Kitty Crenshaw's Blog, page 27
August 7, 2018
Peace and Wholeness In Creativity
Betty Skinner, the inspiration for The Hidden Life Awakened, discusses creative activities as a way to step outside ourselves, to experience places with freedom instead of fear.
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August 5, 2018
August 6
Nothing on our spiritual journey is ever final; it is an ongoing process moving us deeper and deeper. ~Betty
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August 2, 2018
On Retreat: August 2018
Our prayer is that On Retreat will help you break from habituated patterns of mind and frantic activity, make more space for God, and step into a new way of seeing, believing, and abiding. Each retreat will focus on a healthy body, a serene mind, and a powerful spirit. Your devoted guide will be modern day Christian mystic, Betty Skinner.
Affirming the Hope Hidden Within You,
~Cathy and Kitty
Christ in You
A Healthy Body
Hydrate: Drink a little water with lemon or green tea to begin.
Move: Do a few simple stretching exercises to energize your body.
Rest: Silently integrate the inner peace of your stretching practice for a few minutes.
A Serene Mind
Begin this portion of your time with God by sitting with a warm cup of coffee, tea, or water with lemon in a comfortable chair in a quiet place with your Bible close. Light a candle as a symbol of God’s presence with you.
Opening Prayer
Let Betty’s lovely Centering Prayer video help quiet and refocus your mind or read it on page 53 of our book, The Hidden Life Awakened. Listen for His voice in silence for ten minutes.
For Reflection
The prophet Isaiah asked the question, “Who has ever intimately known the mind of the Lord, Yahweh?” (Isaiah 40:13) Seven hundred years later the apostle Paul answered him, “Christ has”, and stunningly added, “and we have the mind of Christ.” (1Corinthians.2:16)
The last thing Jesus did before he was betrayed and arrested in his beloved garden of Gethsemane was pray for his friends. He turned his eyes heavenward and said to his Father,
‘The very glory You have given me I have given them so that they will be joined together as one and experience the same unity that we enjoy. You live fully in me and now I live fully in them.’” (John17:22-23)
This is Truth. The Holy Spirit of Christ actually lives inside our mortal body right now. His heart is our heart and His mind is our mind. This is our hope of glory. (Colossians 1:27) But this astounding truth has been buried behind a dark wall of illusory self-protection forced on us by trauma and voices of fear. Our calling in this life is to rediscover the Truth of Whose and who we are, resist those voices, and reclaim the power and sanctity of our Christ hearts and minds. As the Apostle Paul exhorts us, take those negative thoughts captive and dwell on whatever is pure and lovely.
“So pay attention and notice your negative or fearful thoughts. This is so important. They are so subtle, but they are so defeating. Your brain is hardwired to protect you from threats, so any negative word or thought will release dozens of stress-producing hormones. Most people spend their life imprisoned in the tiny confine of their thoughts that are nothing more than firings and wirings within their brain. You don’t have to do that. Your unhappiness is not coming from other people or your circumstances but from your mind’s conditioning.” The Hidden Life Awakened
A Reflection from Betty
“At last, the messenger becomes the message. I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. (Galatians 2:20) We finally see that everything in our lives—all of the pain and all of the beauty—has been woven together into the huge tapestry of divine love. The will is disciplined, the old voices are quieted, the heart is surrendered, and we hear only the voice of the Beloved saying, ‘I love you, I love you; I have loved you since the beginning of time. I will not abandon you.’”
A Powerful Spirit
Spend a little time now, letting the Living Word speak to your heart.
Divine Reading
Psalm 139
Rest Quietly with God
Use your imagination to visualize Jesus sitting there with you or in any other setting that brings you peace. Say to Him, “Beloved Jesus, you created me perfectly. You are in my body and Your mind is mine. How do you want me to think about this person or situation I am struggling with?”
Reflective Writing
Journal every thought that arises without censoring as a child would. This is the indwelling Spirit speaking truth to you. Trust this for now.
