My Soul Purpose ®

I have committed myself to the urging of Romans 12:1. My heart studies the mercies of God.  My body, my being, is my gift to…

I present my gift and wait for your response.  Are you delighted or disappointed? If this is true of my gift to you, imagine presenting…

It is a big ask, something that will take effort and create difficulty.  Yet, here it is:   “. . . offer your bodies as…

I hear the voice of a committed coach, a passionate teacher, a loving parent, or even a concerned “Dutch” uncle:           Therefore, I urge you.…

The year 2021 taught two lessons: “fear” and “cynicism,” imparted by a syllabus of visceral hostility, conspiracy theories, identity politics, cancel culture, and tribalism. I…

God, (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) promises full salvation now and in the world to come.  We believe and promise to live in alignment with…

Facebook today: “The first rule of 2022 is to not dwell on what went wrong in 2021. God has a plan.” How do you respond…

The Magi confronted Herod with a fearful question, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews” (Matt. 2:1).  The announcement of…

Nothing about January 1st warrants transformation.  “New” does not emanate from a New Year.  “New” emanates from He who said, “I am making everything new”…

My Sunday School class read this prayer together at our Christmas Brunch.  It is a lovely prayer.  Loving Father, Help us remember the birth of Jesus,that…

“The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world” (John 1:9). –Light comes to Mary in the quiet solitude of her…

“There was no guest room available for them” (Luke 2:7). Why? –First, census time was a busy time for an innkeeper.  –Also, if he admitted…

Today, the Winter Solstice delivers the longest, darkest day of the year.  I’m reminded that Christ arrived in the long, dark night of the world’s…

The story in the Old Testament, the story of God’s creation, human rebellion, and God’s salvage mission to redeem and restore the earth unfolds, twists,…

All the Old Testament, all of God’s promise, all of Israel’s hope, the salvation of a broken world are found in an embryo inside Mary.   …

“The Lord departed” (Ezekiel 10:18); God removed his Presence from Israel’s Temple.  He continued to send prophets, watch over the exiles, and shape history for…

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not understood it” (John 1:5).  The light, Jesus, was born into a dark world.  What…

Power in the Palace breeds politics, not peace.  Magi brought news of a child/king, and when “King Herod heard this, he was disturbed, and all…

The Everlasting Father of Mary’s Child is our Heavenly Father.  The Divine and Human fully reside in the Son.  How can this be? “The Holy…

The “mighty” aligned against shepherds.  Accused and sometimes guilty of thievery and other night-time shenanigans, proper society shunned sheepherders.  SHOCK: The Might of the Almighty…

Joseph needed counsel.  His betrothed was with child.  Nazareth was divided over the issue.  Send her away or stone her.  Joseph carried the choice.  During…

Empires and nations, with their mighty armies, could not achieve what God accomplished through a baby, “. . .to us a child is born. .…

On the 80th anniversary of Pearl Harbor, the trigger that propelled the United States into WW2, may I observe: When human beings want to change…

A world-renowned work of art: the Sistine Chapel (on display in Nashville (https://sistinechapelexhibit.com/nashville/). God’s strong hand (right) is determined to reach Adam (left).  Adam’s gesture…

Prophecy is in the story:  1-Abraham and Sarah (Gen. 12ff) remind us of Zacharia and Elizabeth (Luke 1ff); 2-the birth of Issacs (Gen. 18:10-11) points…

Are we a bit obsessed with the symptoms; the types of various “sins”?  Jesus came to heal and cleanse us from our sins.  Jesus also…

“My dear children, I am very anxious that you should know something about the history of Jesus Christ. For everybody ought to know about him.…

Christmas is more than a merry diversion in mid-winter.  There is a dark side: an attempt to stone Mary, Herod killing children, and Caesar claiming…

An odd thought for us:  Ancient Hebrews believed that God had abandoned them at the time of Exile.  Israel waited for centuries for God’s return. …

“Come Thou Long Expected Jesus,” the oft sung hymn on the first Sunday of Advent, lifts thanks to God for past fulfillment and future promise…

“Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving” [W. T. Purkiser (1910–1992) a preacher,…

As money is the currency of the marketplace, attention is the currency of the spiritual life. Lord, guard, capture, and focus my attention. I will…

A cup is designed to hold something. It must be expected that the “something” will be emptied out and replaced with something new. I cannot…

I shout a warning, “It’s a trick.” In Eden’s Garden, our first parents fall prey to the lie, “You will be like God” (Gen. 3:5). …

God created humanity in His image (Gen. 1:26-27).  The essence of God’s image is a thorny quest fully revealed in Jesus (Col. 1:15).  However, the…

