Finding joy along the way

 

1.  PRAYER

Dear Father,

You are the God of peace, the one who calms storms with a word and holds all things together. You are not surprised by anything that shakes us. You know everything about us. Matthew 10:30 (ESV) tells us that “even the hairs of your head are all numbered.” You see what is hidden, you understand what is confusing, and you are able to bring good out of what feels unbearable. I praise you for your power, your patience, and your steady hand over all creation.

I confess that even though I know these truths about you, I often give more attention to the chaos than to your promises. I look at the news, my responsibilities, my relationships, or my fears, and I forget that Christ is still on the throne. I let anxiety rule my heart instead of the peace you offer. I cling to control, wanting solutions on my terms, and I resist the unity you have called your people to live in. My pride, impatience, and self-protection get in the way of harmony, trust, and gratitude. Please forgive me for doubting your goodness and for acting as if peace is out of reach.

Thank you that you do not turn away when my faith wavers. You are patient and kind, even when I am restless and unsure. You have promised that “the peace of Christ” can rule in my heart, not as a temporary relief, but as a steady and quiet strength. Thank you for calling us into one body, for reminding us that we do not walk alone, and for providing joy even in difficult days.

Lord, help me to live out Colossians 3:15 in both belief and practice. Teach me to let Christ rule in my heart instead of my fears. When conflict arises, help me seek unity in your name. When life feels loud, draw my attention back to you. Replace my urge to demand my own way with a desire to listen, love, and follow your lead. Take the chaos around me and shape it according to your good purposes. 

Help me to be grateful for the experiences you give me. Help me to show gratitude for the growth you are producing in the trials I face. Let your peace guard my thoughts, direct my decisions, and quiet my worries. And when I forget, gently remind me that your peace is not fragile, but is rooted in Christ himself.

In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

2.  MEDITATION

https://youtu.be/ZToicYcHIOU?si=b1PjEVV0CKb7paaC

3.  SONG

https://youtu.be/bFr_nJVRXGA?si=1D_IhKXHHzKxGc99

4.  NARRATIVE

According to Franciscan priest Richard Rohr, joy is both a conscious decision and a profound surrender. Rather than an external mood, true spiritual joy coexists with life’s pain, arising when we let go of control, embrace radical acceptance, and notice the sacred goodness in everyday moments. [1, 2, 3, 4]

Core Principles of Joy

A Choice and a Surrender: Joy is deciding to value what is good while surrendering the need to control life's outcomes.
Mixed with Sorrow: Deep spiritual joy does not erase grief; instead, it lives right alongside our shared human tears and vulnerability.
A Long, Loving Look: True presence comes from contemplation—simply paying attention to the real world with awe and wonder.
Found in the Small Things: Joy thrives in simple, ordinary acts, nature, humor, and quiet community connections. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]


Tears of Joy and Sadness
Sunday, June 15, 2025
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things.  
—Galatians 5:22–23  
In the Christian Scriptures, we are reminded that joy is a fruit of the Spirit in all circumstances. Father Richard Rohr describes a personal experience of simultaneous deep sadness and profound joy.  
In 1985 my Franciscan superiors gave me a year’s leave to spend in contemplation. It was a major turning point in my life and ultimately led to the formation of the Center for Action and Contemplation. The first thirty days of my “sabbatical” were spent in the hills of Kentucky, in Thomas Merton’s hermitage at Gethsemani Abbey. I was absolutely alone with myself, with the springtime woods, and with God, hoping to somehow absorb some of Merton’s wisdom. That first morning, it took me a while to slow down. I must have looked at my watch at least ten times before 7:00 AM! I had spent so many years standing in front of crowds as a priest and a teacher. I had to find out who I was alone before God without those trappings. 
Walter Burghardt’s definition of contemplation as “a long loving look at the real” became transformative for me. The world, my own issues and hurts, all my goals and desires gradually dissolved and fell into proper perspective. God became obvious and ever present. I understood what Merton meant when he said, “The gate of heaven is everywhere.” [1] 
I tried to keep a journal of what was happening to me. Back then, I found it particularly hard to cry. But one evening I laid my finger on my cheek and found to my surprise that it was wet. I wondered what those tears meant. What was I crying for? I wasn’t consciously sad or consciously happy. I noticed at that moment that behind it all there was a joy, deeper than any private joy. It was a joy in the face of the beauty of being, a joy at all the wonderful and lovable people I had already met in my life. Cosmic or spiritual joy is something we participate in; it comes from elsewhere and flows through us. It has little or nothing to do with things going well in our own life at that moment. I remember thinking that this must be why the saints could rejoice in the midst of suffering. 
At the same moment, I experienced exactly the opposite emotion. The tears were at the same time tears of an immense sadness—a sadness at what we’re doing to the earth, sadness about the people whom I had hurt in my life, and sadness too at my own mixed motives and selfishness. I hadn’t known that two such contrary feelings could coexist. I was truly experiencing the nondual mind of contemplation. 
References: 
[1] Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander (Doubleday, 1966), 142. 
Adapted from Richard Rohr, What the Mystics Know: Seven Pathways to Your Deepest Self (Crossroad, 2015), 61–63. 
Ya’ Wahyu, untitled (detail), 2024, photo, Unsplash. Click here to enlarge image. Two children splash in sun-warmed water: every droplet and ripple radiating joy. 


