Born to Soar (eBook)

Unleashing God's Word in Your Life

Melissa Overmyer (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2023 | 1. Auflage
160 Seiten
Servant (Verlag)
978-1-63582-470-4 (ISBN)

If you have six weeks, you can change your spiritual life. Born to Soar is a beautiful prayer and Scripture journal experience that combines video-based online teaching with written reflection in order to gently coach you through an exploration of the truths of Scripture. Even if you're learning about the Bible for the very first time, artist, veteran Scripture teacher and founder of Something Greater Ministries Melissa Overmyer will show you how to achieve your full, God-given potential. Drawing from the image of the monarch butterfly at every stage of development-egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, hatching, soaring and reproducing-Overmyer teaches in six simple lessons how to 'cocoon' into God's presence through prayer, Christian meditation and pondering the truths of Scripture. If you feel yourself in need of a renewal or transformation in your life, Born to Soar is the place to start.

"e;What more do you want, o soul! And what else do you search for outside, when within yourself you possess your riches, delights, satisfaction and kingdom-your beloved whom you desire and seek? Desire him there, adore him there. Do not go in pursuit of him outside yourself. You will only become distracted and you won't find him, or enjoy him more than by seeking him within you."e; St. John of the Cross. If you have six weeks, you can change your spiritual life. Born to Soar is a beautiful prayer and Scripture journal experience that combines video-based online teaching with written reflection in order to gently coach you through an exploration of the truths of Scripture. Even if you're learning about the Bible for the very first time, artist, veteran Scripture teacher and founder of Something Greater Ministries Melissa Overmyer will show you how to achieve your full, God-given potential. Drawing from the image of the monarch butterfly at every stage of development-egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, hatching, soaring and reproducing-Overmyer teaches in six simple lessons how to "e;cocoon"e; into God's presence through prayer, Christian meditation and pondering the truths of Scripture. If you feel yourself in need of a renewal or transformation in your life, Born to Soar is the place to start. The journal contains plenty of space to reflect and record your own thoughts as you explore the texts presented with each lesson. It also includes special resources for group discussion leaders as well as resources to continue exploring on your own. In this journal study, you will meet St. John of the Cross, whose mystical poetry offers profound insights for truth seekers at every stage of spiritual development, whether or not they self-identify as Catholic. You'll also discover the concept of Lectio Divina-the Bible as the Living Word, not just a dry text to dissect intellectually. Born to Soar is a powerful exploration of faith for individuals as well as groups, greatly enhanced by video-based teaching.

SESSION ONE | The Egg

A Miracle of New

Creation

The “common” monarch butterfly is anything but common. Of all of God’s creatures, the Danaus plexippus—especially the North American eastern migrating variety—is among the most baffling to scientists. In fact, its unique migrating habits have even been studied by NASA. Sadly, the monarch is uncommon in another sense as well—it is on the World Wildlife Federation’s “near threatened” list of endangered species. As you progress through this study and are inspired mentally and spiritually by this amazing creature, I hope you will want to learn more about how you can help monarchs. Something as simple as planting milkweed in your garden can make a difference.

The monarch has uncanny navigational capabilities as well as a brilliantly designed aeronautic structure. Each of its four wings contains over 1.4 million scales that catch the air as the wings flutter, providing lift and buoyancy. We will learn much more about this captivating creature in the sessions ahead.

For now, let’s start at the very beginning. Let’s look at the first few moments in the life cycle of the monarch and see what we can draw from this phase of its life to help us along in our own spiritual transformation.

Each year, every North American eastern migrating monarch butterfly follows part of a familiar pattern. Starting in February in their winter home, high in the mountains of central Mexico, adult butterflies start to flutter out of their sleepy, wintery rest to migrate north, find a mate, and then begin a process that will take four generations to complete. By about March, the females lay their eggs—the size of a pinhead! — depositing them one by one on the undersides of milkweed leaves. The adult may die before the eggs hatch, but the eggs are safe on the milkweed leaves, for the plant is poisonous to most predatory insects.

Inside each teeny, tiny egg, God locked everything needed to eventually develop a mature, beautiful butterfly. In a few short days, something fascinating takes place inside this microcosm of life: a baby caterpillar is formed. And within this immature caterpillar body are something called imaginal discs—the microscopic building blocks of the imago, the mature adult butterfly. These undetectable engines of change, master sculptors of sorts, will be just about the only part of the caterpillar that will not later dissolve in the pupa, or chrysalis, stage. They will eventually shape, form, and build the butterfly from the very essence of the caterpillar.

Each of us begins life as a teeny, tiny fertilized egg, safely protected in the womb of our mother. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that, through marriage, “spouses share in the creative power and fatherhood of God” (CCC 2367). Each person is “created in the image of God” with both a body and a soul (see CCC 363).

Life is God’s freely given gift to us; each child is an unrepeatable and irreplaceable gift, beloved by God. Each and every fertilized egg is impressed with the very image of God, who created us to know and love him forever.

