Week 5

The Joy of the Unbound Mind

Reconciling with our limitations...

Even from a place of limitation and confinement, the Apostle Paul speaks of an overflowing joy that is independent of his circumstances.

We often spend our lives negotiating our peace based on whether our "conditions" are favorable or "unbound." Yet, internal reconciliation is the architecture of a mind that has stopped letting the environment dictate its internal weather.

When our minds are anchored in God’s purpose, we find that the Word of God—and our capacity for joy—cannot be chained.

Week 5 Readings

Weekly Practice Guide

Reading Resource: Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times, by Katherine May. The author writes about the "fallow" seasons of life. It supports the Philippians theme of finding a joy that doesn't depend on "summer" (good) external circumstances.
Core Truth: I can be at peace even when my situation is not yet resolved.
The Inside-Out Shift: Moving from "negotiated peace" to an "unbound mind."
The Practice: Identify one situation that is "unfinished." Consciously hand the "resolution" to God for the next hour, focusing only on your internal breath.
Reflection: Is your peace "negotiating" with your external conditions right now?
Breath Prayer: Inhale: Quiet mind... Exhale: ...unbound heart.

This Week's Poetry

The Peace of the Wild Things

by Wendell Berry

When despair for the world grows in me

and I wake in the night at the least sound

in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,

I go and lie down where the wood drake

rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethought

of grief. I come into the presence of still water.

And I feel above me the day-blind stars

waiting with their light. For a time

I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

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