A spiritual admonition: “Oh, begin! Fix some part of every day for private exercises… Whether you like it or not, read and pray daily. It…

If you choose, you may recite our Lord’s Prayer as ritual, routine, and without obligation to action, with one exception.  In the prayer, Jesus requires…

For many, the Bible is a book of rules.  In effect, the Bible is a story revealing God’s character, our need for God, and God’s…

Forgiveness: “decision to let go of resentment and thoughts of revenge,” (The Mayo Clinic).  But resentment seems the best defense against further harm.  Yet, God,…

John sees the “scroll,” God’s plan to save the world.  Who can open it? An elder “said to me” that the “Lion” will rescue us. …

Lord, I’ve so much to accomplish today.  My impulse is to push past our moments together and advance Your mission.  Yet, you choose Your disciples,…

“Give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thess. 5:19).  Lord, we are grateful in times of abundance and pleasant surprise.  But “all circumstances,” in everything?  Draw…

“Read quietly, slowly, word for word. . . more with the heart than the mind… From time to time make short pauses to allow these…

“Your tolerance of silence is a fairly good indicator of your spiritual depth” [“Contact with God,” Anthony de Mello].  This statement is true and convicting. …

Your sinning-self squirms and struggles against being found out. Yet, God placed a deep longing in your true self, a desire for Him.  When you…

Lord, protect me and use me in the face of testing and temptation, changes and chances, discouragement and despair.  Guided by your light and defended…

My granddaughter is a 7-year-old artist.  I watch the intensity on her face as she draws her lines, selects the colors, and applies the finishing…

Announce to the brokenhearted:  Pain is not forever. Hope and healing will find you. Trust, and don’t rush. There is no detour around the work…

“My way is all of trust and love… It is enough to realize one’s nothingness, and give ourselves wholly, like a child, into the arms…

To hold on to what is essential, to get to the “root” is the meaning of “radical.” To cleave to the essential root, no matter…

I gaze at my newborn granddaughter and realize again; We are innocent before we start feeling guilty, in the light before we enter darkness, and…

Anxious, restless, angry, full of desire, yet never satisfied.  Our compulsiveness keeps us going. Are we getting anywhere?  This path leads to exhaustion and burnout. …

The spiritual life, in the best of the great religious traditions, is about the quality of relationships, especially the way we care for and treat…

My new computer arrives on Tuesday. I’m excited and fearful. I must “migrate” from the old to the new. God’s children must migrate from the…

Solitude is the furnace of transformation into which Jesus submitted himself. He faced the temptation to be relevant [“turn stones into bread”], to be spectacular,…

We are created to hunger for God, and God yearns for a relationship with us.  Yet, we still hunger.  Why?  Perhaps we have not come…

Lord, we don’t always or readily respond to you.  We may be confused or afraid.  We may be willfully obstinate or negligent.  Sometimes we don’t…

Believers ask, “What can I do to advance God’s work in the world?”  God has given you a unique combination of personality and gifts; put…

Cheap [fabricated] grace is forgiveness without repentance, communion without confession, salvation without the cross, and grace without Jesus. Costly [authentic] grace is seeking his presence…

Lord, I believe that sooner or later we must put You first in life.  You do not become the only thing in life, but you…

Thousands of years ago, a devout Hebrew, tossed by the storms of life, silently knelt before God in the temple. His prayer: “For God alone,…

Lord, I know two things about living in, for, and through you.  First, I must say YES to what renews and affirms my life in…

Lord, political rancor, talk-shows, divisive relationships, loss of civility for increased insolence, and constant bantering and blaming drown me in an unholy uproar.  I must…

One of the dangers of spiritual growth is that too much emphasis can be placed on results, on how we are doing, or how we…

To find inside yourself what makes life worth living is a risk. Once you know, you must seek it as a “pearl of great price”…

When in the valley of death, you are still my God, and I trust you. Jesus is the strength of my faith.  On the cross,…

Father in heaven, I don’t know where I’m going. I cannot see the road ahead. I pray that I am following your will, but am…

God wants everyone to know his will. He doesn’t withhold grace, play games, or tease us to test our faithfulness or worthiness. God is far…

To discern God’s will, pay attention to what goes on around you and inside you. Listen to Scripture, trusted friends, and the faithfulness of the…

Deep in the layers of history, beneath the wretched upheavals of sin, God’s love and pleasure in human creatures abounded.  When the moment was right,…

We are citizens of the Kingdom of God. In Scripture we catch a vision, experience a taste, and find a hunger for what life in…

