During the continuing Easter season, we are invited to take The Way of The Light, The Journey to Joy reflecting on the final chapters of each of the four gospels, which tell the story of the appearances of the risen Lord from Easter to Pentecost.

In a few days, I will embark on a holy pilgrimage journey to Israel for a few weeks, to walk and pray where Jesus lived and went to the cross, to see the empty tomb, walk along the road in Emmaus, the sea of Galilee where the Lord taught and commissioned His disciples, and to be where the Holy Spirit first descended.

These significant events continue to have meaning and power in our daily life even as we take annual holy pilgrimages in many other symbolic ways.

Download a reflection guide of the resurrection_stations_final.

As you read the scriptures and reflect on the stations of this Journey to the Light and Resurrection Joy, may you be led into the fullness of the life and love of God in the risen Lord as He speaks to you and makes Himself known to you, blesses and sends you out to flourish in fruitfulness, being freshly filled with the gifts and the power of the Holy Spirit.

1. Jesus Rises from the Dead  (Matthew 28:5b – 6a)
2. The Disciples Find the Empty Tomb (Luke 24:12) John 20:8
3. Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene (John 20:14b-18)
4. Jesus Walks with the Disciples to Emmaus (Luke 24:15, 25-27)
5. Jesus Reveals Himself in the Breaking of the Bread (Luke 24:29-32)
6. Jesus Appears to His Disciples in Jerusalem (John 20:19-20) (Luke 24:38-40)
7. Jesus Gives His Disciples His Peace and the Power and Authority to proclaim the Forgiveness of Sins (John 20: 19b, 20b – 23)
8. Jesus Strengthens the Faith of Thomas  (John 20:24-29)
9. Jesus Appears to His Disciples on the Shore of Lake Galilee (John 21:10-12)
10. Jesus Forgives Peter and Commands Him to Feed His Sheep (John 21:15, 17b, 19b)
11. Jesus Commissions His Disciples with a Mission on the Mountain  (Matthew 28:16-20)
12. Jesus Ascends into Heaven. The Ascension of Jesus (Acts 1:6-12) (Mark 16:19-20)
13. The Disciples, the women and Mary and his brothers wait in prayer. Mary and the Disciples Await the Coming of the Spirit (Acts 1:13-14)
14. The Holy Spirit descends at Pentecost. Jesus Sends the Spirit Promised by the Father to his Disciples (Acts 2:1-3)

Download a reflection guide of the Stations of the Resurrection.

Question: What do you sense is your ‘calling’ and ‘commissioning’ from God at this time?

But, mercifully, a ‘sponsor’ saves them, sending in exactly what they need – a healing ointment, a ‘salve’ that is to be applied generously. Amazingly, the wound heals overnight, and they are able to continue on the journey with vigor.

• Have you ever suffered a major wound along your life journey?
• Do you sometimes feel ‘set back’ by vulnerabilities or injuries along the way?

Jesus knows exactly what you need, and is your ultimate ‘sponsor’, providing the exact healing for your deepest wounds, your brokenness, tender places and vulnerability.

Jesus is the healing ‘balm of Gilead’, making the wounded whole.

He anoints our head with protective, restorative oil.

That’s what He prepared to provide for us at Easter.

His body and His blood are our salvation, our ‘salve’.

With His gentle hands, he anoints us with His healing ‘salve’, in the places where we are most broken and wounded. Covering our most tender places with His miraculous presence and power, He promises to restore our beauty and wellbeing.

Salvation

By Lynn Ungar
{Blessing the Bread}

By what are you saved? And how?
Saved like a bit of string, tucked away in a drawer?

Saved like a child rushed from a burning building,
Already singed and coughing smoke?

Or are you salvaged like a car part –
the one good door when the rest is wrecked?

Do you believe me when I say
you are neither salvaged nor saved, but salved,
anointed by gentle hands
where you are most tender?

Haven’t you seen the way snow curls down
like a fresh sheet, how it covers everything,
makes everything beautiful, without exception?

