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From Soul Nourishing Resources, to Event Re-Caps, Musings, Teachings, and more, The Blog is an abundant source of inspiration and information for you to explore.
The Third Sunday of Advent: Reflection on Joy
You may have heard this common idea that ‘happiness is from the world, but JOY is from God’ often said to mean ‘we can be joyful no matter the circumstance, because we have Jesus’, but allow me to expand on Joy on this third Sunday of Advent...
From Atlas of the Heart by Brené Brown: "Joy is the most vulnerable human emotion. The greek word for Joy is Chairo: described as the 'the culmination of being' and 'the good mood of the soul'. It is found only in God and comes with virtue and wisdom. It isn’t a beginners virtue, it comes as the culmination.”
Reflect on Joy
Today, take some time to reflect on joy, and chat with God about what it’s like for you to consider joy here and now…
The Second Sunday of Advent: Reflection on Peace
Our good friend, The Dictionary, defines peace as a state of tranquility or quiet such as: freedom from civil disturbances, a state of security by law or custom, harmony in personal relationships, freedom from disquieting or oppressive thoughts or emotion.
Peace as Shalom or Eirene as used in the old and new testament respectively, mean that life is complex, full of moving parts, relationships and situations, and when any of these is out of alignment or missing, your peace breaks down. Life is no longer whole, it needs to be restored to wholeness or completeness.
When Jesus arrives on the scene, we see His story play out as a way of saying there is wholeness here between us, there is connection, there is restoration of relationship, we are connected. With the Spirit, we become peacemakers where the peace within us overflows into how we restore peace in the world. We see that peace in this life is ACTIVE, not avoidant. It brings us towards each other, towards injustice, to be peacemakers.
Reflect on Peace
Today, take some time to reflect on peace, and chat with God about what it’s like for you to consider peace here and now…
The First Sunday of Advent: Reflection on Hope
The classic definition of hope is: 'a desire accompanied by expectation or belief in fulfillment.'
Diving deeper, I discovered through the work of Brené Brown in Atlas of the Heart that hope is a function of struggle.
“HOPE is the conviction, against all data, that GOD is tenacious and persistent in overcoming the deathliness of the world, that GOD intends Joy and Peace.” -Richard Rohr
The quote by Richard Rohr talks about Hope as the conviction that God will overcome the deathliness of the world and that God intends Joy and Peace (two other themes we'll look at this advent). It's in this 'deathliness' of the world where we develop hope. During times of adversity and discomfort, pain and struggle, hope is learned.
Reflect on Hope
Today, take some time to reflect on hope, and chat with God about what it’s like for you to consider hope here and now…
Joy, redefined
Sometimes, you learn something new and it seemingly changes everything.
That’s how I felt when I was deepening my understanding of Joy last advent season.
We often look at joy as ‘joy vs happiness’. Perhaps we have all been told the classics that ‘happiness is surface level and joy is deeper’, or ‘true joy only found in Christ’. Perhaps we’ve been told that ‘happiness is skin deep while joy is felt in our soul’. Or maybe the two have been used interchangeably throughout your life. My prior understanding of Joy had been this, pulled from the pages of an advent resource I made years ago…
How To Find Enchantment In Your Daily Living
A word I’ve been loving lately is enchantment.
*cue Enchanted by Taylor Swift*
To be enchanted is to be “utterly delighted, fascinated, or captivated by something, often with a sense of wonder or magic. It implies being charmed or spellbound, as if under a magical influence.”
You may read this and think of the popular trends going around social media of ‘romanticizing your life’, where you take the everyday habits you do and add a sense of play, delight, joy, and presence to them. This idea is rooted in a way of living that shifts our gaze so that the mundane becomes magical. As we take our daily habits and infuse them with delight and presence, we begin to learn more about who we are— who God made us to be— and to honour the truth of our joys, our delights, the things that make us slow down and be captivated by the moment so that it feels like enough.