Do not wait for special moments to listen for God’s voice. Simply listen, trust, and obey. All experiences, ordinary and extraordinary, carry God’s message and…

The one who sets the course of this road, and whose entry into it defines the way forward, is the same who walks beside us,…

Are you willing to believe that love is the strongest thing in the world, stronger than hate, evil, or death? Are you willing to believe…

God created us for a purpose more amazing and beautiful than we can envision. We are created in God’s image in order to have continual…

The challenge is to receive divine truth from above and pull it down into the ordinariness of everyday living so that it is, in fact,…

As recipients of the New Birth, through the work of the Holy Spirit, we are destined to be conformed to the image of Christ, who…

The words of an old prayer: “Our wills are ours to make them Thine.”  Luke opens his Gospel with Mary’s prayer, “let it be to…

The word “radical” means getting to the root, to what is essential.  The most radical thing about the Christian faith is the love of God. …

I see my new granddaughter. I am reminded, “We were innocent before we started feeling guilty, we were in the light before we entered the…

“The world has changed,” was my first thought.  I looked for the Almighty.  I did not see Him in the planes that struck the towers. …

“What I really lack is to be clear in my mind about what I am to do, not what I am to know… The thing…

There is an old, hackneyed phrase that has fallen out of use, “We need to get under the spout where the glory comes out.”  I…

“Whether you like it or not, read and pray daily. It is for your life; there is no other way.”John Wesley, “A Letter to John…

Evelyn Underhill has observed that the whole of the inner life, “swings between the unseen and the scene.” Both are important, but the “seen” is…

In a practical sense, spirituality is about the quality of our relationships, the way we care for each other. For Christians, spirituality in our relationships…

For a Christian, spirituality is found in Jesus Christ. Through Jesus, we are aware that life is sacred, that we share a sacred journey, and…

Based on the model of Jesus, Henri Nouwen notes that “solitude is not a private therapeutic place, rather, it is the place of conversion, the…

Jesus, alone in the desert, faced the desires born of the world: to be relevant, [“stones into bread”], to be spectacular, [“throw yourself down”], and…

God created us to long for Him. God is our genuine home.  Jesus, God’s genuine Messiah, invites us to come home, “learn from me, for…

“What am I supposed to do?” You are a unique combination of personality, experiences, and gifts. Put into practice the design that God has put…

The opposite of “serious” is “superficial.”  We are called to take our life in Christ seriously.  “So, if you’re serious about living this new resurrection…

“Take my yoke upon you” [Matthew 11:29]. The call to follow Jesus is a confrontation with costly grace, grace that breathes a word of forgiveness…

Cheap grace forgoes discipleship, ignores the cross, and diminishes Jesus Christ. Costly grace calls us to follow.  Costly grace is sought again and again.Adapted from “A…

When you put God first in life, and live as if God is truly first, you will become simpler and quieter even if life may,…

When you put God first, you find that, in time, you do a great deal less running after things that do not matter, things that…

When you put God first, you find that, in time, you get rid of unnecessary junk* that most people carry.  There is mental junk, of…

Sooner or later, you must put God first in your life. It need not, perhaps it had better not, be the only thing in your…

“For God alone, my soul in silence waits, from him comes my salvation” [Psalm 62:1]. Oh, ancient singer, you have our attention, and we long…

1-Wisdom nurtured in God’s Word;2-Courage born of Faith in Christ;3-Fellowship developed through Spiritual Adventure; and4-Mystery, the gift of God’s Grand Purpose.  

“Yes” to all that makes us fully alive in Christ.“No” to anything that lures us away from Him.

Saint Francis shuddered when he realized that everything depends on God.   And, if the whole world is in God’s hands, why doesn’t He just drop…

Too much focus on results endangers the life in the Spirit.  Are my prayers answered, is my growth fast enough, do my acts of service…

I will not fear, for You are ever with me, and You will never leave me to face my perils alone.from Thoughts in Solitude by…

Lord, hear my prayer: “Whatever I do today, may it align with your perfect love. If I do this, O, Lord, I have faith that…

The fact is, I desire to follow your will. Yet, at times, I’m not always convinced I am doing so. However, I know this, the…

God wants you to know his will. He doesn’t tease, play games, or withhold his goodness to test your faithfulness or worthiness. God is far…

The fruit of prayerful soul-searching is self-knowledge, not self-justification. We draw to God and see ourselves as sinners. The result is that we cannot condemn…

Spiritual discernment asks us to pay attention to what goes on around us and within us. Attend to scripture, advisors, faithful friends, prayer, and the…

The One who sets the course of this road, and whose entry into it defines the way forward, is the same who walks beside us,…

Are you willing to believe that love is the strongest thing in the world, stronger than hate, evil, and death? Then you, my friend, are…

Jesus Christ is of no importance if He is not of supreme importance.