At a recent Strength For The Journey retreat, with gentle hands, we anointed each other’s hands with Olive Brand Organics body butter, symbolic of being ‘salved’, receiving the Lord’s loving care and healing over our most tender places.

Other times, we light a candle, take a scoop of special low temperature melted coconut wax, covering our hands or feet with the salve, symbolic of receiving healing for our brokenness, being made whole and beautiful – without exception.

Consider ‘salving’ your hands or feet in some way, symbolic of what the Lord has prepared and provided for you this Easter season. Share this expression of assurance with someone else as well.

www.OliveBranchOrganics.Etsy.com

OliveBranchOrganics@gmail.com

Debi Hillberg – 626.945.5182

Question: Where you are most tender today, needing Jesus to anoint you with gentle hands?

See, I am doing a new thing. Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.  – Is 43:19

Laetare Sunday launched this fourth week in the middle of lent and the beginning of Spring with a refreshing and surprising invitation ‘to be happy’ (latin for Laetare).  The ‘rose’ color of rejoicing replaced the penitential color of ‘purple’.  It is now with joyful anticipation that along our journey we are eager for the happy ending, the great gifts to us as Easter is getting closer.

We look forward to turning away from all that is wrong with us and the world, anticipating the promise of our restoration – a ‘flourishing finish’.

There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears.  Phillippians 1:6

Along the Christian journey, intermingled together are life and death, joy and sorrow, gain and loss, beauty and brokenness. It’s a metaphor of the Great Sacred Dance, the Symphony of God, God’s eco soul system. New life emerging from seeds surrendering to change in fertile soul, interwoven with laments of lost attachments.

Pain and joy are arteries of the same heart, and mourning and dancing are but one long movement in the symphony of God.  Ann Voskamp

As I move towards taking a step and whirl to this symphony celebrating Springtime Renewal and Awakening this week, it also marks losses: the death of my sister’s husband 16 years ago, and our family Golden Retriever Honey, last St. Patrick’s day. http://www.howtoflourish.com/blog/the-examined-life-is-well-worth-living/

There are moments when we are aware of the harmony, being in rhythm with the presence of God, a heart full of gratitude. Then there are moments – often at the same time – when we are off step, out of tune and not. A soul artery gets clogged.

It’s the general dance of balance and restoration we are all learning to do.

The Jewish concept of Tikkun olan assures our hearts and expresses it so very well: everything is divinely ordered by God’s passion for mending our brokenness.

God’s ultimate vision for our repair is for our restoration, to flourish in the beauty of His harmony and well-being – Shalom.

- So, lets pray to perceive the new things that are springing up.

- Being aware and grateful for the ways being made in the wilderness of your waiting and wondering.

God’s healing and provision we so long for.

-      Soaking in the refreshing streams flowing in the wastelands of

wilting and languishing.

God’s peace and tranquility quenching our thirsty souls.

This melody and dance of Spring is an invitation from Jesus -

“Can I have this dance with you?”

Let Him lead you in a ‘happy dance’.

Previous Blogs for Spring and Lent:

• The Examined Life Is Well Worth Living
• What You Will Gain With Genuine Giving And Surrender
• The Secrets Of Living Longer and Living Better
• Intentional Living Gets You On A Flourishing Path

God’s love covers and encircles all our brokenness, our multitudes of sins. We humbly ask the Lord to search our hearts, to reveal our need for renewal. Then we sober up. We see broken Lenten intentions, the suffering of broken dreams, broken promises, broken relationships, broken bodies, and broken hearts. Brokenness from the ‘fall’, resulting in our sins and those who sin against us.

We daily feel the disappointment, the pain deep within. We see it all around us in sad, desperate eyes. We get glimpses in images from all over the world.

“How long O Lord?”

We desperately need assurance of God’s love.

