Church and Mental Health? How about sitting with someone and being gently curious about the struggles of their soul. Now that is what I call ‘Church.’ I once sat in a church service and seated in front of me were two men. One was a highly paid lawyer, a partner […]
spiritual formation
113 posts
When we are loyal to our lies, we are like an emperor in undies. Delusions believed as truth will destroy. We need to be open to others gently telling us when we have been conned. One of my favorite stories from Hans Christian Andersen is “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” Here […]
Thoughts and feelings can whirl you away from being centered. The practice of stillness can calm the mind and bring back clarity. The Bible has verses to help us on the way. Sometimes I feel like I am on a long bungee cord. I run off to do this and that. […]
Thinking patterns can autopilot us into a jungle of destruction. With the loving care of a gardener, pruning takes place. We need to trust in a loving God that desires to prune and shape our lives for the fruit of love, joy, and peace. ‘I’m sorry but I am going to […]
Life will blunt your edge. The knocks, the scuffs, the micro-abrasions and who you are gets dulled. Having a daily sharpening practice keeps your mental health having a fine edge. I was getting frustrated. I was cutting down a tree with my chainsaw, and it was taking forever. The teeth of […]
When we record an event, a time, a place it grounds us in the story going on. As we make a mark, we speak into the wispy winds of today’s experience a permanence and faithfulness. The struggles in the mind today can become the weather forecast for tomorrow unless we remember the records we […]
We can listen to the obvious – noise, distractions, voices, but it takes a focus to notice the whispers. Mental health comes from a spirituality that is listening for the quiet and unspoken. It was the busyness of their life that concerned me the most. Jumping from one thing to the […]
David Strengthened Himself in the Lord. How did he do this and what can we learn? I love old saints. People who have been there, done that and have got the story to tell. It was a couple of retired missionaries that strengthened me and got me through a tough […]
Are you struggling to forgive yourself or others? The bookkeeper keeps score and builds a case against yourself and others. Let’s banish the bookkeeper. Underneath the kitchen bench in my childhood home was a drawer where we kept scissors, pens, paper, and the red Collins ledger book. My mother would […]
If we are going to navigate life well, we must nurture the gift of stillness. Distractions will vie for our attention, but only one that is true will be heard if we quiet ourselves and be still. Looking up at the stars through a crisp, clear winters night I wondered […]
If you want to hear the heart of another, then you need to still your own. Fixing, advising, saving, or straightening out will only stifle the emergence of true wisdom. We need to listen with questions. Sometimes I want to tell some people to shut up and just listen. They […]
Three hundred thousand pilgrims walked the Camino de Santiago in 2017. These ancient pathways in Northern Spain have allured people from all over the world. But why? What is the reason that these trails have drawn so many pilgrims for such a long period? Camino means ‘Path.’ Just a little […]
There is a party going on, all around us, where God is inviting us to stumble on in and enjoy. When we are attentive to the music, it grows depth in our mental health. So I am just back from a holiday in Italy and Spain for a holiday. My […]
It’s not the volume of Bible reading that matters. It is the quality of the chewing. Reading and ruminating with mindfulness builds resilience and strength in the core of your being. I know of an old aunt that used to advise chewing your food 32 times. Not sure if this is the exact […]
The greatest showman created a ‘Church’ for those on the sideline, those on the fringe. Those with a stigma came to a safe place where they found strength in their shared struggle. How you serve the sideshow is how you serve the saviour. ‘Who do we serve first’? was the […]
When stressful situations come we have a choice to either fight, take flight, or freeze. But underneath there is an invite to grow and drop the mask of the false self. If he were a politician he would have had the slogan ‘Make Israel Great Again’, and he was doing a […]
‘Am I doing ok?’ was the question I was most frequently asked when I was a pastor/chaplain. ‘Is this Church safe’ was another. Keeping pace were other limping souls … ‘Am I welcome here’ ‘Does God really love me?’ ‘I can’t seem to get it right’ ‘… keeps telling me […]
Do you think mental illness is God’s way of forcing us to slow down and change our behavior or is it the Devil messing with our minds? I recently received this question from one of the readers It’s an interesting question and one that I think has many questions under the question. […]
If you were to open my mother’s Bible the first thing you would notice would be the handwritten verses and quotes that helped her mental health. Bible verses that can truly bring help. Dig a little further and you would come across underlined verses, cut out sections from the church […]
When I was on a 6-hour road trip back to university I picked up a hitchhiker. It was cold and wintery as I turned a corner on the Desert road and I saw a young man with his thumb stuck out. Thin, short hair and poorly clothed for the winter, […]