Soul Rhythms » Shalem Institute

Flat belly, firm faith

yslamb — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:33:42 +0000

I’m on a mission—again. Walking is my exercise. It’s pretty much the only exercise I do, and I am determined to walk my way to a flat belly. Okay, I know that walking alone will not get me there. For years, my husband has chided (oops I mean coached) me, saying “you’ve got to do some crunches.” I hate crunches.

I’ve kept handy a copy of an April Prevention magazine , which has a excellent walking plan, and I even bought the magazine editors’ book, Flat Belly Diet, which says on the cover “A Flat Belly is About Food & Attitude. Period. (Not a Single Crunch Required!).” The book provides an eating regime of fat-melting foods. As simple and as tasty as the authors tried to make their recipes, following the eating recommendations still requires shopping, planning and discipline. (Not always my strong suits.)

It’s not just that at my age I’ve put on weight that refuses to move or that I want smooth, tight abs. I know that having stubborn fat around the abdomen is unhealthy. I walk to stay fit both physically and spiritually. My body is stronger because of my brisk, hour-long walks and so is my faith.

During my walks, I take note of the birds chirping and darting about. I notice the shape of the clouds and blueness or grayness of the sky. I pass people of all shapes, colors and sizes and wonder where their life journeys have taken them. Occasionally, I’ve walked laps around the high school track near my home with a stranger and we shared our stories.

Praying for others is a big part of my walks. As much as I talk to and petition God when I walk, I also listen to hear God speak to me. Some days it’s more difficult than others to quiet the chatter in my head, but I’ve been fortunate on more than one occasion to get calm enough to recall a song, a saying, a sermon or a Scripture that brings clarity to a situation. Peace fills my soul when I walk, whether alone or with a friend.

Today as I walked around the track, I repeated the ancient Eastern Orthodox church prayer that we discussed in my Shalem Institute class on Monday night. I let the Jesus Prayer, as it has been known as for centuries, soak through me. “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” It’s a prayer that I’ve uttered many times before in its simplest itineration, “Lord have mercy.”

A good walk strengthens body and soul. It takes you to both familiar and unfamiliar places and gives you new insights. And hopefully day by day, my walking will help melt away what age continues to pile on. A thousand steps a day, that’s the goal.

“Above all, do not lose your desire to walk. Every day I walk myself into a state of well-being and walk away from every illness. I have walked myself into my best thoughts, and I know of no thought so burdensome that one cannot walk away from it.”

~Soren Kierkegaard

Got problems? Pray

yslamb — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:57:52 +0000

Ever found yourself between the proverbial rock and a hard place? Ever been so tangled up in problems that you have not known which way to turn to free yourself? Ever felt so alone that you did not recognize that there were loving people all around you? Ever found it difficult to walk in faith when obstacles constantly blocked your path?

At one time or another, I’ve experienced a range of situations like those and more. During a period in my life, I focused so much on the problems that they seemed to grow rather than to shrink. Fortunately, I came to learn about and practice applying the power of prayer to circumstances in my life.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, my mother’s prayers sustained me as a child and into early adulthood. But after her death nearly 20 years ago, I finally came to the point where I had to cry out to God for myself. As I have grown spiritually, I’ve also come to know that prayer involves listening to God not just begging God for quick fixes.

Prayer has become my portal into a deeper relationship with God. Its life transforming force takes me beyond my nagging problems and helps me focus on those areas where I can make a difference in the world for God.

Over the last 14 years, I’ve become a hungry student of prayer. I listen intently to sermons on prayer; read the Bible and other books; and regularly attend prayer meetings. I helped start a College of Prayer in Washington, D.C., and this summer in Benin, West Africa. Just mentioning Benin gives me shivers. That was an awesome prayer experience. (More on that to come.) Through the College of Prayer, I and many others have developed deeper, more meaningful and more active prayer lives.

This week I began a six-week course at the Shalem Institute, called the School of Prayer, in which I am learning more about different forms of prayer with a community of people from all walks of life and different faith practices. I am on an adventure and God is my guide.

So when problems arise now, I don’t weigh myself down with lots of worries (maybe a few for a few moments), instead I do as the Scriptures advise and cast my cares on Him and leave them there. I relied on prayer when I didn’t receive the recognition I expected at work, when church life grew tedious and when friends’s illnesses pierced my heart. And prayer has not failed me yet. It sustains me. It gets me up in the morning and keeps me going throughout the day.

If you ever find yourself between a rock and a hard place, do what I’ve learn to do — make room to pray.

Deepening faith through spiritual direction

yslamb — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 19:39:22 +0000

There was a time when I felt bereft of spiritual direction, even though I was attending church and was surrounded by other Christians. Some of the Bible studies I attended didn’t seem to connect to the real-life concerns crowding my mind. A couple of things change that for me. After encountering a woman with a beautiful spirit at a meeting, I became active in an intercessory prayer ministry that involved people from several churches and began praying more consistently and intentionally. Though prayer, my faith journey has found new avenues of adventure.

Also, I began having more conversations with spiritually-grounded friends who helped me find answers to some of my questions and clarity for some of my concerns about my spiritual growth. Along the way one friend, who then-worked at the Shalem Institute in Bethesda, Md., told me about a course that might help me discern what I felt God was calling me to do in the world. I read about the course on spiritual direction in several Shalem newsletters, researched the topic on the Internet and put it on my list of things I would like to do. Since then, I have been enriched by attending events sponsored by Shalem, which offers programs, it says, to people “who want to open themselves more fully to God in their daily lives and work.”

Spiritual direction is one that I may still do. My interest has been aroused again by a story a friend emailed me this week. The Philadelphia Inquirer article reports that spiritual direction is “an ancient practice with Christian roots that has recently seen a revival among contemporary seekers from all faiths, including some who don’t necessarily believe in God.” It is well worth the read.

Also take a look at the video Shalem posted on its site from one of its spiritual direction graduates that offers more insight into this practice.

In my own quest for spiritual direction, I am constantly seeking guidance from the ultimate Source. I know that the more I listen to God, the better directions I will acquire for living my best life. I just have to follow them. I also know that God does speak through others to help us along our journey.