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I created a very special video for you today.
Sweet Kindreds, I have a new year’s challenge for your heart.
Enjoy this #soulmocha. Brewed just for you.
I know I said I would be unplugging until the new year. But, I did something this weekend, that I was enjoying so much, I couldn’t just keep it to myself. I pulled out my iphone and started videotaping a message from my heart to you.
I keep a tripod in the trunk of my car now, ever since I created a few of these “soul mochas” for you — as I see you’ve been viewing and sharing them with your friends.
Your response let me know you enjoy taking a virtual coffee break with me through these video clips.
So, if I’m out enjoying one of my spiritual whitespaces and I somehow feel prompted, I can spontaneously take a virtual coffee break with you.
And that’s what happened this weekend.
All That’s Happened
Every year, before the new year gets under way, I spend some alone time with God outdoors.
To walk and talk about all that’s happened this year.
To reflect and listen.
To whisper —
I am here.
To ask — as my steps crunch on rocks along a dirt path
What will the new year bring?
To pray — under a big sky and a chilly breeze
Breath of Heaven. Hold me together. Be forever near me.
Help me be. Help me.
Tug of Guilty. But then, Jesus.
Eric and I swapped whitespace time on the schedule, and while he had a Dadddy-and-me afternoon with the boys, I left the house, feeling the usual tug of guilty feelings, But I kept assuring myself, feeding my soul will allow me to return more filled and present to love on my man and my boys.
I thought of Jesus —
“In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there.” (Mark 1:35)
I am not a morning person — at least not the kind where it’s still dark. But, I love imaging Jesus getting up and walking out of his house, making his way to a secluded place alone. I love knowing Mark tells us that Jesus did this when throngs of people were coming everywhere, hearts heavy with needs, wanting to healing, help.
So much to do, yet, something inside Jesus knew He wanted to be alone with God. To talk and confide.
And just be free from expectations and doing.
To just rest. And be known.
Something inside me wants this too – the me who longs to be with Jesus.
There are some things we can’t hear God say to us, unless we’re finally alone with him.
Jesus loves intimacy. At the end of a long year, I especially hunger for some intimate, soul conversation with God too. It feeds my soul.
I enjoy a special end-of-the year time with God in spiritual whitespace.
Who We’ll Become
If it’s raining, I’ll still take a walk outside, with my gloves, an umbrella. Getting a little wet doesn’t bother me. And even the cold is welcome because it takes me out of my comfort zone — though it definitely makes it harder to push past the resistance.
After the walk, I find a quiet place to write.
Some years, I get away for half a day or even a whole day. Other years, when I was a new mom or if the kids are sick, I can only get away for a few hours.
You know, this is one of my favorite times of the year.
I love this little pocket of quiet and rest in right, in between between Christmas new year’s eve and new year’s day.
Right at the turn of a new chapter.
There’s just something special about this time.
I think it’s a wonderful time to really reflect on all of the journey God’s brought us through and just to explore what the new year might bring.
It’s so important to have a conversation with God — not just about what we’ll do — but who we’ll become — with God together on the journey of a new year.
A New Year Whitespace Challenge
A Whitespace Challenge: Write a Letter
Today I’d like to challenge you: Sometime as the new year turns, bring with you a journal and a pen and spend sometime in the quiet and outdoors.
And just write.
Write and a letter to God.
Or allow yourself to just listen.
Listen to what God’s letter to you might be in the new year.
I hope you have a wonderful time of whitespace and quiet.
I’m looking forward to sharing our new year together.
I have a special invitation for you to share your journey with me in the new year.
And I can’t wait to tell you all about it.
For now, start today.
Give yourself permission.
To get away and journal your new year letter with God.
Journal and journey this year with your heart open.
Let’s walk into this new year together. With Jesus. Hearts wide open.
As is.
~~~~~
How is God inviting you to begin this new year?
How can you spend soul-intimate time with God as you turn a new chapter?
Take time to write that letter.
Pull up a chair. Click to comment. I love hearing your voice.
Get Ready for 2015!