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July 31, 2018
August 1
When the Giver of Love becomes the Receiver of Love, our movement from bondage to freedom is complete. Beauty awakens in us.~Betty
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July 29, 2018
July 30
Love always takes the initiative. ~Betty
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July 26, 2018
July 24, 2018
The Little Flowers of St. Francis of Assisi
There have been ninety editions of this charming little book written over 600 years. The Little Flowers of St. Francis of Assisi is a collection of legends of the most beloved figure of the Middle Ages. In the 13th century, St. Francis and his companions vowed to follow the example of Jesus as closely as possible, especially in His poverty, gentleness, and humility. The 53 short chapters of the “Fioretti” have been described as “the most exquisite expression of the religious life of the Middle Ages”, and the most popular spiritual book in Italy for centuries.
The stories are delightful, mystical, miraculous, colorful, and full of rapt ecstasy and joy. St Francis, known as the Apostle of Joy, preached to the birds, who listened captivated by his sweet praise, sang songs to the sunshine, made a ferocious wolf lie down at his feet, and finally received the imprint in his body of the Holy Stigmata, the five wounds of Christ.
Betty Skinner, whose life we have attempted to honor in The Hidden Life Awakened, wrote this about him in the margins of her tattered little “rubber band book” in 1966;
St. Francis is showing us that there is a radical freedom in having nothing to lose, nothing to protect, nothing to hide from, nothing to gain. Spiritual emptiness is the liberating ability to let go of all we find crucial to our fragilely constructed selves. The saint from Assisi is saying that love makes us humble and humility makes us joyful. In this descending way we are more and more conformed to the likeness of Christ, who in losing all, found the fullness of life.
The Song of Brother Sun
Composed by St. Francis in the garden of St. Clare’s convent of San Damiano in the summer of 1225 during his grave illness that led to his death a year later.
Most High, all-powerful, all-good Lord,
All praise is Yours, all glory, all honor and all blessings.
To you alone, Most High, do they belong, and no mortal lips are worthy to pronounce Your Name.
Praised be You, my Lord, with all Your creatures, especially Sir Brother Sun,
Who is the day through whom You give us light.
And he is beautiful and radiant with great splendour,
Of You Most High, he bears the likeness.
Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars,
In the heavens you have made them bright, precious and fair.
Praised be You, my Lord, through Brothers Wind and Air,
And fair and stormy, all weather’s moods, by which You cherish all that You have made.
Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Water,
So useful, humble, precious and pure.
Praised be You, my Lord, through Brother Fire,
through whom You light the night and he is beautiful and playful and robust and strong.
Praised be You, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us,
producing varied fruits with coloured flowers and herbs.
Praise be You, my Lord, through those who grant pardon for love of You and bear sickness and trial.
Blessed are those who endure in peace, by You, Most High, they will be crowned.
Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Death,
from whom no-one living can escape. Woe to those who die in mortal sin! Blessed are they She finds doing Your Will.
No second death can do them harm. Praise and bless my Lord and give Him thanks,
And serve Him with great humility.
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July 22, 2018
July 23
Self-hatred, so insidiously embedded in our wounded hearts, is the greatest enemy of our spiritual lives, because it constantly contradicts the Voice within calling us His beloved. ~Betty
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July 19, 2018
July 20
Love always takes the initiative. ~Betty
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July 17, 2018
A Letter from Betty
Dear Ones,
How can we live in a world marked by noise, competition, restlessness, fear, hatred, and violence and not be destroyed by it?
To live in the world without belonging to the world summarizes the essence of the spiritual life. A deeply centered spiritual life keeps us aware that our true dwelling place is not in this world, but in our sacred center, that place of splendor, the house of love where God resides. It is the indwelling Spirit of the crucified and risen Christ who makes it possible for us to live in the world as He did without belonging to it.
Living this spiritual life requires that we deliberately move in the direction of silence, solitude and prayer. It is only in the deep quiet that we can begin to hear God’s voice reminding us that in Him there is nothing but love and that we are created out of His First Love for us.
Once we reclaim this First Love, we can begin dealing freely and peacefully with the many stressful issues that fill our lives. We must return again and again to that personal, loving relationship with the God Who loved us first and let the concerns for our families, our communities and the world come from that Love. This returning is difficult. It is a great struggle. But if we are faithful, we will taste peace somewhere deeply hidden within our hearts, far beyond feelings and emotions. It is the peace that passes understanding. It is God-within.
The Spirit within sends us His divine breath, embraces us with His love, and calls us to stand at the fearful edge, under the cross, in the cross, with the world and become His messengers of love, hope and encouragement.
I pray always that these words may awaken in you more of His Spirit and help you unravel more of His secrets. ~Betty
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