Walk In Her Sandals - A Reflection Review Series (Part 1)

After featuring Walk In Her Sandals: Experiencing Christ’s Passion through the Eyes of Women on A Seeking Heart – I KNEW I wanted to create a blog series from it!
6 weeks: Featuring not only the 6 fabulous chapters from Walk in Her Sandals but also highlighting the very unique format created by Kelly Wahlquist and Ave Maria Press.

Featuring: Palm Sunday and Lectio Divina

In Chapter 1 – Kelly Wahlquist and her magnificent assembled co-authors lead us into Holy Week and our experience of Christ’s Passion with Palm Sunday. The gift of womanhood featured in this first chapter is The Gift of Receptivity. This gift, author Pat Gohn explains, ‘is the willingness to open ourselves to what God has in store for us…”

Pat further explains this is not merely the biological receptivity of a women’s body to receive her husband’s love (physically) or bear a child in her womb; but includes also the great gift of women to be spiritually and emotionally receptive. **If you’ve not already done so – can I highly recommend reading Pat Gohn’s Blessed, Beautiful and Bodacious – you will NEVER look at being a woman the same way again!

Personally, my receptivity feelers are not firing on all cylinders. Sure, I’m open to whatever God has for me as long as it is good, healthy and includes very little discomfort. Unlike Jesus entering into Jerusalem ready to fulfill God’s Will; I spend far too much time avoiding God and his Will. Perhaps I am hoping that if I am real quiet and well-behaved I’ll avoid whatever cross is lurking in my day. Ironically, my cross has become my fear of the cross. My focus is far too much on this idea of with all good things there is a lurking tragedy right around the corner. As Jesus comes in hailed as a King … he will soon be lifted on a cross. The good that God will bring will allude many of his disciples as they watch the week unfold – much as I do when I face my own crosses. I want to flee like Peter… yet for today I will stay here on Palm Sunday embracing my gift of receptivity awaiting what God has for me in this journey.

Learning Lectio Divina

One of my favorite sections of the Walk in Her Sandals books is the inclusion at the end of each chapter of a beautiful opportunity to reflect on scripture via Lectio Divina.

Simply put – as Kelly does in Walk in Her Sandals – the scripture passage is read once through. Then, read again – this time a wee bit slower. We then read a third time – underlying or noting words that JUMP out at us or touch our hearts. It seems repetition but trust me — SCRIPTURE WAS BORN to be read this way!! Even after reading the same verses 100 times I still discover something new! IT is not referred to as the ‘living Word of God’ for nothing!

When you’ve completed this third reading there are a few questions to ponder (this is the same for each passage – and can be used with ANY verse of Scripture):

What do I hear?
What does it mean?
What is Jesus saying to me??

Let’s Do This ..

The Lectio Divina verse for chapter one is … John 12:12-19

Here’s the words and phrases that POPPED off the page at me:

Hosanna! (which is signed the same as Alleluia in ASL)
Blessed is HE who comes in the Name of the Lord
FEAR NOT Daughter
Bore Witness

Here’s a quick thought (*would LOVE to know yours in comments below):

Fear not. Just one of the over 365 times the Scriptures instruct me not to worry, fear or be afraid! HE comes to me; and He comes for me. In that knowledge, I have nothing to fear. Though my trust may waiver; my faith does not. Hosanna! Alleluia! Jesus is LORD! He is my Savior, these events John recounts are not story but history. HIS Story! My heart longs to bear witness but my flesh still fears. Lord Jesus, help me to be open to what the Father has for me – help me to best use my glorious gifts of receptivity to fear not and bear witness to your redemptive work!