Deep Desires, Deep Fears

Introduction & Welcome (1 min.)

I. Opening Prayer (5 min.)

Grace:  To help us discover our deepest desires and fears.

Use the grace and the suggested scripture above to create your own prayer, or use the one below.

Loving God, help us to see our desires as pathways to you.  Help us to embrace and befriend them as holy and sacred.  When we hold them up to the light, they remain in truth and they are intertwined in our very being and give us energy.  Help us to also recognize and befriend our fears so that they no longer have power over us.  Help us to be gentle with ourselves in these moments and be drawn into greater trust of your promise.  May we rest in knowing that you will fulfill our desires beyond our wildest imagination if we only make ourselves available to your working.  Amen.

II. Check-In (5 min.)

• • Was there a time this week when you felt either afraid of something or strongly drawn to something? 

III.  Focus Exercise (40 min.)

Materials Needed:  CLC supply box (CLC journal booklets, papers, pens, etc.), Our Desires and God’s Desires handout (found in journal booklet) and An Old Cherokee Tale of Two Wolves

Introduction

"Both what you run away from - and yearn for - is within you." These words by Anthony De Mello S.J. reveal that deep desires and deep fears that are intimately interwoven in the depths of the human heart.

There are two currents within us:  First our deep desires, implanted in us by God, draw us toward fulfillment of our personal vocations and deeper relationship with God. “I desire to help those in need,” “I desire to use my gifts to their fullest,” “I desire to be connected to other people in meaningful ways.” etc.

Deep fears, however, draw us away from God and our truest selves. Our fears can sound like painful experiences of self-doubt. “Maybe I’m not meant for this,” “maybe I don’t have what it takes,” “maybe I am not worthy enough to have it,” “what is wrong with me?”

Tonight, we are going to explore these two different forces that are operating in our lives and how we can discern them.

Exercise 1: Our Desires, God's Desires

Invite the group to break into partners and read the passage “Our Desires and God’s Desires” on page 36 in their journal booklets.  Afterward, invite members to share in pairs about their reflections on the reading.

Sharing   

Invite them to share.  (Note:  This sharing should be brief and will provide background for the exercise below.)

Exercise 2: Story, “An Old Cherokee Tale of Two Wolves.” 

Invite the group to gather, then ask someone to read “An Old Cherokee Tale of Two Wolves.”

Discussion 

Suggested questions for discussion

• • How does the Cherokee tale resonate with some themes shared earlier?

  • When was the last time you feed the Good Wolf (Desires)?

  • When was the last time you feed the Evil Wolf (Fears)?

  • Where do you sense an invitation to respond to these voices or feedings in your daily experience?  How can the group help one another be accountable to one another? (Consider encouraging the pairs that met earlier to be accountable to one another this week.)

Listening Deeper

• • What do you take away from this meeting? 

IV.  Moving Forward (5 min.)

• Action:  

  • Pray with Awareness Examen:  Focus on the question, “Which wolf am I feeding today? Desires or fears?

  • Share with your prayer partner

• Announcements:  

  • Topic for next meeting and upcoming CLC events

  • Ask members to take the online free High 5 Test for the meeting next week. (Have your group assistant text or Facebook to remind members about it.) 

V.  Closing Prayer (5 min.)

Pray for each other.  End with the prayer, Our Deepest Fear by Marianne Williamson.