Maturity involves two elements: 1) immediate obedience in specific situations and 2) long-range character growth.

I hear Jesus telling us to stop negotiating with Him, to stop offering something we think we have in exchange for His blessings.

Other forms of relating to God that have unique value in connecting us to Him include contemplative prayer and centering prayer.

The more clearly we recognize how deep our commitment to self-protection operates in our relational style and the more courageously we face the ugliness of protecting ourselves rather than loving others, the more we'll shift our direction.

Maturity involves two elements: 1) immediate obedience in specific situations and 2) long-range character growth.

We have made a terrible mistake! For most of this century we have wrongly defined soul wounds as psychological disorders and delegated their treatment to trained specialists. Damaged psyches aren't the problem. The problem is disconnected souls. What we need is connection. What we need is a healing community.

When spiritual friends share their stories, the others listen without working. They rest. There’s nothing to fix, nothing to improve. A spiritual community feels undisturbed quiet as they listen, certainly burdened . . . but still resting in the knowledge that the life within, the passion for holiness, is indestructible. It needs only to be nourished and released.