Over the next few weeks I will be contemplating the way in which our experiences of daily life are integrated with the way we develop our spiritual lives (both personally and communally) Please join me on this journey! I would love to have a lot of discussion with others about the integration of their spiritual lives and their day to day lives. Are they decidedly different, or are they fully integrated, or do they fall somewhere in between? Tell me what you think? And let's go deep--and talk about personal experiences here.

Holistic Journeys: Step 2 - Where are you now?

How much time and attention do we each spend with the here and now? So often we become distracted by memories from the past and dreams for the future, that we forget to stop and look around us to see what we can learn from where we are sitting.

Tonight I have a Church Council meeting. I love Church Council meetings. Admittedly - that is a bit strange. But what these meetings do is give us a snapshot of our lives together as a church. At these meetings we all say in many words.... "Here we are on life's journey, and we are all welcome here." The life of the church takes on new dimensions as we realize the struggles and joys, the vibrant life we live together right here and right now.

I often wonder how much of this we would miss if we did not have these meetings. Sure, we could impart all the information over email, but isn't a meeting like this something more that just the sharing of information? Truly, it is the recognition that the people in the room are the gathered people of God who choose to be together on one specific day and at one specific time. We know that wherever two or more are gathered, Jesus is there - so every gathering such as this is made special when the Spirit of Jesus that is in each of us, meets that same spirit in another.

Imagine what our world could be like if we take each moment as sacred and special? What would happen is we saw each second of every day as something blessed? It doesn't only happen at church - it happens at school, on the baseball field, at home, at the movies.... etc.  Think of the blessedness we might have missed because we were too preoccupied with what was or what is to be?

So I encourage, no I challenge each of you who read this, to spend this week focussing on the now and seeing what blessings might be hidden there. And then, if you choose, share them with others here on this page, so that we can be in the present together.