{"id":1334,"date":"2012-01-18T14:56:00","date_gmt":"2012-01-18T21:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/?p=1334"},"modified":"2012-01-18T15:07:29","modified_gmt":"2012-01-18T22:07:29","slug":"creating-space-for-love-this-lent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/2012\/01\/creating-space-for-love-this-lent\/","title":{"rendered":"Creating Space for Love this Lent"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"I am a big fan of Paula Huston\u2019s work.\u00a0 Her book\u00a0The Holy Way: Practices for a Simple Life<\/a><\/em><\/strong> is one of my favorites and I attended a writing workshop with her a few years ago through the\u00a0Image Journal<\/a> in Santa Fe.\u00a0 She is a generous teacher and writer and when I received her newest book for the season of Lent for the\u00a0Patheos book club<\/a>, my heart felt like singing.\u00a0 Paula is gifted at bringing together rich resources from the tradition, refreshingly honest stories from her own experience, and practical ways to apply these in everyday life.\u00a0 She is also a fellow Benedictine oblate and monk in the world, so I count her as a kindred spirit.<\/p>\n

Her newest book\u00a0Simplifying the Soul: Lenten Practices to Renew Your Spirit<\/a> <\/em><\/strong>(from the wonderful folks at Ave Maria Press) is a true gift for the season.\u00a0 Her reflections are rooted in the stories of the desert mothers and fathers, those wise elders whose voices still ring across time in our hearts today.<\/p>\n

Lent is that marvelous season that calls us to return to God with our whole hearts.\u00a0 Each year we hear this\u00a0invitation on Ash Wednesday, each year we are marked with a reminder of our mortality, and each year Lent ushers us on a pilgrimage of the heart toward releasing all that keeps us from a full embrace of the holy presence in our lives.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0Simplifying the Soul<\/a><\/em><\/strong> each week has a theme with suggestions for simplifying in different areas of our lives: in money, the body, the mind, the schedule, relationships, and prayer.<\/p>\n

I have to admit as I opened her book and saw the table of contents I was immediately drawn to week four on simplifying the schedule.\u00a0 As someone who is deeply committed to cultivating contemplative spaciousness in my life, I still find myself often overloaded with commitments.<\/p>\n

Her first reflection in this section is about social and professional ambitions and St Benedict\u2019s call to us to become content with anonymity.\u00a0 While I am not one to flutter about at many social events, as someone who runs my own business, anonymity is a hard thing to reconcile with my need to put my message out in the world.\u00a0 Rather than suggest we eliminate things from our schedule as I am anticipating, however,\u00a0Paula suggests the opposite:\u00a0welcome in interruptions as the face of love, pray the Hours, attend a worship service, go for a walk and say prayers, invite someone who is lonely to tea.\u00a0 I find myself a little irritated at first, these are things to\u00a0add<\/em> to my schedule, not simplify.\u00a0 But quickly the hubris falls away and I laugh gently\u00a0at myself and my expectations.\u00a0 I am left with Paula\u2019s deep wisdom that emerges from her own heightened self-awareness and rootedness in the monastic life.\u00a0 Of course these things she suggests we add are to help re-orient our perspective.\u00a0 To remind us that our schedules aren\u2019t all about work and meetings and outings.\u00a0 We must create space for a new kind of orientation to take hold.\u00a0 One that sees love and the open-hearted quest for God as the center of our lives.<\/p>\n

This book would make a wonderful self-guided retreat or to gather with a group and reflect each week together the ways you have been nourished and challenged by her invitations.\u00a0 I highly recommend you consider making\u00a0this journey for Lent.<\/p>\n

Stop by the Patheos Book Club from January 16-31 for more about this book>><\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a>Christine Valters Paintner is a writer, artist, spiritual director, retreat facilitator, and teacher. This post first appeared at her website Abbey of the Arts. <\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/dl>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am a big fan of Paula Huston\u2019s work.\u00a0 Her book\u00a0The Holy Way: Practices for a Simple Life is one of my favorites and I attended a writing workshop with her a few years ago through the\u00a0Image Journal in Santa Fe.\u00a0 She is a generous teacher and writer and when I received her newest book […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":232,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nCreating Space for Love this Lent<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I am a big fan of Paula Huston\u2019s work.\u00a0 Her book\u00a0The Holy Way: Practices for a Simple Life is one of my favorites and I attended a writing workshop with\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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