Tag Archives: SoulStream

Responding to the World Contemplatively

Posted on July 31, 2015 by Esther Hizsa

How is God calling me to respond to our beautiful, broken world? The same way I am asked to do everything else: contemplatively. “Contemplatively” simply means living out of the reality that we are always in union with God. The apostle Paul said, “In Christ we live … Continue reading →

Posted in Creation, Popular Posts | Tagged Acts 17:28, caring for the earth, contemplative response to the world, Crescent Earth, Esther Hizsa, John Major, Michael Cook, Night Prayer, real work of saving the planet, SoulStream, spiritual director Burnaby, spiritual director Vancouver, Wendell Berry | 15 Comments

Helping God Save the Earth

Posted on July 24, 2015 by Esther Hizsa

Despite all evidence to the contrary, God will accomplish God’s purposes in Christ. This bold statement, based on Ephesians 1:10 and Colossians 1:19-20, expresses SoulStream community’s core value of hope. My experience in the Valley of Dry Bones echoed this hope. Despite … Continue reading →

Posted in Creation | Tagged Banff, camping, Colossians 1:19-20, Despite all evidence to the contrary, Ephesians 1:10, Esther Hizsa, Hafiz, Hokey Pokey, Our Common Home, Pope Francis, Seed Cracked Open, SoulStream, spiritual director Burnaby, spiritual director Vancouver | 3 Comments

Bone of My Bone, Flesh of My Flesh

Posted on July 17, 2015 by Esther Hizsa

I close my eyes to pray, and the hand of the Lord is on me. Like Ezekiel, I am brought out by the Spirit of the Lord and set in the middle of a valley full of bones. Everywhere I look, I see sun-bleached skeletons of … Continue reading →

Posted in Creation, Ignatian Spirituality | Tagged Arthur Rowan, Blackfooted Ferret, CARE FOR OUR COMMON HOME, ENCYCLICAL LETTER, Esther Hizsa, Ezekiel 37:1-14, Genesis 2:23, John Roddam Spencer Stanhope, LAUDATO SI’ OF THE HOLY FATHER FRANCIS, Marcia Fretheim, Mountain-Prairie, Pope Francis, SoulStream, SoulStream values, spiritual director Burnaby, spiritual director Vancouver, Tim Fretheim, USFWS, Valley of Dry Bones, Will | 3 Comments

Beauty Stares Me in the Face

Posted on June 19, 2015 by Esther Hizsa

Every time I look in the mirror, I’m reminded that I don’t look very beautiful. Ouch. Did I say that out loud? Beauty is a sore subject with me, yet over the past few years, God has awakened me to its glory. … Continue reading →

Posted in Creation, Popular Posts, Stories | Tagged 1 Samuel 16, Be Beautiful, Beauty, Beauty: The Invisible Embrace, Ben Grey, brokenness, contemplative response, daisies, Doug Schroeder, Esther Hizsa, John O'Donohue, Peter Miller, self-image, SoulStream, spiritual director Burnaby, spiritual director Vancouver, world | 11 Comments

Questioned by a Strawflower

Posted on June 12, 2015 by Esther Hizsa

Five tight buds, glossy purple lollipops, greeted me as I passed them on my way to morning prayers. Many flowers that I recognized were blooming at Twin Creeks Lodge–iris, geraniums, petunias, pansies, and daisies–but I had never seen buds like these before. … Continue reading →

Posted in Creation, Stories | Tagged Bracteantha Magenta, Deb Arndt, Esther Hizsa, Fleming's Nurseries, Jeff Imbach, Living from the Heart, Lodge at Twin Creeks, Matthew 11:29-30, Opening to God, rhythms of grace, SoulStream, spiritual director Burnaby, spiritual director Vancouver, spiritual formation, straw flower | 4 Comments

As Good as It Gets

Posted on April 24, 2015 by Esther Hizsa

I don’t get to enjoy my spiritual growth spurt for long before I’m made aware of more shortcomings. And not imaginary ones either. I’m talking significant habits that drive people up the wall. My first reaction is to cocoon, my second is to draw … Continue reading →

Posted in Poverty of Spirit | Tagged Anne Yungwirth, as good as it gets, David L.Fleming, Esther Hizsa, Jeff Imbach, Karen Webber, loving gaze, Mark 10:12, Ready to Burst, Soul fo Christ, Soul of Christ, SoulStream, spiritual director Burnaby, spiritual director Vancouver, spiritual growth, Transformation | 4 Comments

The Gardener

Posted on February 6, 2015 by Esther Hizsa

How powerless the soil is to produce anything on its own. I am praying with Jesus’s parable of the sower and the seed. I can relate. No matter how hard I try, those three unreceptive soils are in me, impeding … Continue reading →

Posted in Mystical, Popular Posts, Poverty of Spirit, Prayer, Praying with the Imagination | Tagged Burnaby, dependence on God, helplessness, Madison Murphy, Mark 4:1-20, Michael Cook, Night Prayer, Noon Prayer, parable of the soils, SoulStream, SoulStream noon prayer, Sower and the seed, Sower with Setting Sun, spiritual director, spiritual director Burnaby, spiritual director Vancouver, Vancouver, Vincent van Gogh | Leave a comment

On This Mountain

Posted on November 21, 2014 by Esther Hizsa

Last week I talked about deadlines closing in on me. One of them was SoulStream’s Living from the Heart course. It would be my first time co-facilitating a six-day intensive in spiritual formation, and I wanted to prepare well for it. Shortly before I … Continue reading →

Posted in Mystical, Prayer, Stories | Tagged 2 Corinthians 3;18, An Open Gate, bruised reed, Isaiah 25:6-9, Isaiah 42:3, Living from the Heart, Lodge at Twin Creeks, Nan C. Merrill, Psalm 122:1 & 2, Psalms for Praying, Rachel Hartland, smouldering wick, SoulStream, Transformation, unveiled faces | Leave a comment

That Which Is Lost Within Me

Posted on October 17, 2014 by Esther Hizsa

On October 5, an announcement was made to the congregation that my employment at New Life Community Church would end on December 31. A few days before, I was writing last week’s post. Nervous about the coming change, I reached for … Continue reading →

Posted in Popular Posts, Stories | Tagged Benedictine Sisters of Turvey Abbey, Eric Liddell, Flora Slosson Wuellner, freedom, McCrimmon Pulblishing, New Life Community Church, over work, seeks for that which is lost within me, SoulStream, The Risen Living Christ, Thomas Hawke, William-Adolphe Bouguereau | 6 Comments

The Hand that Stilled the Storm

Posted on October 10, 2014 by Esther Hizsa

Lately Jesus has been inviting me to hold his hand as we walk through life together. That reminds me of something that happened when Heidi was born. She was delivered as planned by caesarean section a week before the due date. Since I … Continue reading →