“We must be still and still moving.”- T. S. Eliot Leighton Ford takes an interlude (“Holy Stillness”) from his discussion of “the hours” in The Attentive Life to focus on Psalm 46: 10- “Be still and know that I am God.” He cites novelist Susan Howatch, who writes novels about clergy in which she talks […]
Leighton Ford continues his description of the 4 veils of spiritual disarray in Chapter 6 of The Attentive Life. 3. Anxiety– on a personal note, the author states that he often has awakened in the morning with overnight messages from his inner voice worrying him. While these morning messages may be welcome solutions to problems […]
There is a huge difference between illuminating distractions (divine interruptions) and distractibility. So often we become tangled in veils of inattention, apathy, and fatigue that blind us to God’s “witnessing presence”- the veils of spiritual disarray. Leighton Ford continues Chapter 6 of The Attentive Life by describing 4 such veils. The first two are covered […]
In Chapter 6 (“The Noonday Demon: Our Distractible Selves”) of The Attentive Life, author Leighton Ford describes Sext, high noon in the course of hours. David Steindl-Rast explains that Sext is “the hour of fervor and commitment, but it is also the hour of temptation to laziness and despair: the hour of the noonday devil […]
“The heart has reasons that reason knows nothing of.”-Blaise Pascal As Leighton Ford concludes his discussion of Mary and Martha at the end of Chapter 5 of The Attentive Life, he asserts that “hurry is the great enemy of the life of the spirit.” When Jesus tells Martha that only one thing is needful, He is […]
“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset (distracted) about many things, but only one thing is needed.”- Luke 10: 41 (NIV) In Chapter 5 of The Attentive Life, Leighton Ford discusses Luke’s account of Jesus at the home of Mary and Martha (Luke 10: 38-42). The author specifically notes Jesus’ choice of […]
“In a world where there is a wealth of information, there is often a poverty of attention.”- Ken Mehlman, G. W. Bush’s presidential campaign manager Leighton Ford wonders whether, as we’re continuously bombarded by information via the world-wide-web, there is any way for us not to pay attention. Since we’re usually in a state of […]
“We live in an age of continuous partial attention.” -Microsoft researcher Linda Stone In Chapter 6 (“Active Life: A Slower Pace in a Faster World”) of The Attentive Life, Leighton Ford defines Terce as the marker of midmorning. Terce is the time when we take a break from our morning routine to refocus on the Holy […]
Following his discussion of contemplating, abiding, and indwelling in Chapter 4 of The Attentive Life, Leighton Ford ponders how we can take those wonderful concepts and translate them into our own “prime time”. The author states that he finds it helpful to think of abiding as a continual conversation we have with God, in which […]
Indwelling is the third word that Leighton Ford believes aptly sums ups the intent of Prime. Indwelling involves our internalization of moral values rather than unquestioning assent. It is by dwelling in the things we know that we truly understand their meaning. Indwelling is an imperative for living a new and abundant life in Christ. […]
As Leighton Ford states in Chapter 4 of The Attentive Life, if contemplation means to look at life in God’s presence with fresh-washed eyes, we need to stay in touch with Christ by abiding in Him. While the word abiding may convey a sense of passive coziness, abiding- like contemplation- has a more robust sense. […]
In Chapter 4 of The Attentive Life, author Leighton Ford states that 3 words aptly summarize the intent of Prime: contemplation, abiding, and indwelling. Contemplation will be discusses in today’s blog. When most of us hear the word contemplative, we think meditative- like a monk sitting for hour with his eyes closed and hands folded, […]