Let the inspiration begin....

I'd say the year started off pretty inspiring. Receiving the gift of the holy spirit was a great way to start the year(see Jan 3rd post). Just the other day I received another gift in the mail from someone very special. It was a beautiful inspirational bracelet. It was quite a pleasant surprise.

At the beginning of the year I was a bit tormented about a decision I had to make regarding my church. I spoke to several close people and they all told me the same thing but I was not convinced in my heart. Then out of the blue someone that I least expected and that I was not anticipating bringing it up with completely inspired me to continue my spiritual journey. God always works in mysterious ways. I pray that I am doing God's will.

As a result, I attended the orientation for the Lay Ministry program today. They pretty much gave us the break down of how the year is going to go. At the orientation there was a table full of different kinds of books for us to take and give a small donation if possible. I picked out five books but shared two of them with my friend who came a little later when most of the books were gone. We were both very excited about the books. One in particular I have begun to read and it has pretty much laid out to me the very idea of being in tune with the divine on a daily basis. Here are some of the quotes that stuck out from me from the book which is called The Song of Seed:

The right seed touching the right secret can produce an abundance of new life. Your task during this retreat, then, is to tend the soil of your

soul that it may be a place where the seed can bear fruit.

A loving attentiveness is the finest gift you have to offer the one who is sharing

And the very best advise I have to give you is a Native American Saying: Listen, or your tongue will keep you deaf!

I am looking forward to continuing reading the book and perhaps

sharing some more inspirational quotes from the book here. After the orientation I went to lunch with my friend Angie who is taking the courses with me. We had a really great conversation about the need of spiritual mentors in our lives. I wonder if people around us were inspired by our conversation because it was deep and spiritual. In fact, talking with her made me realize that I just have to take a deeper look at my daily happenings because God is in everything. She also gave me some really great tips on how to have an interfaith dialogue with people from different religions. Basically to talk about how our religious/spiritual backgrounds have inspired our lives. How God has worked in each of our lives through our religion. She made it sound very easy. I hope she was inspired by our conversation as I was.