W6 Assignment 1: Vocational Formation Reflection Essay: The…

Purpose: Reflect and articulate the students experience with the practice of presence.

Instructions: Throughout this course, you have been invited to practice five minutes of silence every day. Write a 500 word essay reflecting on your experience with this practice. The only grading criteria for this assignment will be whether or not you were on topic (i.e. grammar and formatting will not be graded). Here is the list of weekly questions that were offered to you as aids in this practice. Use them to spark your memory and shape your reflections:

• Which is louder: the noise outside or in my head?
• Is there a fear contributing to my avoidance of silence?
• What is my body doing in the silence? Why?
• How does the practice of silence inform my compassion and care for those who are developing or struggling with speech?
• How does silence inform the words I speak later in the day?
• How can God communicate with His children outside of words?
• How am I experiencing God in silence?
• Envision yourself and Christ sitting in a quiet place in the silence. What non-verbal gestures do you notice between you? Are you able to understand each other? What is said?
• Do I notice any changes in myselfin thought, word, or deedfrom a rhythm of silence?
• In silence before God, do I feel more childlike?
• How is silence before God affecting how I feel about and connect to children who struggle with speech?
• What am I learning about myself in the practice of silence?
• Are there words, images, ideas, or themes that regularly arise in my times of silence? Why is this?
• What memories arise in this time of silence? Why might they be important to notice?
• Is frustration alleviated in silence?
• Does God offer clarity about what to speak, not to speak, or how to communicate through silence? What is this advice?
• How is the practice of silence connected to this weeks material?
• Can I imagine God and I playing in silence for 5 minutes? What do I learn about God and myself in this experience?
• What is communicated to my soul in silence?
• What one word is God encouraging me to speak as a result of our time in silence together?
• How is silence nurturing my spiritual self?
• How might silence continue in my life once this course ends?

Keep in mind that this reflection essay is for your benefit. If you struggled to engage this practice of presence, thats okay. Reflect on why that was the case. What might you learn through that struggle?