Encircling brokenness with beauty, love and prayer

So, my prayer partners and I go up to Mater Dolorosa, encircling our prayers.  We march around our Easter tree this March, to bring down fear, worry, envy, obstacles that keep us from the fullness of life in Jesus. The comparing and contrasting that corrupts our calling.

We encircle our prayers for freedom from burdens, hurts, damage, conflict and pain we long to see healed and mended. For breakthrough and restoration of the things that should not be. To release God’s unconditional Love and promises we so desperately wait and hope for.  We lean and depend on God, praying with Christians around the world -  “Please, God, rescue me! Come quickly Lord and help me.”

“Your kingdom come, Your will be done”

At home, I pray through the Tabernacle as a model for prayer, making lists.

God keeps a list.

It’s the wildest Love that drives the Father to record His child’s every lament. We never ache without God attending, and He can’t stand to see a tear fall to the floor. God cups our grief and puts our tears in His bottle…

It’s Love that makes God a list keeper of our brokenness, and it’s love that can make us list keepers of our blessings.
Ann Voskamp

I begin by adding to my list of blessings on the 40 Days of Gratitude.  I print out 21 copies of 7 Gifts {good & perfect} and plan to list 1,000 gifts.  Then I list and circle prayers made with the Lord, confident of His Love, that He hears every heartfelt desire, keeping our tears in a bottle and our prayers in a golden bowl.

Lent leads us into the beauty of this ‘wildest Love’ 

• God is love, and we learn about God when we experience His beauty, love and kindness towards us.  God’s Love is revealed in His Word, and mostly shows up to us through His creation and people.
• I accept His invitation today, balancing brokenness with beauty and love.  Sitting under the sun in my Jubilee garden, I delight at the birds enjoying my hospitality of feeders and houses. Daffodil smiles surround me. I pick clusters of early Wisteria blooms.
• I feel love flow from me as I care for my sick husband, as I mix up special food for an aging dog with a large mouth tumor, as I let another car go ahead of me. I felt it the other day with friends celebrating a birthday together at St. Andrews Abbey in Valyermo, CA.
• I felt love flow to me while walking the stations of the cross, in a text from a friend waiting to take off on a flight, a phone call from my parents, a hug from my daughter, my little dog’s faithful presence and love licks.
• I remember all the other ‘hugs and kisses’ I have received from God’s Word, His creation and people. I hold onto them tight for encouragement and promises of hope. It is Love that surges as appreciation in my heart and makes me a list keeper of my blessings.

The beauty of God’s Love covers and encircles you. How will you respond?

Loving

We love because God first loved us. Who needs your love? Who needs your prayers? Who have you been distant from, and are being stretched to be more responsive to?

Compassion

Receive God’s loving compassion for you, through the beauty of Jesus’ salvation, then pass it on to others. Out of the compassion that God has shown to you, how are you being called to show compassion to others?

Serving

Jesus washes feet and obeys only what the Father says. How is God inviting you to use your time, energy, resources and talents for His purpose and glory?

Giving

God so loved that He gave His most precious son. Jesus loved that He gave us His life. How may God be asking you to let His generosity flow forward through you? How can you show gestures of deep gratitude and ‘give back’ by giving to others?

Forgiveness

Broken people break people. There is no human love that is not broken somewhere. When love is imperfect, destructive or missing entirely, we are compelled to learn to forgive, let go.  God’s love covers the multitude of offenses. Who are the people in your life who have wounded you? Who have you wounded?  How is the Lord leading you to ‘let go’?

Free Lent downloads

• Lent Reflection
• 40 Days of Gratitude
• 40 Days in the Word
• 40 Days of Prayer

In The Grateful Heart, Wilkie Au and Noreen Cannon Au share 3 pillars of gratitude based on the last part of a nursery rhyme – ‘this little piggy went to market, this little piggy stayed at home… and this little piggy cried wee, we, whee all the way home.”  It’s a funny way to remember, but outlines some profoundly spiritual pathways relating to the Lenten journey.