Our unlimited God has a communication problem with limited humanity. We find the answer to the problem in Jesus Christ.  God is amazingly like Jesus.

To trust and obey means “pulling the truth revealed to me from above down into the ordinariness of what I am thinking about, talking about,…

Look up, you whose eyes are fixed on this earth. . .Look up, you have turned away from heaven. . .Look up, you whose eyes…

Attend to the prescribed externals such as going regularly to church, and don’t go off the deep end. They are pleasing to God… Nevertheless, we…

For human beings, the spiritual life is no straight line of unimpeded progress. It is, however, by God’s unwavering goodness, always undergirded by grace.From Companions…

It is God’s purpose that we are to be conformed to the image of Christ, who is himself “the image of the invisible God” (Col.…

“Spiritual” is not something we ought to be.  It is something we are.The Divine Conspiracy, Dallas Willard

The whole purpose for which we exist is to be thus taken into the life of God.Mere Christianity by CS Lewis

Two measures of growth: first, in our natural life, we grow in wisdom, responsibility, and maturity. On the mirrored path, our spiritual life, we grow…

Our particular calling in God’s service comes from our response to God’s call to be available.Companions in Christ: Participants Book, Part 4, Gerrit Scott Dawson

In one sense, the story Christianity tells is one that can be so simply told that we find the whole thing on a small Christmas…

Paul Tournier, the great Christian doctor, declares that life, in order to be life, must necessarily be dialogue. . . . The supreme dialogue of…

My heart is steadfast oh God… Because Your steadfast love is as high as the heavens; Your faithfulness extends to the clouds (Psalm 57.7-10 ).

The spiritual life is more often questions in search of answers. God speaks in the questions.  When we investigate the questions, we often find the…

The resurrection does not solve all our problems nor answer all our questions about dying and death. But it does reveal to us that, indeed,…

The power of stories is that they tell us that somehow life adds up.  We believe that the true story of the world is God’s…

Speak Your Word to me, my Lord, your servant is listening. I yearn to hear Your voice and to be transformed by You.[From, “A Guide…

God’s promise: if you listen to my Word, I will answer you. I will not leave you in the darkness of doubt. Always I seek…

What is the depth and quality of your faith commitment? In the last analysis, faith is not a way of speaking or even of thinking;…

Abraham Lincoln’s words in 1861, timely in 2021: We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it…

God’s apparent lack of “restraint” when it comes to creating things is but a symptom of a deeper lack of “restraint” we find in our…

We see deception in our world.  It is not unexpected that we guard ourselves against the truth of the Gospel, afraid the story is too…

Lord, remember your word of promise to your servant in which you have given me hope.  Your promise is my comfort in distress.  Your word…

For the blessing of this home, oh Lord:     for foundations and roof,     for windows and doors,     for strong walls,     and for floors and furnishings.This place…

Father,     Today I have only a moment for fast food.     Today all my moments are fast and frantic.May I, at other times in my busy…

Let us make a meal to remind our family and friends that     life will not always be so burdened,     that their days of exile will…

For those of us who prepare meals,     let us labor with compassion,     with imagination engaged,     knowing that we are cooks in the kitchen,     but we…

May I recall the parable of soil and rags,      soap and water and cleansing. Open my eyes to see     my own faults,     my own weaknesses,    …

O, Lord,     Teach me each day the way of Christ,     That I may better serve those I lead. [Every Moment Holy, Vol. 1]

Our Father in HeavenProtect us from the temptations of earthly fathers.     To be angry, neither smoldering nor shouting,     To be distant, neither relationally nor physically,Our…

Jesus, be ever-present as the mediator     between me and my employer,     between me and my supervisors and coworkers,and in all my dealings with others in…

Oh God, grant that my heart might be ordered aright,knowing that all good service faithfully renderedis first a service rendered to You. Receive my service,that…

We now give thanks to God with the blessings of this day. We praise you, O Father,   for the provisions of food,   and shelter,   and…

If our hearts have already been tempted to believe anything about ourselves or others that does not take into account your creation, your mercy, your…

Oh, child of the living God, what is your father’s greatest desire for you this day? That I should love our Eternal King with all…

Lord, you are equally present in our failures and in our successes, in our sleep and in our wakeful hours, in our tears and in…

A Message for Pentecost Eve It is such a beautiful day. I had a brisk walk this morning, followed by some excellent reading.  Now I…