Where do you see small, quiet moments of peace in your day?

How does your definition of "grace" change when life gets loud and heavy?
What does it mean to rely on God's strength instead of your own?

5. MEDITATION

https://youtu.be/Er4oqBGuhkw?si=1zeKiwI4IspFYB6B

6.  SHARING

https://youtu.be/_QfXpQqRRW8?si=WTf3vYndhyS6AKqr




7.  PRAYER AND INTENTIONS




Dear God...

We ask for joy in our lives. Help us to find happiness in the simple things and to share our joy with others. Let our laughter and smiles be contagious, spreading positivity wherever we go. May we find joy even in the midst of challenges. 

Thank you for the moments of joy that brighten our days. Help us to cherish them and to seek out more opportunities for happiness. May we find joy in our relationships, celebrating the connections we have with family and friends. Help us to recognize the beauty and wonder in the world around us, finding joy in nature and the everyday miracles of life. 

Guide us to be sources of joy for others, bringing light and happiness into their lives. Let us approach each day with a joyful heart, grateful for the opportunities and experiences that come our way. Thank you for the gift of joy. Help us to embrace it fully and to spread it generously to those around us. 

Amen.

"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice." 

- Philippians 4:4




8.  SONG

https://youtu.be/ZEAtX4UA-Mc?si=0mDZNGMh14TMkMBa

Locked shed story to share wth life writers group.

 Share with life writers group  there is another way to preserve memories  life writing!!’

Image Credits: Shutterstock/Halfpoint.

For forty years, there was one place on our property I never entered. My husband always kept the old wooden shed locked, and every time I asked what was inside, he smiled and offered a different explanation. 

After he passed away, I carried the key in my pocket for weeks before finally gathering the courage to unlock the door. I expected forgotten tools and dusty boxes. Instead, I uncovered a story he had quietly protected for most of his life.

The Locked Door Became Part of Our Marriage

When David and I bought our little farmhouse, the weathered shed already stood  near the back fence .

He  repaired the roof , replaced the hinges, and installed a heavy lock that remained there for decades. Whenever I needed a rake or shovel, he insisted on getting it himself. Eventually, I stopped asking because it became one of those harmless habits every long marriage seems to develop.

Friends joked about his mysterious shed, and he always laughed along.

Every Excuse Sounded Different

Over the years, David gave countless reasons for keeping the shed private.

Sometimes he claimed it was dangerously cluttered. Other times he insisted he was hiding birthday gifts or Christmas presents. He even joked that the place held enough old paint cans to qualify as a hazardous waste site.

His explanations constantly changed, but his answer never did.

Our Children Turned It Into a Family Joke

As our son and daughter grew older, they became curious too.

They challenged each other to guess what was hidden behind the locked door. One believed it was an old motorcycle. The other imagined stacks of baseball cards worth a fortune.

David simply smiled every time their theories became more outrageous.

The Key Stayed on His Keychain

Even after retiring, David never removed the small brass key from his pocket.

If he worked in the yard, he unlocked the shed only long enough to grab what he needed before locking it again. The routine became so ordinary that none of us questioned it anymore.

Looking back, the habit seems almost unbelievable.

Life Changed Faster Than We Expected

David became seriously ill not long after our fortieth wedding anniversary.

During those final months, the shed remained untouched. Between doctor’s appointments and caring for him, I barely noticed it standing quietly at the edge of the yard.

Somehow, I never thought to ask about it one last time.

The Key Finally Became Mine

After the funeral, our daughter handed me David’s keychain.

The tiny brass key immediately caught my attention because I recognized it without looking twice. I slipped it into a kitchen drawer but avoided using it.

Weeks passed before I felt ready.

Opening the Door Felt Like Breaking a Promise

One quiet morning, I walked  across the yard carrying the old key.

The lock opened surprisingly easily despite its age. As the wooden door slowly swung inward, sunlight revealed shelves, workbenches, and neatly organized boxes instead of the clutter I expected.

Everything looked carefully maintained.

Nothing suggested secrecy.

The First Surprise Covered Every Wall

The inside walls were lined with framed photographs.

There were pictures from our wedding, family vacations, school graduations, birthdays, and countless ordinary afternoons I barely remembered. Many photographs had handwritten notes beside them describing why each moment mattered.