WEE

Humility

Because we tend to think more highly of ourselves, get entitled and forget, the Lenten season invites us once again to humility. ‘Being poor in spirit’ is a reminder that although we are so immensely significant to God, everything is a gift by His grace. Although we are very precious to the Lord, we are small in the grand scope of things, and our lives are fleeting. Our days are like a flower in the field.

Although we are grownups, we are ‘little’, and life is so much bigger. Be open to being like a ‘little’ child in the presence of God. With transparent honesty declare: “I need you. I want you.” Desperately depend on God for forgiveness, deliverance and spiritual nourishment.

The Fisherman’s Prayer:
Help me Lord, for I am a tiny little boat in this massive ocean.

David’s Prayer
Come to my help O God; Lord, hurry to my rescue. Psalm 70:1

Practices:

• Humility: Poverty of Spirit
• Dependence on God: Letting go, Surrender
• Longing for more of God through:
  • Prayer
  • The Word (http://www.40daysintheword.com/)

WE

The Gift of Community

Life is about relationship attachments. We find our joy and happiness in the presence of God and meaningful connections with one another – not in money, things or places. God’s love shows up through people. We depend on each other like beggars sharing the bread of life with one another.

Love, mercy, forgiveness, generosity and service are some of the qualities that are being formed in us as we become more like the Father. Loving others as God loves us is what the Lenten transformation is all about.

When our broken love is the only love we can have, we are easily thrown into despair, but when we can live our broken love as a partial reflection of God’s perfect, unconditional love, we can forgive one another our limitations and enjoy together the love we have to offer. Henri Nouwen

Practices:

• Connecting
• Letting go: Forgiveness
• Appreciation: Gratitude
• Giving
• Service

WHEE

Wonder. Appreciation. Gratitude

Be a person of wonder, more attuned to the Spirit of God rekindling ‘wonder’ and ‘awe’. “Wow. God was certainly in this place, and I didn’t realize it.” Reclaim childlike wonder and excitement in ordinary everyday life, like when you used to feel the thrill of swinging high. Whee! Our sense of ‘wonder’ can get lost along the way. The secret of being content and happy is looking once again for this wonder and gratitude, being aware of where God is present. All is a gift to you. Be a receiver.

What flows out of wonder is gratitude.

What flows out of gratitude is wholeness.

Be amazed when noticing beauty balancing against brokenness.  Savor deep appreciation for the simple and ordinary things in life that you usually take for granted. Rummage for and be attuned to finding God in all things. Slow down and smell the roses. Live in the moment. Relish life. Be still and quiet so you can notice. Sit for a while, linger.  Open to new life, new hope and the capacity to forgive. Find the beauty of God in all things, in all you do, everyday.

Practices:

• Appreciation: Gratitude
  
• Contentment
• Wonder
• Awareness  
• Examen Prayer

Watch this video below with wonder and appreciation. Each flower is filmed for a few days and images are collated within 7 minutes to get this amazing effect.

 Click to view video: La vida de las flores

• 40 Days of Gratitude
• 40 Days in The Word
• 40 Days of Prayer
• 40 Days Lent Reflection

The Lenten season is a great leveler, a holy intervention.

We now journey through the ‘desert of our soul’ preparing for Spiritual Awakening, Sacred Soul Renewal. Our destination is the joyful season of Spiritual Springtime. Discovering Christ’s new life in us – beauty for our brokenness. So we venture into

• 40 Days of Lent
• 40 days of Gratitude
  
• 40 Days of Renewal
• 40 days in prayer and the Word

During this first part of the journey, we have the opportunity for reflection, self-examination. Confessing. Repenting.

We face up to our real human condition of temptations, half-truths, burdens, false- self, brokenness and languishing.
There are so many ways in which we have wilted, strayed and become distant from God.
So, we come before the Lord, vulnerable and honest, humbly asking Him to awaken us to what our lives really look like. We admit our deep need for His cleansing, healing, restoration and renewal of heart.

Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me.
Psalm 51:10

We Journey Together as Beggars

Christianity is one beggar telling another beggar where he found bread.
- T.D. Jakes

At Lent, we are especially aware of our ‘beggarliness’, poverty of spirit. We are all desperate for God in some way. It is when we recognize we are spiritually hungry that we are most in need of the bread of life.

We need our sight restored, our wounds healed and our bowls filled.

Lest we forget, or think more highly of ourselves, the practices of lent lead us in this kind of humility, one beggar sharing bread with another beggar. We are reminded that:

• I come broken to be mended, I come wounded to be healed
• I come desperate to be rescued, I come empty to be filled
• I come guilty to be pardoned by the blood of Christ the lamb.
• I come Just As I Am.

We see more clearly now the state of our heart and soul, our desperate need. Accumulated results of our choices and habits, the constraints of daily mundane living keep us unaware, holding us back.

Blessed are the poor in Spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.
Matthew 5:3

We begin to understand what drives our life, how we have become comfortable with our messes, the junk hidden in the closets of our soul, our wanderings, automatic old ways and distance from God.

God reaches out to us during Lent, leading us once again to the way of His Son. Softening and purifying our humble hearts, He shows us that we are worthy of His love.

We don’t have to hide, to pretend, to numb.

With small surrenders, we choose life, embracing His compassion, love and forgiveness. It gives us the courage to live out our true self, live fully alive.

We pursue spiritual awakening, turning away from spiritual carelessness.

Praying for the virtue of love instead of lust, temperance for gluttony, charity for greed, diligence for sloth, patience for anger, kindness for envy, humility for pride.

40 Days of Gratitude and appreciation releases forgiveness, contentment, bringing alive all that is good, the fullness of life.

Gratitude turns what we have into more than enough.

This is the bread of life I share, nourishing us, making us beautiful.

Question: How do you sense the Lord leading you as you set out on the Lent journey?

Free Downloads:

• 40 Days of Gratitude
• Lent Reflection
• What Drives Your Life

You may want to read previous blogs on my encounter with a homeless man.

Part 1. Don’t believe the lies: You are worthy of God’s love

Part 2: Don’t hold back: Give and receive the hope of generous love

Beauty will heal and save you.

That’s the hope and message woven into the 40 days of Lent leading up to Easter. God’s balance of beauty through love, goodness and redemption are His divine antidote to vandalization and brokenness in and around us.

Protesting Brokenness with Beauty

A dear friend of mine who admires pottery came across a large bowl that particularly caught her eye at a recent art show. It was in an amazing shape of waves and the beauty captured her heart. But, it was expensive. So she focused on the joy of another potters three small pots formed together, symbolic of a three-fold cord unbroken.

The next day however, she just couldn’t get the beauty of the wave bowl off her mind. She had to go back. Admire it once more. Maybe the artist would be willing to give her a discount. She had saved some Christmas money – for such a time as this.

The potter was flattered at her admiration of his work. They had a great conversation. As she turned to approach him about the beautiful wave bowl, her bag knocked a large vase behind her, and it fell to the ground, shattering in small pieces.

She was in shock. How could this happen? She came to pursue and acquire beauty, and now she was faced with brokenness – that was very expensive!  Right then and there, something in her also shattered. She broke down crying, sobbing.

It wasn’t just about feeling bad for the loss of the art, or the huge cost.  It was much more, much deeper.

The Balance of Beauty

You see most of her life is about dealing with or paying for brokenness. She has lived with cancer for over 20 years, consistently for the last 12 years. The 5^th round of chemo and treatment she is on now costs thousands.  Her life revolves around the damaging consequences of her broken body and other shattered things around her.

But it just couldn’t end this way. She couldn’t just pay for more brokenness and walk away with no beauty. God has always provided a balance of beauty and goodness in her life. She exemplifies beautiful fruitfulness. Each fresh new day she embraces answered prayers, deep relationship connections, pilgrimages and daily ‘love and kisses from God’.  Just the other day, the Lord assured her of His love in Zephaniah 3: 16, 17 through three different sources.