Our Spiritual Whitespace Face(Book) Club starts January 22nd
Order the book — invite a friend — and get ready to be soul refreshed!
11 Comments
Thank you so much for sharing your heart and your journey…the past two years have been quite a roller coaster for me and Spiritual Whitespace came at just the right time. I had planned on going through it again the first of the year and was so happy for you today you were going to do the read along.
I chose a word for the year last year for the first time, trust, this year as I listened to our Pastor yesterday God gave me gratitude…..
Blessings on you and your family….
I too love the quiet just after Christmas. Today, it’s raining here in Virginia, and I find I love this gentle gift from Abba. As the year closes, I find I’m excited about what the New Year will bring–new granddaughter and a new son-in-law. Our granddaughter will be born in March and my sweet daughter will marry her love in the spring. So amidst all this change, I feel God asking me to be open and to embrace these gifts and the many others He pours out on me along the way. I hear Him ask me to let go of heavy worries and just enjoy and believe He will be with us and bless us. There may be twists and turns we don’t expect along the way, but if we just keep looking for and listening for His voice, we will be blessed in ways we don’t know yet. I love your challenge! I will find time today to walk outside even in the rain and write my letter to God. God fill you with his blessings and hope. Happy New Year, my friend!
Bonnie,
Thank you for this message to reflect and listen, and thank you for inviting us to accompany you on your breathtaking journey of whitespace this year. Your writing so often inspires me to think deeply and pull a chair up close to God to listen to his heart, as I consider new views of him that your words have sparked. Looking forward to spending 2015 with you as a kindred, discovering new vistas with God in the sacred places of our hearts!
I love how you always share from the heart, Bonnie! After making the best of an uncomfortable visit with my parents, trying to just be in the moment, to be present with them, and realizing that their issues cannot be resolved by me, has left me feeling very sad. My father was bad-tempered, rude to us and disrespectful of my husband. I tried to remain calm, pragmatic, and as gracious as I could be at the time, but the cutting remarks have played over and over in my head since returning home. I lay awake early this morning, tossing and turning and when I heard my father’s voice, I started praying and singing “Almost There” (Michael W Smith and Amy Grant) and “Breath of Heaven.” The gift of PEACE was immediate. It has been a while since I last journaled…now would be a good time to follow your suggestion. Blessings to you Bonnie!
Well, I’m not outside because the windchill is below zero and all I can think about is not freezing my face :), but I’m peaceful an quiet and ready to write where I am 🙂 thankful for space to reflect and look forward…
i love reflecting on the year that has pasted and what i can learn from it’s good points and it’s down times. I usually write a blessings to my 3 sons inspiring them to move forward in the new year in whatever state they are found. I love the Lord and always looking to the season i have in good or bad looking to God for the lesson i need to learn!
Bonnie,
I love the idea of listening and dictating God’s letter to me for this year. I have spent so much time and energy lately making sure He knows my thoughts on all the important topics of my life. But, as you suggested, I am looking forward to spending some quiet moments asking Him to speak over the coming year.
The thought of this is getting me excited! After all, He alone knows the “secret things” 2015 will hold.
I loved the video of yourself that you shared. Such good advice Bonnie! I love those times of hiking and then sitting and talking to God and writing. They happen much too infrequently for me lately. WE used to have a cabin in Flagstaff and that is just what I used to do all the time. However, that’s no excuse as there are mountains to climb in Phoenix. I have to say though that I have taken your advice this Christmastime. I’ve had a quiet and peaceful time and much time to spend reading and writing. God is so good. As we are about to enter a new year I am going to take time to write a letter to God. Thank you dear Bonnie.
Blessings and love,
Debbie
Thank you, Bonnie, for the inspiration and even enticement to get alone outdoors and then write. Soaking up nature and then reflecting on past, present, and future with God sounds like a glorious way to spend a morning or afternoon. Perhaps even tomorrow I can make it happen!
God is asking me to be courageous this year. A letter to God…I’ll have to think of something.
[…] New Year’s Eve, my friend Bonnie Gray, the Faith Barista invited us to write a letter to God, a letter-prayer, a conversation of listening and expressing. […]