Week Four- Day 1

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As you continue in your acts of solidarity, push yourself past knee-jerk reactions to solve problems.

Continue practicing radical hospitality, intervention, and blessing just to bring hope and encouragement.

Watch for the “bigger picture” without becoming too focused on problems.

• What are ways you can influence others in a positive manner based on your experiences?

• How much does creativity play a part in your movement? 

• What are some special gifts you've discovered in yourself to connect with those who are poor, isolated, alienated, ashamed, hungry, thirsty, or sick? 

Write ideas down in your journal about next steps in being formed with the orientation of justice.

People should not suffer alone. 

Isolation strengthens the bonds of poverty. 

You are made for community and so are the poor.

•  Invite a person you have become friends with to share a meal with you. 

• Do some type of outreach with a friend into areas you've discovered through participation in this formation. 

• Impart what you've learned through your experiences, inviting them into your process.

You are participating in, and forming, community through creativity and compassion.

• Be a “good neighbor” to person/people you’ve connected with
• Remain in contact and conversation 
• Connect to what causes them pain, compassionately relate to it.
• Continue connecting in some relational, supportive way.

Action, conversation, checking in, and time spent together is what sets others free.

Consider the emotional, invitational, educational, and spiritual impact of your intervention/interactions you've experienced.

Evaluate how your last four weeks have gone. 

• Did you discover new things within you? 

• Did you discover something about God you didn't know? 

• Were you at any time frustrated with the person(s) you were meeting with/ministering to? What did you do about it?

• Did you find yourself agitated or frustrated with the poor in general? How did you prevent yourself from giving in to contempt and instead, allow humility to shape you? 

• What are ways that your perspectives were challenged, frustrated, renewed? 

• What positives did you experience/encounter?

• What surprised you?

• What are some next steps?

Take time to evaluate. Be open to yourself and God for thoughts and questions. Record your findings in your journal.

Rest is a holy gift. Make space for it.
Active, designated rest as a resolve toward worship and restorative wholeness. 

Spiritual disciplines: Prayer, fasting, meditation, visualization, mindfulness. 

Tap into resources provided for how to begin and continue.  

Throughout the day, Meditate on Jesus' love and compassion toward you and others while doing everyday things: working, eating, cooking, mowing, cleaning, exercising, etc.

Cultivate a prayerful consciousness concerning the poor, developing an awareness of everything being spiritual- Find beauty within the mundane and the routine.

Allow God’s presence to meet you in your intercession, your soul-repair, sorrow, and concern for the poor. 

Now that you've been practicing these disciplines on a weekly basis, Try practicing these disciplines on a daily basis. 

Meditation on scripture and on God's presence allows for open communication with God and with your own heart. 

Integrate meditation, scripture reading and prayer, and mindfulness into each day and watch what unfolds!