So, once again, the spirit of God gave her the gift of being released to keep pursuing and embracing the gift of beauty. The potter offered for her to pay wholesale for the broken vase and the wave bowl.  She left with a bag of shattered vase pieces and a beautiful wave bowl: the balance of beauty to protest against the brokenness.

Beauty Matters

That’s how life can be. Keeping the balance of beauty.

We teeter on the edge of freedom and fear.

Dealing only with broken pieces keeps us deprived, holds us bache beauty is too extravagant. I can’t justify it. It’s unrealistic, unreachable. I can’t enjoy it because it’s overshadowed by the darkness and brokenness.

That’s why Jesus came. His love and beauty set us free.

He brings light into our darkness. He makes beauty from ashes.

And only the Spirit of God can release us, open our eyes and hearts to see all that Christ is, what He provides for us through the Cross. What He promises to do in us, in the new Heaven and the new earth – is goodness and beauty. Images of fresh flowing rivers, life-giving fruitful trees, no more pain and tears – instead peace, love and laughter.

Beauty matters. The beauty of Christ’s transforming life in us matters.

We can’t escape the pain, darkness, brokenness and vandalizing.

Through the 40 days of lent we acknowledge this, in us and around us.

But then we open our lives to the Holy Spirit, holding on to our visions of God paying the price, transforming and empowering us now and finally making the whole of creation anew – with love, joy, peace, hope – and beauty.

Live out the beauty

You can protest the darkness and brokenness by balancing with beauty.

Embrace God’s kingdom, His Shalom, His resurrection in you, living in harmony with nature and others each day.

The Spirit of God challenges us to protest the languishing and brokenness. Anticipate and embrace the beauty God provides and promises.

Make this vision come true by living out love and beauty each fresh new day.

It is this vision that enables us to live fully alive, right where we are.

Love matters. A cup of water matters. Creating beauty matters.

A beautiful wave pottery bowl matters.

Henri Nouwen reminds us that “every time we show compassion to a suffering person, every time we arrange a bouquet of flowers, offer care to tame or wild animals, prevent pollution, create beauty in our homes and gardens … we are making the vision come true…Whenever it comes alive in us we will find new energy to live it out, right where we are….this beautiful vision gets us involved.”

That’s the reason why I am coming alive while watching the daffodils I planted in my window boxes slowly open their happy faces to brighten my day.

• Why I feed the wild birds around my home.
• Why I finally painted my kitchen cabinets.
• Why I lead a spiritual formation group.
• Why I write this blog.
• Because living out the vision of God’s love and beauty matters.

QUESTION: What beauty matters to you right now?

Listen to this beautiful song Why It Matters, by Sara Groves

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zK1KkqNMunk

Download Lent Reflections

One formula goes something like this. Life circumstances influence our happiness 10% and our given DNA accounts for about 50%. But then there is the other 40%, which we have control over in order to become happier and cultivate joy. This includes our attitude, perspective, choices, gratitude and lifestyle.

Even if you are blessed with a more cheerful temperament, happier people are still intentional about their life choices and lifestyle habits to sustain genuine joy. This goes beyond just being happy due to ‘feel good’ experiences or ‘living the good life’ situations.

Cultivate ‘Daily Joy’

Another formula is that in order to have a healthier, happier and flourishing life, the tipping point is experiencing positive emotions in a 3 to 1 ratio with negative ones. It doesn’t have to be all good, all smiles, all the time. Life can be hard. You will have stress and challenges. However research has proven that it is possible to have daily joy and probably even laugh and smile more, regardless of your circumstances.

Here are a few ways to start.

1.       Love God and practice your faith

Those who practice their faith daily with an active spiritual life will have stronger immune systems, be more resilient in difficult times, feel more hopeful and even live longer.

Learn to live in awe and wonder. Be mindful of the present moment, of God’s amazing goodness to you in the here and now. Experience the mystery of God’s divine joy.

