prepare to prepare

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The Season of Advent is just around the corner, and as usual, I am ready to begin the blue season of expectation. I'm ready to begin this new Adventure.

For me it is a season of introspection and anticipation of what the new year will bring. It's also a season, for me, to consider my spiritual practices.

I usually find some churchy thing to follow each year; a pamphlet or podcast series from a seminary. This year I'll be watching the short, daily videos from SSJE Brothers. They show up in my email daily, and the Brothers offer rich wisdom.

I know from too much experience that when I neglect my spiritual practices, my energy and focus drop, and I tend to get grumpy. I don't have the reserve to do the things I need to do in my day to day life.

I have also learned in recent years, the importance of allowing my spiritual practices to evolve as they need to evolve. I started keeping a journal in high school, and began writing in it more often after college. Somewhere along the way, a mentor suggested I start writing down my dreams. In the last couple of years that has become one of the most important spiritual practices I have, and I've become more disciplined about journaling my dreams. Most mornings find me sitting in a chair writing a dream down, or some other early-morning thoughts if I can't remember a dream. Recently, I happened to get up at 3 to write because I didn't think I would remember the dream at my normal wake-up time. My morning prayer time also usually includes some reading. How much I read depends on what time Eli, my 4 year-old, wakes up.

The other important spiritual practice for me recently has been running. Running usually fulfills my evening prayer time or maybe noonday prayer, depending on how my day goes. Running allows me to exercise, be in nature, and perhaps listen to music--a multisensory experience.

Pittman McGehee, in his book The Invisible Church offers seven spiritual practices, or "seven ways we have traditionally experienced God and the transrational realm. Both are beyond knowing and naming, but we can find them in ways that include nature, art and creativity, ritual process, relationships, suffering, our bodies, and dreams." As we begin the ritual process of circling the Advent Wreath, preparing our hearts and minds to receive the Incarnation, you might be playful in experiencing a new spiritual practice, perhaps one of the ways Pittman suggests. Pick a new one for each week of Advent; try something fresh to help your soul get connected to God and be ready for Incarnation.


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