.

In time like this, we need to keep our heads in place, and keep our emotions in check while we have the desires to help.  

Several people have asked me how to help.  For now I can’t tell, I don’t really know my people’s needs except for being rescued, having medical care, water and food.  I beleive in the power of the Holy Spirit, continue to pray, I am sure He will dictate us what to do.


In His name,

Chezaire