Last time I offered a new definition of the spiritual exercises: The spiritual exercises awaken us to the already present God and invite God to transform us. I also shared a reflection by a student who had come to see how the disciplines function in this way in his life. In this entry I want to share some more insights I am learning from my students at Friends University, in a class I teach on Christian Spiritual Formation.

Nothing can change your heart more than blessing someone who has cursed you. If you asked me to list my enemies right now, I could name off quite a few. If you asked me to talk about them, you would probably sense right away the anger welling up as I spoke of how they’ve hurt me. The fact is we’ve been burned by many people in the course of our lives, and one of the hardest things to do is to let go of our anger towards those who have hurt us . . . .

The art of writing a letter seems to have been lost in our technology-savvy culture.  We’d much rather send a quick text or email than sit down and write a letter to a friend or loved one.   I recently received a letter in the mail from my sister in law.  I knew the letter was coming and the anticipation of waiting for her letter excited me . . .