spirituality cafe.

SPIRITUALITY IS...

"the art of transfiguration. We should not force ourselves to change by hammering our lives into any predetermined shape. ...Too often people try to change their lives by using the will as a kind of hammer to beat their life into proper shape. This way of approaching the sacredness of one's own presence is externalist and violent. It brings you falsely outside yourself; you can spend years lost in the wilderness of your own mechanical, spiritual programs." (John O'Donohue, Anam Cara; Harper Collins, 1997)

IN THIS SEASON

With Labor Day upon us, a side dish on workplace spirituality is in order. Find it online at http://www.itstim.com/ slinks--where you can join an e-mail discussion group and discover seven principles that produce a thriving workplace spirituality. Principle #1: Creativity--describes the "conscious effort to see things differently, to break out of habits and outdated beliefs to find new ways of thinking, doing, and being."

QUOTE:

"Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime, therefore we must be saved by hope. Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore we must be saved by faith. Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore we must be saved by love." (Reinhold Niebuhr, Irony of American History)

SCRIPTURE NOTE

"When Jesus told us 'Watch,' he may have meant, 'Stay alert for the signs of my coming,' but he also meant 'Sit alert for the signs of my presence in everything you do.'" (Kristen Johnson Ingram, "Sacrament of Time," Weavings, January/February 1999)

RECOMMENDED:

"The Intimate Merton (Harper Collins, 1999). This great spiritual giant could be petulant, petty, impatient--as well as holy, transcendent, loving. Like Thomas Merton, we are a mix--and God loves us for the untidy mess that is each of us." (Paul Wilkes, author of Beyond the Walls: Monastic Wisdom for Everyday Life)

HEAVEN: "C.S Lewis' novella The Great Divorce begins with the charming idea that every day a bus crosses the great divide from hell to heaven. Anyone who wants can go, and anyone who wants can stay. The thing is, heaven hurts. It's too real. The visitors from hell can't walk on the grass because the blades pierce their feet like knives. It takes time to grow real enough to endure heaven, a process of unflinching self-discovery and repentance that few are willing to take. At the end of the day, most of the tourists get back on the bus to hell." (Frederica Mathewes-Green, At the Corner of East and Now; Tarcher-Putnam, 1999)

IN PRACTICE A Chicago reader says that when people ask her to pray for them, she sets a little memento on the window sill above the kitchen sink: a shapshot, a ticket stub from a movie, a small shell from the beach--any little reminder of them in her workspace to think of them throughout the day.

Do you have a favorite spiritual practice or insight to share? A spiritual question or problem that you would like discussed? Please contact Mary Lynn Hendrickson: 800-328-6515, [e-mail].