Who is feeding your soul?
Laura Longville
Contemplative Living Retreat # 3 continues to build upon making space for God in our lives and developing spiritual practices that nurture this relationship and feed our souls.
One question we consider is, “How do I read Scripture?” Am I reading it for information or formation? When we read for information, it’s linear and often a quick study. When we read for information, we are in the driver’s seat; when we surrender, we let God drive. When we read the Word that forms us spiritually, we are focused on relationship.
A second question, “Do I read the Word as a friend, as someone who wants to spend time with a companion and know them more?” Being distracted and busy hinders us from truly hanging out with the one Person who wants to spend time with us. He longs to be gracious to us. We learn to simply be with the person of Scripture and deepen our relationship.
In CLR #3, we learn a prayer practice that helps tap into our holy imagination. This Scripture reading practice invites us into a rich, sensory-filled experience of God feeding our souls.
In each retreat, we expand upon learnings and spiritual disciplines that deepen and strengthen our relationship with God. It’s a part of our spiritual formation.
We’re all being shaped by something.
We’re all being shaped and transformed into something. Every thought, decision, and action we take, our feelings, relationships we enter into, and every reaction we have little by little shape into some kind of being. We’re being shaped into either the wholeness of the image of Christ or a horribly destructive caricature of that image.
Robert Mulholland describes spiritual formation as a process of being transformed into the image of Christ, for the sake of others. God is shaping us toward wholeness and holiness.
Being transformed into the image of Christ is not something we do. Spiritual formation is the great reversal, from being the subject controlling all other things to being a person shaped by God's presence, purpose, and power.
CLR #2 Reminder
Silence, Solitude, and Stillness are three practices we settle into in retreat #2. They are ways God invites us into a deeper experience and relationship with Him. He’s asking us to join him in the center of our being. He’s everywhere all the time, and getting still, quiet, and alone we become more aware, and attentive to his voice and will for us.
If your heart is drawn toward any of these ideas, thoughts, or spiritual practices, the Contemplative Living Retreats may be for you! If you hear the whispers of the Holy Spirit inviting you closer to Him, join us. A new cohort is starting this fall.