Practices from Invitation to Solitude and Silence by Ruth Haley Barton
From Chapter 11, “Receiving Guidance”
Under the silent, watchful eye of the Holy One we are all standing, whether we know it or not. And in that Center, in that holy Abyss where the eternal dwells at the base of our being, our programs, our gifts to God, our offering of duties performed again and again are revised in their values … if we center down and live in that Holy Silence which is dearer than life, and take our life program into the silent places of the heart with complete openness, ready to renounce according to God’s leading, then many of the things we are doing will lose their vitality for us. – Thomas Kelly
Take a few moments to allow your body to settle into a comfortable yet alert position. Take several deep breaths as a way of entering into the silence and making yourself present to the One who is always present with you.
One way to discern God’s activity and guidance is to pay attention to what gives us a sense of life and what seems to cut us off from a sense of life. As we become more practiced at noticing these dynamics without judging them, we can be more discerning about choosing what is life-giving in ordinary moments and in the larger decisions.
In your time of silent listening today, ask God to bring to your heart a moment in the last couple of days for which you were most grateful. When were you most able to give and receive love? Which moment seemed to have the most life in it for you?
Ask God to bring to your heart a moment in the last couple of days for which you were least grateful. When were you least able to give and receive love? Which moment seemed to drain life from you?
What wisdom, insight or further questions seem to arise from your awareness of moments that were life-giving and moments that were life-draining? Is there any way God may be guiding you to choose more of what gives you life?
