Lenten Reflection Week Three

A Meditation for the Third Week of Lent

 Just as it is impossible to be at the same moment both a plant and a seed, so it is impossible for us to be surrounded by worldly honor and at the same time to bear heavenly fruit.
- Amma Syncletica

Prayer of the Week:
Holy God, it would be so deadly dull if You’d made all of us identical. Thank You for being so infinitely imaginative. Amen.
[William J. O”Malley, Lenten Prayers for Busy People]

Theme of the Week: How do I empty myself? [Robert J. Wicks Crossing the Desert]
Grace can never be possessed. It must be received afresh again and again.
-Rudolf Bultmann
What works best as a way to “clear your heart”?
A little time of silence in the morning?
Pausing to take a few breaths at certain times through the day?
Postponing checking your newsfeed until after 8am and after 6 pm?
Walking when you might otherwise drive?
Other ways to substitute solitude for company?
Accomplishment is not the goal, faithfulness is. [Wicks, p, 83]
Spiritual Practice: Solitude
Solitude is not isolation or loneliness.
Solitude is being in the space of our “peaceful worthwhileness.”
I have often said that the sole cause of our unhappiness is that we do not know how to stay quietly in our room. [Blaise Pascal]
Solitude is genuine only when it is inhabited. And the best way not to have people in your way is to let them into your heart. [Alessandro Pronzato]

Prayer from Sunday School:
Dear God, 
Help me to live one day at a time. Help me to not worry about tomorrow but instead focus on what you’re doing in my life right now. I want to trust in your promise to take care of every one of my needs.  Help me to trust you more and worry less. I pray in Jesus’ Name. Amen
Calming Prayer Bottle
How to make a calming prayer bottle:
Use a small, 8 oz, water bottle. Drink or dump about 1/2 out. Add blue food coloring to the remaining water. Then add vegetable oil and glitter. Hot glue the top back onto the bottle. Have the children shake and explain how it resembles a storm. 
Glue on the Prayer Jar note: when you are nervous, upset or worried, shake this bottle. The oil, water and glitter will mix. Pray to God using the above prayer until the liquids separate back out. Jesus calms our storms.