Last week, on our way to the grocery store, my son suddenly felt compelled to tell me a hockey story.
“You know what, Mom?”
“What’s that?” I replied.
“In practice last week, Coach told us not to white-knuckle our sticks. He said it interferes with our ability to pass and receive the puck.”
“Smart coach,” I said. “What made you think of that?”
He gestured toward my hands.
I looked down, and there I was white-knuckling the steering wheel as if my life depended on it.
Suddenly aware of my grip, I relaxed my intensity and immediately felt a wholistic shift all throughout my body—my spiralling thoughts paused, my tense shoulders lowered, my accelerated heart rate slowed, and the dull ache I was experiencing behind my left shoulder blade, released.
“Coach says,” he continued, ”holding a hockey stick is all about the balance between tight and light; not too firm, but not too loose—that’s the sweet spot of steady.”
As we explore our new theme this month—the soul work of letting go—and as you sit with the prompts in today’s intermission, might we invite you to consider a few things derived from Coach’s wisdom?
For this month, prayerfully consider:
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Are there potential situations in your life you might be white-knuckling when perhaps it’s time to loosen your grip?
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If you linger on the phrase: “the balance between tight and light,” does something from your life come to mind?
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In reading and re-reading “the sweet spot of steady,” does an invitation emerge?
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If you were to imaginatively picture yourself playing hockey with your circumstances, would you say there’s an effortless sense of back-and-forth between what life passes to you and how you receive it, or is something interfering with this ability to pass and receive?
Philippians 4:6-7 reminds us:
“Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray.”
Pass. Receive.
“Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns.”
Let go. Let God.
“Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down.”
Tight. Light.
“It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.” [1]
The sweet spot of steady.
“For that is the most perfect satisfaction … to let everything come and go without grief, and in this way to experience nothing else but sweet love, embraces and kisses.” —Hadewijch [2]
Spiritual Director
Co-Founder & Content Director
cindy@joyover.com
-With Joy
A Pause to Practice
Visio Divina is an ancient way of Christian prayer in which space is created to listen and pay attention to the Holy at work by entering into a sacred image. This form of praxis is an invitation into the S.A.C.R.E.D. art of seeing, and the art below is this month’s featured offering for your time of reflection.
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Stillness: Find a comfortable place of quiet. Take a few deep breaths. Invite God’s presence.
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Acknowledge: Gaze gently over the entire image, allowing yourself to notice as many details as you can – shapes, colors, lighting, foreground, background, and symbols.
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Center: Notice what captures your attention, what your eyes are drawn to, or where your thoughts linger. Notice what inspires you, and perhaps what you might also be avoiding.
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Reflect: Meditate on any part of the image that has captured you. How might God be speaking to you through this? What might the message and meaning be? Is there an invitation in this for you?
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Express: Find words or a prayer of your heart to articulate the thoughts, emotions, memories, or desires that have awakened. Give voice to the insights you’ve gained.
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Dwell: Savor this sacred time. Rest in simple silence. Linger in the holiness of this space and place of practice.
Click here for a high-res / full-print version of this art.
The Story Behind the Art
Freedom and joy are found in letting go of control, power, the pursuit of building our own empire, and the need to be right. In so doing, we find the upside-down Kingdom of God, where all the false narratives we carry can be rewritten into an ever-expanding epic of Love. [3]
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The crown represents control, power, empire, and the need to be right.
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The leaves represent the cycle of death building into life; falling into soil and breaking down into richness.
A Prayer to Pray
As you explore the soul work of letting go this month, may the following words from author Gerard W. Hughes, be words of blessing for you as you venture off into the great unknown of letting go. [4]
May you be filled with “… a growing sense of wonder at the marvel and mystery of your being, an increasing sense of gratitude for the gift of life, a growing sense of peace which nothing can shatter, of freedom that no one can take from you, and a developing ability to share in the laughter of God.” So that you “… may become what God had in mind for you before time began—a unique image of God, sharing in the very life of God.” Amen.
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[1] Philippians 4:6-7, MSG.
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[2] Hadewijch, in Hadewijch: The Complete Works, Vision 7, tr. Mother Columba Hart OSB (Paulist Press 1981), pp. 280-81. The Lion Christian Meditation Collection, p.104.
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[3] Letting Go by Dustin Heigh, IG: @joint.and.marrow.
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[4] God of Surprises by Gerard W. Hughes, р.ix.
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- Click here for previous month’s art offerings
