ASSESSING WHAT MAKES YOUR HEART SING


2011 was jam packed with many opportunities to use my gifts, talents and abilities in ministry. I was priveleged to continue ten months of the year at First Naples preaching and teaching with amazing colleagues in ministry. My opportunities to enter into spiritual direction relationships continued to grow. In June I returned to St. John's Abbey, and then was blessed with a trip to Ireland for some personal retreat and the World Community of Christian Meditation annual conference.

The last quarter of the year brought the opportunity for a change of venue for parish ministry closer to home. The chance to preach each week has been a blessing combined with my continued priority for spiritual direction. I've had to cut back on the weekly 100 mile trip for the meditation group which has been an important part of Peace River Spirituality Center since 2009.

These changes have given me pause to evaluate not only my gifts but also what makes my heart sing. I've taken the time to think about just what it looks like to follow my bliss. Something I have to learn over and over again is that I can't do everything.

As we move into a new year let me encourage you to wonder: what it is that makes your heart sing? Among the many things you're now doing, or have an opportunity to pursue, what most excites and enlivens your spirit? Are you making the necessary daily choices to follow your dream? If not, what is stopping or side-tracking you? I've found that some of the things I allow to eat away at my time are things that I do to please others. I'm letting some of those things go.

At the core of my being is a priority to always be both a student and a teacher. It's being in what I know as a Paul/Timothy relationship: always learning from someone ahead of me and always teaching someone else. In 2012 I'm adding more quality learning time to my life. It will make me a better teacher in the long run. It makes my heart sing!

At the core of your being... what's important to you? How do you prioritize your committments to see that what's important has enough room to be sustained and grow? What weeds might be choking out your best self? Can you pull those weeds yourself or do you need help? Is there something you've dreamed of doing for a long time? Might 2012 be the year?

I've chosen the final Atlantis missle launch for the image to go along with this post. It was hard to choose from among the thousand images I either shot or saved this year, but the Atlantis seems perfect for three reasons. One is that the amazing US space program that began when I was a child, could only have achieved the success it did because someone had a dream. The second reason is that just as it is for all dreams to come true, the space program exemplified a combination of will, knowledge, opportunity and discipline to see it through. Lastly, our dreams can take us on the ride of a lifetime!

I hope you're inspired to pursue a dream
that makes your heart sing in 2012.
BLESSINGS OF COMFORT AND JOY,
KATHLEEN BRONAGH WELLER,THE CELTIC MONK

Comments

  1. Jean WiseDecember 29, 2011 at 2:20 PM

    well written and though provoking as I enter a time of reflection at the end of the year. The Atlantis missile launch is perfect! May your heart sing in 2012 too.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Giving Up the Farm or Farewell to Farmville

It was last fall that I finally answered an invitation on Facebook... the social networking website, to play Farmville... a social networking game. How fun I thought, that rather than playing solitaire or mahjong by myself, I would play Farmville and be able to catch up with friends at the same time. What could be better? I was brand new to the world wide web of all things electronically social and it appeared to be a simplest of avenues to keep in the loop. I’d have a small interaction with friends and acquaintances from miles away as I decompressed from my day. What better way to spend 10 minutes than with that 6” x 6” plot of flat screen soil while sending and receiving trees, chickens, fences and lambs with friends. It even felt familiar, this sensation of a momentary connection. I remembered that when Sean was two and just getting his own little sense of self he practiced a ritual of comfort as he took those first steps of independence. He would make a foray into another room,
Read more

An Invitation

Image
AN INVITATION    7:30 a.m and 7:30 p.m.  What was the last thing you were invited to attend?  I don't mean the herd invitation... everyone is invited. I mean the personal invitation as in I'd be so happy if you would join me, or come with me, or come and see... Most of us are invited often to be part of a crowd.  Come to the spaghetti supper!  Come to the Farmer's Market!  Come to the Strawberry Festival, the Film Festival, the ... well you can just fill in the blank. I am writing to invite you to a very small gathering.  I am writing to invite you to an event where you and I will be the only visible participants.  I am writing to invite you to meet me (every morning at 7:30 a.m. EDST and every evening at 7:30 p.m. EDST) for a journey into your relationship with God which, as it turns out, ends up being a journey not only towards God, but towards yourself and into every relationship in your life. I am calling this time a retreat... because the content when added
Read more

Hope as a Verb

Image
HOPE Is there a difference for you between a wish, a hope or a dream?  I know I sometimes use those words interchangeably in a fanciful way:  I wish I was going on vacation... I hope I am going on vacation... I am dreaming of being on vacation! But when matters are more serious, or even grave...do I still use these words as if they meant the same thing?  I wish I didn't need surgery... I hope I don't need surgery... I dreamt I did not need surgery?  [I have no surgery planned]  No, I don't use these words in the same way when speaking of something more consequential, more serious. In a conversation yesterday with sister spiritual directors, one of them related something she'd heard over the weekend and that she was still in the process of unpacking and wondering about.  Her little something also captured my attention so, that it bubbled up first thing this morning.  At a conference from which she's just returned, the speaker offered this seemingly simple
Read more