“You will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand” (Psalm 16:11 NLT).

Having a quiet time with God allows you to get to know God and enjoy God. This is the secret to true joy.

Share your heart with Him. Listen for His voice and loving heart towards you. Meditate on the Word. Look for the verses about ‘joy’, those who are ‘blessed’ and ‘happy’. Daily consider how you can apply these to your life.

2.       Love People and stay connected

In the end, love is all that really matters. Research is very clear on this one. The happiest people have the strongest, healthiest relationship connections. They are surrounded with a close network of meaningful relationships that they nurture regularly.

Daily connect with someone close to you.  Who do you do life with? Who are your top 5 connections? Who needs your love?

3.       Live fully alive in ‘Eucharisteo’

Daily recognize all God’s blessings.

The Glory of God is (a person) fully alive - St. Irenaeus.

In all circumstances, live fully alive in the daily pursuit of grace and joy, recognizing all that is beauty eternal.  This is vibrant living.

God is always good and I am always loved and Eucharisteo renames all God’s children their truest name: Loved One.  Ann Voskamp.

4.       Be a grateful joy spreader

Gratitude leads to psychological and physical well-being and a joy that spreads like the flu. Grateful people have more positive emotion, report higher life satisfaction and less depression and stress.

Throughout the day, think of what you can be grateful for. Actually feel appreciation in your heart. Before going to bed at night, write down at least three things you were grateful for that day.

5.       Don’t worry, think great thoughts

What are the joy busters in your life? Often it is stress, fear and worry. If you want to keep daily joy, don’t believe everything you think or dwell on or what you can’t control. Worry for about 10 minutes, then give it to God in prayer, and let it go. Focus on what you can control and what you are grateful for. Think great thoughts and on making good choices in the here and now.

6.       Set goals with passion and purpose

When you have a sense of purpose and a specific goal to move towards – short and long term – you will have more joy. The brain needs to daily get organized and focused around a timeline. When you know where you are going, have direction, some purpose and hope to get up for in the morning – it brings joy.  What is your heart’s desire and purpose?

7.       Automate intentional daily living

What is the healthiest, most productive way to live fully alive each day? For the most part, we know the basics. It doesn’t have to be perfect. But the challenge is to ‘Just Do It’ – consistently. So, create new habits. Establish daily rhythms that result in the fruit of holiness, well-being and joy.

8.       Boost natural daily joy

Live fully alive in each moment – recognizing God’s blessings. Be open to receive divine joy. Reach out and make a difference by giving, serving, volunteering. Listen to enjoyable music. Sing. Eat well. Exercise. Go for a walk outside. Get 10 minutes of sunlight. Spend some time in the beauty of nature. Meditate. Breathe deeply. Laugh a lot. Journal. Forgive – yourself and others. Let God love you. Do something creative. Be enthusiastic about something. Spend time with a ‘joy spreader’. Reminisce on good memories. Discover your strengths – and use them daily. Give a card and small gift to someone. Spend time with a pet. Buy some fresh flowers.

Okay, have a little dark chocolate too.

Question: How do you naturally discover daily joy and vibrant living? You can leave a comment below.

I look over my goals and aspirations for the New Year – my prayers and longings during this 21 day Daniel Fast.

It doesn’t have to be so complicated.

Live in the moment. Take it one day at a time.

By day 13, loved ones face job loss, flaring cancer, major change of plans.

Fear, stress, anxiety and doubt flood in, clouding over the present.

How? Why?

Live in the moment. Take it one day at a time.

We don’t know what the future holds, but we know who holds the future.

These are the affirmations I am telling myself.

Live fully alive and present to the moment

The moment and the day is all we have, so we must make the most of it.

Ancient Christian writers warn us against ‘morning demons’ and ‘dragons’ -yesterday’s grievances and worries of tomorrow that poison the new day.

Don’t fret about the past, or worry about the future.

The Lord’s love, mercies, faithfulness, joy are renewed to us every morning

These are the promises of the Word I am reminding myself.

