The Restory Retreat Centre

What The Mystics Know 2.1) Not perfect = Totally lawless? “So what do we do?  Keep on sinning so God can keep on forgiving?  I should hope not!" ‭‭Romans ‭6‬:‭1‬-2 MSG                   ‬‬ "There is no room in love for fear.  Well-formed love banishes fear.  Since fear is crippling, a fearful life - fear of death, fear of judgment - is one not yet fully formed in love. We, though, are going to love - love and be loved.  First we were loved, now we love.  He loved us first.” ‭‭1 John‬ ‭4‬:‭18‬-‭19‬ ‭MSG                ‬‬ The Conversation Elements From The Conversation Music In the song  The House Of The Rising Sun someone tells of his not-so-perfect life. Many of the traditional "sins" are there: a brothel, gambling, drinking, run-ins with the law. The basic message or theme revolves around regret, ruin and the consequences of a life gone astray. Where someone has actu...

  The Enneagram The Conversation Elements From The Conversation   “Grace transforms our failings full of dread into abundant, endless comfort …  our failings full of shame into a noble, glorious rising … our dying full of sorrow into holy, blissful life. ….  Just as our contrariness here on earth brings us pain, shame and sorrow,  so grace brings us surpassing comfort, glory, and bliss in heaven …  And that shall be a property of blessed love,  that we shall know in God,  which we might never have known without first experiencing woe.” ~ ~ "And God showed me that sin will be no shame, but somehow honor for humanity. . . .  God’s goodness makes the contrariness which is in us very profitable for us."                                                                       ...

Photograph by Hanna Jacobs In the session I had with my spiritual director today, we touched on how unfathomably delicate God is weaving the tapestry of our lives. Being human it comes natural to assign huge value to our talents, abilities and our achievements. For the focus to be first and foremost on those aspects. And I want to say: “Thank you so much for all that.” But I am also deeply, deeply grateful for my darkness, my shadow as constant companion, my flawed self. To keep me in check? To prevent me from hubris ? No, it is not about shaming, or taming. It is not even about perspective. It is about what I find in the dark. To discover how God works with dark. My darkness. Somehow, in the darkness, I am getting a clearer image of His being.There, even my sin becomes grace. All that I know is that it takes a God to do that. If my devils are to leave me, I’m afraid my angels will take flight as well. Rainer Maria Rilke ~ o ~ Today (11/03/2013) I came acro...