Other

Punishment or Gift from God?

by admin on January 26, 2012

Roderick O.

Every prayer time in Talbot House we sit silently and meditate for before we start. We do this to center ourselves and better our connection with our higher power. When meditation is over, I choose a psalm to read from the bible, one usually reflecting my feelings for that day. My friend Sebastian S., who leads prayer time with me, reads a story from the AA book. One story in particular had more of an effect on my spiritual life than any religious service that I had attended gone to the entire week.

The story reminded me how blessed I am to be at this school. (Talbot House has recently gotten some new students that have been struggling with adjustment and acceptance so I thought this was perfect for them.) I expressed my feelings of gratitude for the school to the whole family. I told everyone that instead of looking at this school as a punishment that they should look at it as a gift from God. Not everyone gets a chance like we do to redefine our lives. Some people take the opportunity for granted and I don’t want my family members to miss the chance. I hope they take it to heart.

Spiritual Beings Having Human Experience

by admin on January 12, 2012

By Ileana A.

“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience.” When I heard this quote, by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, this morning during chapel, I was quite struck with the idea that I am not a human being. Oddly, there was also a sense of immediate relief. I felt freer after hearing those words.

I am not a human being.

It never occurred to me that I, who usually talks about having a soul, or an inner spirit, could actually be that inner spirit having a human body and living in a human world. I suppose the sense of relief comes from realizing that it is okay to feel awkward and foreign in new situations. And even better, that it is completely normal and natural to be seeking help from and giving thanks to something spiritual and soul-like and mystical. Indeed, I was made in the image of my Higher Power.

 

I am a spiritual being.

Waiting for Christmas

November 30, 2011

By Ileana A. With the start of the season of Advent, Christmas is in the air here at The Family Foundation School. The families have been decorated and there is talk about the upcoming shopping trip. This week’s nondenominational chapel service focused on just that. According to statistics, America spends an average of $450 billion [...]

Read the full article →

Hard Work

September 21, 2011

By Ileana A. This week’s chapel message comes from Matthew 20: 1-16. “For the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.” The householder and the laborers agreed to the wage of one denarius for a day’s work. The householder continued to go [...]

Read the full article →

Spiritual Experience

September 15, 2011

By Ileana A. This week I had a real spiritual experience. Tuesday evening I was reading from the Book of Job 38:1-42:6. While I was reading it, I realized that I was reading perfect third step material: Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we [...]

Read the full article →

A Wise Old Man

July 28, 2011

By Ileana A. During this week’s Wednesday morning chapel, we students heard a story about an old woodcutter: There was a poor old woodcutter who only had one son and a beautiful white horse. All the people in his village wanted his horse but he told them that the horse was his friend. How could [...]

Read the full article →

Forgiveness of Self

July 22, 2011

By Ileana A. Recently I have been struggling with the concept of forgiveness. Especially forgiveness toward my past actions and myself. During chapel this week, several of the services spoke about Jacob and his dream of angels ascending and descending a ladder. After the dream, Jacob set a pillar of rocks where he slept and [...]

Read the full article →

Closing the Curtain

July 16, 2011

By Ileana A. “If the invitations open to every heart that has been broken, maybe then we’ll close the curtain on our stained glass masquerade.” These are the lyrics to one of the school’s popular Wednesday chapel songs sung by Casting Crowns. Hearing it this week, it was a reminder to all of us that [...]

Read the full article →