Daily Renewal for Vibrant Living

Habits, good practices and mature faith are formed by the right thoughts, intentions and choices – one decision, one moment, one action, one day at a time. I think I can do that. How about you?

Here is the list of daily rhythms I am aiming towards.

• A quieting time
• Scripture reading
• Read for soul nourishment
• Journal one sentence
• Pray and meditate
• Take one photo
• Connect with some people I love
• Be attuned to God’s presence throughout the day
• Be available for God to use me throughout the day
• Exercise about one hour (most days)
• Take vitamins once a day
• Drink one cup of decaf green tea
• Eat clean – for wellness and nourishment
• Use face regimen every day and night
• End each day with forgiveness and gratitude
• Focus on the Love of God – for Me – in Me – all day
• Be in a continual attitude of gratitude

Joy is always a function of gratitude and gratitude is always a function of perspective. If we are going to change our lives, what we’re going to have to change is the way we see.  Ann Voskamp

Make the most of the day you have

If you’re still trying to figure out your ‘resolutions’ and ‘rhythm’ for the new year, don’t worry.

Psychologists say the best time to thoughtfully and finally get this all sorted out is February. And the best way to make this happen is to automate our lifestyle.

More on that next week.

Use January to:

• Recover and recuperate
• Clean up and sort out
• Gather and glean
• Prepare and plan

Question: What daily rhythms are you choosing to move you towards a holier, healthier, happier New Year?

Fasting is one of the most powerful ways to get breakthrough, healing, restoration and spiritual renewal. Fasting can help re-energize you, clarify direction for your life and get your passion back.

Fasting brings breakthrough and blessing

What do I need and long for from God?

As we get into the New Year, here is some of what I am hearing from my own heart and those I counsel and coach.

Healing. Renewal. Reawakening. Guidance.  Reconciliation. Healthy relationships. Change. Accomplish goals. Good attitude. Love more.

I long for more – to live up to my full potential.

I don’t want goals and resolutions to seem overwhelming. I want results!

Renewed hope for a new way to finally get change.

De-hoarding, re-focusing and consistently living out what is right – in all areas of my life.

I want renewal from the daily routines of life that wear me down.

I need an awakening – fresh zeal and desire where I seem to be dull and languishing.

I long to be more effective in my calling and God’s purposes for me.

More of Him, more of my ‘true self’ and Love in Him.

At times like this, it seems appropriate and necessary to be honest, vulnerable and desperate before God with our needs, desires and longings – in prayer and fasting.

If this resonates with you, consider joining thousands of others who are starting the New Year with a spiritual fast.

Fasting in January is much like praying in the morning to establish the will of God for your entire day. If we will pray and seek God and give Him our first and best at the beginning of the year, He will honor that sacrifice and bless our ENTIRE year!  Jentezen Franklin

To help you prepare for the fast, if you chose to participate, I have prepared a brief Daniel Fast Reflection guide that has been helpful for my personal use and to many others, along with a New Year Reflection and Spiritual Rhythms Calendar.

You can download these resources from www.howtoflourish.com.

Whatever way you sense the Lord leading you, may you begin the New Year with surrender and solidarity of body, mind and heart, seeking the will of the Lord for continued restoration, transformation and divine revelation.

A blessed New Year to you !

Prayer is reaching out after the unseen; fasting is letting go of all that is seen and temporal. Fasting helps express, deepen, confirm the resolution that we are ready to sacrifice anything, even ourselves to attain what we seek for the kingdom of God.  Andrew Murray

Recommended Resources for more on The Daniel Fast

• The Daniel Fast. Susan Gregory – http://daniel-fast.com/
• Jentezen Franklin. Fast 2012. Reclaim your edge – http://www.jentezenfranklin.org/fasting/danielfast.php
• The Daniel Fast For Spiritual Breakthrough. Elmer Towns
• The Ultimate Guide to The Daniel Fast. Kristen Feola