Dear friend,
Last week, we completed the series, “No Time for God? Creating Space for Prayer in a Busy Calendar”. Your response to the series and the beautiful questions you emailed me were such a gift! Thank you!
As I read replies to the series this weekend, I chuckled at how many of us seem to be in a season of “holy stretching”. What do I mean by a season of holy stretching?
Holy stretching is what I view as the warm-up exercises God gives us as we prepare to answer a new invitation in our lives.
It’s a season I am in right now, as there are an abundance of new invitations in my life! Many of you shared with me how God is preparing you for new calls and new invitations in your life this past month as you leaned into having an intentional prayer life.
I offered the following reflections to help us discern if we are in a season of “holy stretching” for dotMagis in September:
Pause and take a quick survey of your life. Do you notice any of these things happening?
- Your heart beats rapidly at the thought of trying this new thing.
- You are invited to do something new that is way beyond your comfort zone.
- You feel fear and resistance when you think of saying yes to this new invitation, but you simply cannot let this invitation go.
- You feel like one foot is on the accelerator and the other one is simultaneously on the brake as you make steps towards acting on the new invitation.
If you answered “yes” to any of these, you might be in a season of “holy stretching”.
So what do we do if we are in a season of “holy stretching”?
- Lean on God by holding steady to your intentional prayer life.
- Look for signs of God affirming you on this new path.
- Ask the Holy Spirit for clarity to help you discern.
- Talk to trusted friends, family, and members of your faith community when you get scared.
And always count on my prayers for you!
Peace,
Becky
Becky Eldredge
Becky is an Ignatian-trained spiritual director, retreat facilitator, and writer. She is the author of the Busy Lives and Restless Souls (March 2017, Loyola Press) and The Inner Chapel (April 2020, Loyola Press). She helps others create space to connect faith and everyday life through facilitating retreats and days of reflection, through writing, and through spiritual direction. With nearly twenty years of ministry experience within the Catholic Church, Becky seeks to help others discover God at work in the every day moments of people’s lives by utilizing St. Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercises and the many gifts that our Catholic faith and Ignatian Spirituality provide.
I answered no to the questions, but curiously I find myself divesting my life of many of the things that take so much of my time – ie volunteering at my local library (have done so for 10 years now); declining being treasurer for another group, no longer on the board of yet another, and stepping back from monitoring/updating two of the three blogs I currently help with. Change is coming, and I pray to Holy Spirit and the four archangels to point me to what lays ahead. Thank you for your prayers.
Sounds like you are in a season of clearing and readying for a new season of some kind! I wonder what it will be? Praying the Holy Spirit continues to give you the grace of clarity as you discern and re-adjust your commitments. 🙂