Quotes from Ruth Haley Barton

Uno de los dones de Dios para nosotros es el ejercicio físico que libera endorfinas y tranquiliza las emociones, calma los sufrimientos y mejora nuestro estado de ánimo.

La práctica de analizar mi día con Dios se arraiga en las antiguas prácticas cristianas del examen de estado de conciencia (revisar el día pasado para percibir la presencia de Dios) y del examen de conciencia (notar mi respuesta, o falta de ella, a esa presencia).

Aprender a escuchar al cuerpo, a darle descanso y a respetarlo como un lugar en el que Dios nos hace conocer su presencia, se convierte entonces en una importante disciplina para el peregrino espiritual.

I cannot transform myself, or anyone else for that matter. What I can do is create the conditions in which spiritual transformation can take place, by developing and maintaining a rhythm of spiritual practices that keep me open and available to God.

Ask me not where I live      or what I like to eat. . . .      Ask me what I am living for      and what I think is keeping me      from living fully for that. THOMAS MERTON, Thoughts in Solitude

Con el tiempo notamos que de la quietud y la confianza nace nuestra fortaleza, porque vez tras vez encontramos allí todo lo que necesitamos para sustentarnos.

Las prácticas de la soledad y el silencio resultan radicales porque nos desafían en cada nivel de nuestra existencia.

Podemos descansar confiadamente mientras ocupamos nuestro lugar debajo del arbusto solitario en medio del desierto de las propias dudas, interrogantes y anhelos no cumplidos, porque estamos en buena compañía.

A good journey begins with knowing where we are and being willing to go somewhere else. RICHARD ROHR

Most people do not see things as they are; rather, they see things as they are. Richard Rohr

Practicing rhythms of silence and words, stillness and action, helps us learn to wait on God--which doesn't come easily for those of us accustomed to busily trying to make things happen.

Self-knowledge and self-examination. Parker Palmer makes this very sobering statement about leadership: "A leader is a person who must take special responsibility for what's going on inside him/herself, inside his or her consciousness, lest the act of leadership create more harm than good.

Sabbath keeping is a way of ordering one's whole life to honor the rhythm of things--work and rest, fruitfulness and dormancy, giving and receiving, being and doing, activism and surrender. The day itself is set apart, devoted completely to rest, worship, and delighting in God and his good gifts. And the rest of the week must be lived in such a way a way as to make Sabbath possible.

Les aseguro que a menos que ustedes cambien y se vuelvan como niños, no entrarán en el reino de los cielos. JESÚS

The grass is not greener "over there": one must work out one's problems with this person because if one doesn't, one will have to work it out with that person. This is precisely what is so freeing about the vow of stability . . . to have to work it out is to demand growth, as painful as it is, and that is freeing. Faithfulness is a limit that forces us to stop running and encounter God, self, and other right now, right here.[2] Lord

There is the tension between being and doing, community and cause

God works miracles of transformation in the world through miraculously transformed people.

Christians are assimilating a culture of busyness, hurry and overload, which leads to 2) God becoming more marginalized in Christians' lives, which leads to 3) a deteriorating relationship with God, which leads to 4) Christians becoming even more vulnerable to adopting secular assumptions about how to live, which leads to 5) more conformity to a culture of busyness, hurry and overload. And then the cycle begins again.

But times of solitude and silence are not times for judging. They are times for noticing — noticing what is true about us in a given moment and then being in God's presence with the things we've noticed.

when applied to Scripture, this approach does not serve the deeper longing of our heart—the longing to hear a word from God that is personal and intimate and takes us deeper into the love that our soul craves.

study of Scripture is important, but if we stop there, we will eventually hit a wall spiritually. Information

He calmado y aquietado mis ansias. Soy como un niño recién amamantado en el regazo de su madre. SALMO 131:2

he might point out that it is possible to gain the world of ministry success and lose your own soul in the midst of it all. He might remind us that it is possible

It is a sobering thing to ask ourselves this question: Have I learned enough about how to wait on God in my own life to be able to call others to wait when that is what's truly needed? Have I done enough spiritual journeying to lead people on this part of their journey?