Spiritual Formation Archives

Spiritual formation is a lifelong journey of drawing closer to the True Self and the Divine, with spiritual practices offering both scaffolding and a firm foundation for the search. Find posts on spiritual formation below, explore specific spiritual practices on the resources page, and sign up here to receive updates on new posts directly in your inbox.

10 Practices to Make Ordinary Time Extraordinary

It’s the middle of August, and as summer winds down for many of us it’s time to put the suitcases away, harvest what remains of summer’s bounty, finish our summer reading, and return to everyday routines.

It’s all just so…ordinary.

We are, in fact, in the middle of Ordinary Time—the season in the Church’s liturgical calendar that lies between the feast of Pentecost and the season of Advent (some churches recognize two seasons of Ordinary Time—Ordinary Time I between Christmastide and Lent and Ordinary Time II between Eastertide and Advent). It’s a long season, too—the longest, in fact. It seems fitting, though, because most of our days are simply ordinary—we wake up, shower, go to work, care for families, run errands, make meals, go to sleep…and do it all over again.

There’s no invitation to keep vigil, like with Advent, or to fast, as with Lent. There’s no specific call to celebrate, as with Christmas or Easter. And, oftentimes there’s no great burst of insight or inspiration, as marked by the Feasts of Epiphany and Pentecost.

But it’s also in the everyday that life happens—challenges presented, lessons learned, obstacles overcome—each new occurrence taking us beyond our edges and presenting the opportunity for more growth. If Ordinary Time has an invitation, it’s to stay present to these elements of daily life, engaging them with intention and looking for the Sacred hidden within. What so often seems ordinary then has the power to become extraordinary.

Here are 10 practices to make Ordinary Time extraordinary:

1. Turn a mundane task into a time of prayer

2. Go on a personal retreat

3. Make something (How about daily bread?)

4. Begin a Sabbath practice

5. Spend time in nature

6. Settle in with a book that has the power to transform (I have a few suggestions)

7. Read the Bible in a new way

8. Live like a pilgrim in everyday life

9. Cultivate a Morning Ritual

10. In line with our current Journey Book Club selection, get rid of objects (and commitments) in your life that don’t spark joy (more on that next week!)

GO FURTHER…

Which of your own spiritual practices help make Ordinary Time extraordinary?

PS: How liturgy guides you on a daily journey (+ a great list of resources!)

Create Your Own Travel Altar

Even though I’m now a homeowner, sometimes it still doesn’t feel like I have a place to call my own.

Because each room has multiple functions, I have yet to find the perfect place for my Morning Ritual. While a cozy silent nook can always be found, as the day continues that nook turns into an office, an entertainment center, a place to pile laundry (okay, that last one is my own fault).

Each morning I wake up uncertain of where I’ll land, and for the most part, I don’t mind; after all, it’s what you do during your Morning Ritual that makes it meaningful. However, while I have my favorite cozy nooks—spreading out on the couch as I watch the sun rise, cozying up on my new daybed by the window, sitting outside in my garden as I take in the sights and sounds—there’s one thing I miss: having an altar.

3 Spiritual Practices You’re Already Doing (introvert edition)

I have a new post up on Quiet Revolution today about how introverts can turn 3 common practices of self-care into spiritual practices. Not to worry, extroverts—I plan on doing an extrovert edition right here sometime soon to balance things out. Subscribe here so you don’t miss it!

3-Spiritual-Practices-Youre-Already-Doing_SOURCE_getrefe

Image from Quiet Revolution

If you identify as an introvert, it’s likely that you’ve personally experienced the misconceptions of introversion and have been fighting these assumptions for much of your life. You know them well: introverts are reclusive, stuck in their heads, and—let’s not forget—shy.

Because we live in an extroverted culture, these traits are often deemed as negative. If you’re spending a lot of time alone, lost in thought, or are uninterested in engaging with anyone, something must be wrong, right?

But to us, these introverted traits are essential parts of our makeup. We need time alone to recharge our batteries; we process our experiences internally; and we prefer to stand at an arm’s length rather than jump right in. When we become aware of these tendencies, they become not simply traits—but acts—of self-care. Seeking out alone time becomes a practice of solitude; internal processing becomes a vehicle for self-discovery; and standing on the outskirts makes us keen observers.

As introverts, we know that the practices of solitude, self-discovery, and paying attention are part of our daily lives, and when we pursue them with the intention of connecting with the transcendent, they can become spiritual practices as well. Here’s how you can turn three acts of self-care you’re already pursuing into spiritual practices…

Read the rest of the post at Quiet Revolution »

Our Daily Bread: The Recipe

bread-recipe

For over three years now, we’ve been making our own bread.

And, I should clarify—when I say “we” I mean my husband, Kyle. He’s a web developer, and so at the end of the day (or even on breaks in the middle) he’s eager to get out of his mind, leaving code-land behind and instead using his hands to create.

Over the years he’s turned to many things to help him transition—roasting coffee, brewing kombucha, curing bacon—but more than anything, while he was away on the Camino it was making our daily bread that he missed (and he wasn’t alone—I had to buy bread while he was away! Can you imagine!?).

You see, making bread has become a ritual for Kyle—a regular rhythm, and, dare I say, a spiritual practice. It calls him to leave the complex behind and return to the basics—for what’s more basic than bread? And it invites him to remember his first love—food—and encourages him to learn the ins and outs of what brings him delight (which, of course, is always a place where we can experience Sacred Encounter).

And so, today I offer you this recipe of our daily bread—from our family to yours. May it call you, too, to return to the basics, and remind you that delight and the Sacred can be found in even the most simple of places.

Journey Book Club Discussion: “The Soul of a Pilgrim” (+ a special guest!)

And we’re back! After a blog break in June, things are back into full swing here at asacredjourney.net! We’re starting things off with a Journey Book Club discussion of our June selection—The Soul of a Pilgrim by Christine Valters Paintner. Want to join us this month? Find out what we’ll be reading at the bottom of the posts and join the Book Club email list to stay in the loop (plus get a FREE downloadable reading log)!

How was your pilgrimage this June?

After reading Christine’s new book, The Soul of a Pilgrim, this is the question we should be asking, right? (Read Christine’s story behind the book here.) I love the way Christine invited us to journey with intention in our everyday lives (any surprise there?), and though I didn’t expect it, there was a pilgrimage waiting for me in the wings when I began the book in early June.read more »

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