“God is that wilderness in which everyone is alone.  God is only our word for it.  And the nearer you get to the presence the more God ceases to be God and is allowed to be completely Himself.*  So the spiritual life is about the liberation of God from our images of Him.
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Listen to the silence of your heart. This silence is as old as the universe. This silence waits quietly under thoughts, beneath actions, relationships, behind days, nights and names. No one owns this silence. No one can force it out into the light. Yet it is in this sanctuary that the experience is sifted and transfigured. It is where our vanished days secretly gather. This silence is the home of memory and identity.” - John O’Donohue

* - While I've done a lot of work around using varied gendered pronouns for God, this isn't something I've given a lot of energy towards in this course. I apologize for the masculine only terms for God here. 
This course focuses on three things:
  1. Connecting the dots to see where God has shown up in your life in the past, often without you having even recognized it.  This cultivates trust, a sense of being taken care of and being known. 
  2. Being able to look at the action of your life now in the present.  God works in the action of our daily lives to give us insight into the work we are called to do. Wherever the action of our lives is, that’s where God is.  
  3. Discerning where God is calling you to move into your fullest self, using your gifts and allowing you to live a life of deep meaning.  
     
Directions for this study:
  • You may do this as part of a group.  If so, do some thinking around the questions prior to meeting in the group and be ready to share as much or as little as you’d like in your CoreGroup study. 
  • You may do this with a friend.  Use the questions as prompts for having a spiritual conversation.  Sometimes it is difficult to talk about these deeper issues, but learning how to discuss these topics will help you grow not only in relationship with your friend but in your faith as well.   
  • You may also do this on your own.  Use the questions as prompts for journaling or reflective meditation.