Does it surprise you to hear that God created you unlike any other creature and wanted you from the first moment you came into existence? No matter what your parents intended—whether they think they “planned” you or you were a beautiful surprise package from God—God always knew when, where, and how you would be born, what you would look like, and all of the circumstances of your birth. And he loved you from the very start.

God says, “You are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you” (Isaiah 43:4). No matter what your origins or how you came to be, you are precious to God and are meant to be here, now. God has a glorious purpose for your life!

The psalmist writes: “It was you who formed my inward parts; / you knit me together in my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13). The Church teaches that it is by our baptism that we are filled with God’s Holy Spirit. This Spirit is what enables us to grow to maturity to resemble our heavenly Father. His Spirit—unseen and undetected by the human eye—works just as the imaginal discs do inside the immature caterpillar. This Spirit of God is what will eventually produce “an eternal weight of glory” in our lives (2 Corinthians 4:17).

Thoughts to Ponder

Take a moment to ponder the following, and journal the thoughts and impressions that arise. If you are taking part in a group study, consider highlighting or marking in the margins points you would like to share with the group.

You were created intentionally. God speaks through his prophet in the Old Testament: “I have called you by name, you are mine” (Isaiah 43:1). No matter how you got here, God made you, knows you, and loves you. Write a bit about who you are and about your first impressions of God. What do you think of God’s calling you by name? How do you feel about God’s saying that you are his?

You were created uniquely. Jesus tells us that “even the hairs of your head are all counted” (Matthew 10:30). Record one thing that makes you unique—something for which you are thankful. (Your uncanny ability to…stand on your head? Be a dog whisperer? Whip up an amazing meal out of a few items in the fridge? Hot-wire a car?)

You were created to be loved. Can you think of a time when you felt extremely loved by a parent, grandparent, child, or spouse? Believe it or not, God is longing to show you just that same kind of extreme love! And it is even greater than this! Even when we feel supremely unloved and unlovable, God’s love never wavers. He is the source of all love. He is Love itself. What do you think about this kind of emotional love coming from God? What does it bring up in your heart?

A Moment with St. John of the Cross

How gently and lovingly

You awake in my heart,

Where in secret you dwell alone;

And by your sweet breathing,

Filled with good and glory,

How tenderly you swell my heart with love.1

—from “The Living Flame of Love”

In this short passage, St. John of the Cross speaks of the “awakening” that takes place within the soul as it first encounters the infinite love of God. What image does this passage bring to mind? How does it remind you of the tiny egg laid bare on the milkweed leaf? Take a moment to journal your thoughts about this. No one needs to see what you write but you and God, who created you not to remain earthbound, but to soar to new heights.

Thoughts for Discussion

The following questions may be used in a group setting or as additional journaling prompts.

• Scripture tells us: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds” (Romans 12:2). What does this mean?

• We are called to renew our minds daily, even moment to moment, by pondering the truth of God’s Word. When and how often do you read the Bible? What, if anything, is keeping you from exploring God’s Word?

• God wants us to recall that we are his beloved sons and daughters, intentionally and uniquely made. He loves us and intends for us to grow in love and virtue, changing from the inside until we resemble him. In what area of your life do you most need to grow?

• God wants the hunger in our hearts to be fully satisfied. What is one thing you could do to get to know God better and to grow in love?

• What did the passage from St. John of the Cross say to you about the kind of love God wants from us and the kind of love he has for us?

Let’s close by asking God to place in each of us a desire to renew our minds to his truth, to get to know him better, and to love him as he truly is…Love itself. Let’s be thankful for this incredible gift of life and love and undertake this study with an “attitude of gladitude.”

Prayer

Dear Lord,

Thank you for meeting me right where I am. Thank you for seeking me out, for creating me intentionally and uniquely, and for allowing me to have a relationship with you. Please stir in me the desire to know you more, and give me the grace I need to respond to your divine initiative. I am beginning to understand that my spiritual hunger will be satisfied only if I come to know you and follow your will.

You told us that if we seek you, you will allow yourself to be found: “Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you” (Matthew 7:7). Beginning today, I want to experience your presence in my life. Be with me this week and ignite a spark in me that will grow into a blazing flame of love. Let it consume my deepest fears, darkest sins, and lukewarm apathy. Let me taste the abundant, peaceful, confident, loving, and joyful life that only you can give. Lord, I want only you. Anything less is not worth the asking.

I ask this in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

A “Renewing Truth”

Each time I look in the mirror I will say:

“I am intentionally and uniquely made for a relationship with God, who says, ‘You are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you.’”...

Erscheint lt. Verlag	23.1.2023
Sprache	englisch
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Religion / Theologie ► Christentum
ISBN-10	1-63582-470-2 / 1635824702
ISBN-13	978-1-63582-470-4 / 9781635824704

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