School Stuff keeps me busy

I don't know what it was about this semester, but I always felt behind and overwhelmed. I think there was a lot of distraction between a sick kiddo and a trip to Ecuador, things just didn't fall into a rhythm. One Good thing to come out of this semester is a mission and vision statement. Being a Myers-Briggs type ESFP, made the mission easy and the vision like pulling teeth. I do like the outcome however. Here is my kick butt vision for a Gil future.

My mission is to affirm, call and nurture Gods loving care, value and call in mentorship of people with church communities.
My vision is to live each day well, building relationships in a supportive team that is balanced in personality and has freedom to express opinions, and disagreements with loving respect. My days are full of meeting with people and creating ways for people to become better connected with God and each other. I am in mentoring relationships and encourage others to be mentors. I help people discern their callings and help connect them with the resources they need to live into those callings. When the time comes to plan worship there is a creative team of people who know how to lead people into an attitude of worship. The leadership team is made up of people who balance my gifts of leading and mentoring with an eye to the future and for the organizational details that help foster a safe place to be the community of God. In my home life I am a spouse that grounds our home in the present with an eye towards the special touches that build connectedness and romance. My wife is freed to use her gifts of planning and management and to be a good mom. My wife knows that she is loved and cared for. My daughter has a Dad that is there for all her significant events and knows that her parents see her as having an equal share and value in the family.

There you go. In coming up with this, I was struck by how much God has been present and active. Even through the extremes of grief and loss that we have experienced over the last few years, I feel as though I am the most blessed person on Earth.

Trying to bring Nothing and Everything to times of prayer

I am engaged in an online discussion in a class called Images of God. In this discussion we talked about how we constantly try to do prayer instead of being prayer.
The insight that came to me was that I often approach my times with God like a business meeting. I have an agenda, a schedule, and a list of things I want to cover. It really struck me that I was missing the whole point of prayer, which is to be in conversation.
Conversation implies a dialogue and presence. In my time among the Friends God has taught me how to listen. To put away my schedule and lists and agenda and just stop, quiet my mind and listen.
I am finding that I am not having a set time of listening, but that being present to God is seeping into my daily routines. And God's presence is seeping into my awareness because I am listening and looking for it. Instead of an empty daily "Business Meeting" I am finding a relationship that happens naturally, with its own rhythms. Instead of making time for God, I am beginning to enjoy life with God as a regular, but not yet constant companion.
Daily times with God have transformed from a chore to having a friend show up to chat.
I still have some structured times with God, but the focus has changed. Instead of trying to follow my agenda I try to come before God with nothing, holding everything out to the light of Christ's presence to be changed. When I am able to do this, any reading that I am led to and any prayer that comes from me is a response to the grace God is showing by being present to me.