Jordan Stones Blog

Advent means coming. Thank you, God, for you have come and you are always coming. Thank you, Jesus, that you came to the manger and you come to us every moment in our days. I am so thankful for a Savior that comes.  I am also so thankful for you, sweet friend.  You are this invitation for me to lean in and share difficulty...and the Wonder that always follows it. You give ME the gift of seeing.  Seeing the grace and miracles and ever-loving activity that Jesus weaves into your life. I treasure you. I wanted to share a few of my favorite quotes from the Christmas devotional "The Greatest Gift". It helps me so much to hold the Glory of the holidays in the context of our surely broken world.  It helps me to pull down to my believing experiencing place the significance of what we are about to celebrate. Thank you, Jesus, that you are... The God who sees.... (Genesis 16:13) "The one you need when it feels like no one really sees you.  No...

This is a special time. It is Thanksgiving Day.   It is It is the beginning of Advent. I am so thankful for insight and awareness,   time to linger, and words that stir and swell my soul. I feel like those three things crack my shell of autopilot around these holiday days and fill them instead with meaning and fullness . Advent countdown the "auto pilot" way is summed up in counting down the days until presents and family and food...counting down how many days left to buy and wrap and prepare....counting down the little chocolates you extract day by day in the advent calendar for kids.  It has taken a massive slow-down and perspective shift to feel Advent in my bones. And it starts with Thanksgiving. It has been part of the difference-maker for me to see Thanksgiving as the preceding  miracle to Advent.  See Thanksgiving as a gift of time to pay attention. To notice, remember, claim what is Grace all around us.  And that opens up for ...

De-compartmentalizing.  It is something I have been pursuing for some time.  In my experience, it's  an invitation to drenching-ly satisfying moments.  I put my toe in this water as often as I can, but I would love to submerge myself and not come out. Experiencing the Divine through the Ordinary. Pulling out the dividers and experiencing God's presence and favor in as big a dose while I wash dishes or do homework with my kids as I do  in worship,  Quiet, and his Word. To bring that awareness and that "manna" with me in every moment. Seeing through normal moments and every day things  "like glass" and finding Resource and Meaning .  ( One Thousand Gifts   by Ann Voskamp, Chapter 7: “Seeing Through the Glass”) When I slip back into compartmentalizing my normal life from my spirit--(and I live this way far too often) I often think, "What happened to that beautiful dose of Truth I read this morning?  Why am I operating ...

On this red, white, and blue weekend- I am feeling particularly in sync with the holiday and particularly free.  I am taking in "space"--  Space to be, space to take in, space to behold from a place of stillness and receptivity. As I think of what stands in the way of this  freedom on a regular day,  smack in the middle of normal life - the idea of scarcity  comes to mind as my enemy. I have been soaking up Brene' Brown's (2010) research recently.  In her book  The Gift of Imperfection,   she quotes: "...that thought of not enough occurs to us automatically before we even think to question or examine it. We spend most of the hours and the days of our lives hearing, explaining, complaining, worrying about what we don't have enough of....We don't have enough exercise, work, weekends, money, thinness, smarts, beauty, education, success, friends, time, sleep...  We go to sleep burdened by those thoughts and wake up to the ...

To Name is to learn the Language of Paradise --A. Voskamp If you hang around me for long, you will know how much I love language. How much I believe in finding words that name, call out, define, explain. There is a mysterious alchemy (change) that happens when we pull something out of our cloud of hurt, name it, give it dimensions and proportions.  That thing that was lurking undefined in the corner is brought out into the light.  The alchemy is that what was dark, wispy and undefined thing becomes malleable-- you can get your hands in it, work with it, make it different.  "Naming is Edenic...This naming is how the first emptiness of space fills:  the naming of light and land and sky.  The first man's first task is to name. Adam completes creation with his Maker through the act of naming creatures, releasing the land from chaos, from the teeming, unidentifiable mass. " (Voskamp, 2010)  That fuzzy cloud of "ick" that wraps and covers looses i...

Mindfulness isn't an accident.  St. Patrick knew this well.  He wrote a beautiful prayer tooled with an invitation to be still and surrounded by Christ.  ( Keep reading to find this precious prayer, and note that it is only the last stanza of a much longer prayer--Google it for more detail ) He leads me beside still waters... Psalm 23:1-3 Concentration, contemplative, receptive prayer is an art to be practiced, for sure not mastered. In my life spun out to the edges by default, it takes such intent to find that "undivided heart" David talks about in Psalm 86: 11  Teach me your way,   Lord ,      that I may rely on your faithfulness ; give me an undivided   heart ,      that I may fear   your name. 12  I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart ;      I will glorify your name forever. If you know me very well, you know I do a lot of yoga....

When I think about what I have seen that makes one truer, most authentic, makes us the most "us", brings out our accurate essence...voice rises to the top.  Finding an outward expression that matches what is within.  Finding a comfortable way to honor what is inside by naming it on the inside. So I keep a plum line in the back of my mind:  "Speak the truth in Love" (Ephesians 4:15).  When in doubt, when uncomfortable, when stuck, when all other dodging and striving fails....I "speak the truth in Love".   I try to find the truest thing I can say and find words to say it in the most loving way. There is no number to tell you how many stuck and unsatisfied places this has moved me through. I stumbled upon this piece of thought by Diane Langberg.  I absolutely love her theology of voice. I wanted to share it with you in hopes it inspires you to extend yourself: "We will begin our discussion by first considering the nature of persons as t...

On Letting Go: "Let go of the ways you thought life would unfold; the holding of plans or dreams or expectations- Let it all go. Save your strength to swim with the tide. The choice to fight what is here before you now will only result in struggle, fear, and desperate attempts to flee from the very energy you long for. Let go.  Let it all go and flow with grace that washes through your days whether you receive it gently or with all your quills raised to defend against invaders. Take this on faith: the mind may never find the explanations that it seeks, but you will move forward nonetheless. Let go, and the waves' crest will carry you to unknown shores, beyond your wildest dreams or destinations. Let it all go and find the place of rest and peace, and certain transformation."   ~ Dana Fould

The outer rim of one's periphery... the rough edges where you spin and toil and fret and tire...the land of "to do's" and "not yet done's".  It is an easy place to find oneself in early January.   It's a good nesting ground for New Year's resolutions.  The new You. We carry around this longing and hope for change that seems to have a Petri dish in which to grow in January.  We have these questions...Who is the best me?  What should the best me be doing differently?  When will my relationships reflect the best me? Where is the best place for me?  This is the case no matter which type of person you are.... you are either a New Year Resolution Making type of person or you are a New Year Resolution Avoiding type of person .  Both have their pros and cons. Either way, the new year brings in focus the goals we have not yet attained, what isn't good enough yet about ourselves, what falls short in our relationships, where we wish we were...