Seeking is in vogue these days. Many of us are continually striving and seeking — for one thing or another. As our commercial culture pumps into us a potent message of scarcity and deprivation, our seeking possesses the potential to become obsessive and addictive as we require more and more. Will we ever be satisfied? Will we always want something more, better, or different?
Discovering our sufficiency and our abundance is the antidote to this chronic seeking. When we start finding rather than seeking, we recognize in humility and wonder that the universe contains possibilities beyond our power to imagine. This is our doorway to gratitude and contentment.
In this e-course we will explore both joy and suffering as we experience the practice of finding. We will uncover the particular gifts of savoring, vulnerability, resilience, encouragement, belovedness, owning ourselves, glimpsing the holy, and waking up to what we already have and are.
Our facilitator for this program is Rev. Holly Whitcomb, a United Church of Christ minister. She is a graduate of Yale Divinity School and the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation and the Director of Kettlewood Retreats. A widely traveled retreat leader and spiritual director, she is the author of five books including the very popular Seven Spiritual Gifts of Waiting. Her most recent book, The Practice of Finding: How Gratitude Leads the Way to Enough, was chosen in its year of publication as a “Best Spiritual Book” by Spirituality & Practice.
Through 12 emails over the course of one month, Holly will encourage you to engage in spiritual reflections and practices for:
· making space for wonder
· noticing beauty
· utilizing the gifts of sorrow
· deepening your relationship with God
· blessing limitations
· remembering courage
· cherishing friendship
· exorcising comparisons, and
· pondering happiness money can’t buy.
You will also have access to an online Practice Circle where you can share your experiences of finding with Holly and other e-course participants from around the world. Then on May 2 (5 – 6 pm PT / 8 – 9 pm ET), we will gather as a community on Zoom to ask Holly questions and together collect our take-aways from the e-course. The Zoom will be recorded and available to you if you cannot be present at that time.
The practice of finding often takes our breath away and brings tears to our eyes. Through these precious and unforeseen “aha” moments, we discover that the gifts we have received are more cherished than the ones we’ve been seeking. Through this course you will marvel at what you have already found and what you readily possess. Join us!