It looked less like a storage shed and more like a private museum of our family.

Every Box Held Another Piece of Our Lives

Wooden crates filled the shelves from floor to ceiling.

One contained  every Mother’s Day card I had ever given him. Another held tiny drawings our children made in elementary school. There were ticket stubs from our first movie together, dried flowers from our anniversary bouquets, and newspaper clippings about milestones our family celebrated.

David had quietly saved everything.

The Notebook Explained His Habit

On the workbench rested a thick leather notebook.

Inside, David described the reason he created the room. Shortly after we married, he worried that ordinary moments disappeared too quickly. He wanted one place where memories could never accidentally be  thrown away during spring cleaning or forgotten inside attic boxes.

The shed became his way of protecting our story.

One Envelope Had My Name

Tucked inside the notebook was a sealed envelope addressed to me.

David wrote that he always planned to show me the shed after organizing everything perfectly. Somehow another year always passed, then another, until forty years disappeared without him realizing it.

He apologized for letting time outrun his intentions.

An Unexpected Discovery Beneath the Workbench

While reading the notebook, I noticed a loose floorboard beneath the bench.

Curious, I carefully lifted it and found a shallow compartment holding several audio cassettes labeled by year. A small tape recorder sat beside them with fresh batteries still inside their package.

David had recorded family conversations for decades.

Voices From Another Time Filled the Room

I carried the recorder into the house and played the first cassette.

The room filled with laughter from birthday parties, bedtime stories, holiday dinners, and conversations between the children when they were small. Then I heard David asking me about my day while I answered without realizing our voices would someday become treasured memories.

I sat there listening for hours.

The Biggest Secret Was Never About Hiding

Toward the end of the final recording, David spoke directly into the microphone.

He admitted the shed had never been locked to keep us out. It was locked because he feared something precious might disappear if too many people constantly handled it. He worried a curious child might accidentally damage photographs or lose handwritten letters before they could be preserved.

His secrecy came from love rather than distrust.

The Grandchildren Helped Sort the Collection

A few weeks later, I invited the entire family to see the shed.

Our grandchildren carefully opened boxes while  asking questions about people and places in old photographs. Every object started another conversation. Stories we thought had been forgotten suddenly came rushing back through tiny keepsakes nobody knew existed.

The afternoon felt more like a family reunion than a cleanup project.

The Shed Found a New Purpose

Instead of emptying the building, we restored it together.

My son  installed better lighting while my daughter scanned photographs into digital albums so future generations could enjoy them too. We left the original shelves exactly where David built them because they felt like part of the story themselves.

The room remained filled with memories, but it no longer stayed locked.

The Excuses Finally Made Sense

Sometimes I still walk to the shed carrying a cup of coffee just as David once did.

I smile whenever I remember all the silly excuses he invented over the years to protect his quiet project. He never hid riches, family secrets, or forgotten treasures. He  spent forty years preserving something far more valuable.

Every photograph, every letter, every recording, and every carefully labeled box reminds me that love is often expressed through small acts repeated faithfully over a lifetime. I finally understand why he always smiled when I asked what was inside. He was waiting for the day the door could tell the story better than he ever could.

Knowing God’s plan

 

1.  PRAYER

Heavenly Father, I come to You seeking Your direction. My heart feels full of questions, and the path ahead looks unclear.

Lord, quiet my fears and calm my anxious thoughts. Help me to surrender my own timeline and my own desires to Your goodness.

Give me wisdom to recognize Your voice. Remove the blind spots and heavy burdens that cloud my vision.

Grant me peace for the next step. If a door must close, give me the grace to accept it. If a door must open, light the way before me.

Deepen my trust, knowing Your plans are to prosper me, give me hope, and give me a future.

In Jesus' name, Amen. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]

2.  MEDITATION

https://youtu.be/H_uc-uQ3Nkc?si=qVwl5-MoJt0k_zzG

3.  SONG

https://youtu.be/g1UJBaAK1MA?si=t9cV27iBmR7Sqksw

4.  NARRATIVE

According to Franciscan priest Richard Rohr, we do not get to know God's plan in advance. He teaches that demanding certainty and needing to know where we are going stops true faith, comparing our insistence on control to blindly fumbling through a dark room instead of trusting the process. [1, 2, 3]

The Illusion of Control

The Dark Room: Rohr describes human planning like walking in a pitch-dark room, terrified of tripping, while wanting a fully illuminated pathway.
Faith vs. Certitude: We demand absolute answers and a clear map, but God asks us to let go of our need for control and simply trust.
Releasing the Ego: Needing to steer every outcome relies on human cleverness and status rather than true spiritual surrender. [1]

Embracing Unknowing

Making Friends with Mystery: Spiritual maturity means accepting "not-knowing" rather than forcing black-and-white answers onto complex realities. [1, 2, 3]
Hindsight Providence: We rarely see God's movement while we are in the middle of a struggle; it is only looking back that we recognize how we were led. [1]
Action Before Understanding: Growth requires taking small, humble steps in the dark before the full path ever becomes clear. [1]

If you'd like, we can explore:

• Specific quotes or books by Richard Rohr on surrender and the second half of life
• How contemplative practice helps manage anxiety about the future

A Tuning Fork
Friday, June 30, 2017

Contemplative prayer is like striking a tuning fork. All you can really do in the spiritual life is resonate to the true pitch, to receive the always-present message. Once you are tuned, you will receive, and it has nothing to do with worthiness or the group you belong to, but only inner resonance, a capacity for mutuality (see Matthew 7:7-11), which implies a basic humility. We must begin with the knowledge that the Sender is absolutely and always present and broadcasting; the only change is with the receiver station, you and me.

Prayer is connecting with God/Ultimate Reality. It is not an attempt to change God’s mind about us or about events. Such arrogance is what unbelievers make fun of—and often rightly so. Prayer is primarily about changing our own mind so that things like infinity, mystery, and forgiveness can resound within us. The small mind cannot see great things because the two are on different frequencies or channels. We must match our resonance to Love’s. Like knows like.

Without contemplation, the best you can do is to know by comparison, calculation, and from the limited viewpoint of “you.” Prayer knows reality in a totally different way. Instead of presenting a guarded self to the moment, prayer stops defending or promoting its ideas and feelings, and waits for, expects, and receives guidance from Another. It offers itself naked to the now, so that our inner and aroused lover can meet the Lover. Such prayer takes major surgery of heart, mind, and inner sight. Prayer is about changing you, not about changing God.

Most simply put, prayer is something that happens to you (Romans 8:26-27), much more than anything you privately do.It is an allowing of the Big Self more than an assertion of the small self. Eventually you will find yourself preferring to say, “Prayer happened, and I was there” more than “I prayed today.” All you know is that you are being led, guided, loved, used, and prayed through. You are no longer in the driver’s seat. Following this guidance you will know what is yours to do.

God stops being an object of attention like any other object in the world, and becomes at some level your own “I Am.” You start knowing through, with, and in Somebody Else. And then your little “I Am” becomes “We Are.” Afterward you know instinctively that your life is not about you, but you are about Life. “I live now not I, but Another Life lives in me,” to paraphrase Paul’s poetic words (Galatians 2:20).

This does not mean you are morally or psychologically perfect. Not at all. But you will now have the freedom to recognize your failings and to grow and love better because of them. That is the major and important difference!

Gateway to Silence:
Be still and still moving.

Reference:
Adapted from Richard Rohr, The Naked Now: Learning to See as the Mystics See (The Crossroad Publishing Company: 2009), 101-104.

Questions

Understanding God’s Plan

What does "God's plan" mean to you personally?
How do you separate your desires from God's will?
Is God's plan a strict script or a flexible path?
How do your daily choices affect God's ultimate plan?

Navigating Uncertainty and Waiting

Why does God keep His timing secret from us?
How do you maintain faith when prayers go unanswered?
What comforts you most during seasons of painful waiting?
Can a closed door be a sign of guidance?

Discerning God's Voice

How do you recognize God's voice versus your thoughts?
What role does Scripture play in finding your direction?
How does your community help you confirm your calling?
When has a gut feeling aligned with spiritual guidance?

Handling Suffering and Detours

How do personal tragedies fit into a loving plan?
What did a past failure teach you about God?
Can a mistake ruin God’s plan for your life?
How do you find purpose inside a difficult situation?

Taking Action

When should you wait versus when should you act?
How does faith overcome the fear of making mistakes?
What is one practical step you can take today?

5.  MEDITATION

https://youtu.be/Mr2LnZOkxRs?si=Rss4pjD69Asr-6Yn

6.  SHARING

7. PRAYER AND INTENTIONS

When shadows of doubt cross my heart…

With a heart full of gratitude and humility, I approach You tonight.

As Your Word in Jeremiah 29:11 assures us, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

Just as You spoke these words to Jeremiah, I believe in Your beautiful plans for my life. Lord, in times of confusion and doubt, I seek Your guidance.

Help me to trust Your timing and embrace the path You’ve laid out for me.

As I face challenges, let me draw strength from You, knowing Your love surrounds me.

Thank You for being a God who listens to my prayers.

Deepen my faith, allowing me to anchor myself in Your promises, for Your faithfulness knows no bounds.

As I journey through life, may I radiate Your love and light to those around me, reflecting Your grace in all I do.

I offer up this prayer,

Amen.

Originally published at http://4foldlove.wordpress.com on August 19, 2023.

8. SONG

https://youtu.be/nMhxbeXq1I0?si=bjw_qRhGsPiMtPJ4