Crucible of Crisis

by Stephen W. Smith

We are all standing in the crucible. This is a time of great need, and great pressure—a crisis, which means in Chinese, a “dangerous opportunity.”  This present crisis is a convergence of deep change at the tectonic plates of our souls where everything is shifting and will be different. 

Yet, while we stand in this crucible, we are invited to know and to deeply know that God is near—that none of this catches God by surprise.  I received a note from a dear friend who was saying in a card, “Isn’t it interesting that in this precise time of world events, you and Gwen are seeking to move off center stage, live a quieter life and let go of so much of what you’ve started?”   She continued, “Now is our most urgent time to hear the message of soul care and I’m praying that God will raise up this vital message now, more than ever before.”

I’ve sat with this card—holding it in my hands and recognizing the truth of what our friend told us in that hand written card.

It really is amazing that the Board of Potter’s Inn began the shift and plan secession years ago before these perilous times.  The move from a retreat-based ministry to a message centric ministry was foundational to all the transition that you’ve both read about and participated in with us through your prayers, interest, and financial support. 

The centric message of caring for the soul is paramount these days as uncertainty, fear, isolation, discord, and anger are seething around us and in us.  These are the days to practice the care of our souls—lest we find ourselves swept into the raging waters of cynicism, anger, and despair.  That is an unholy trinity—cynicism, anger, and despair!  The only antidote to us is practicing the Presence of God.  As we practice the Presence of God, we cultivate and nourish our souls to be strong; face the winds of change and yet know we are anchored to a Truth that is both abiding and comforting—a posture that allows us to hear that “In Christ, all things hold together” (Colossians 1:17).

With this in mind, I want to suggest Five Practices that I want to ask the Potter’s Inn family to collectively practice for the next 90 days—90 days before the end of 2020. By doing these simple practices, together, we will join hands and hearts with a community of faith around the world. We will not be alone and we will be knitted in love—wherever you are and wherever you are reading these words:

1. Take 20 minutes every day to be quiet and to sit in silence with God.  Silence helps us become AWARE that God is already in our midst. What is missing is our own awareness.  As we practice the quiet and silence without music, book or even the Bible, we are creating space for God.

2. Be in nature for some time every day. Nature, as we know, is the 1st book of God. It is where we see, hear, feel, smell the clandestine movements of God through the changing seasons, the beauty of a colored leaves and the fresh and clean air of the outdoors.

3. Limit our time in watching and reading the news—all news and on every network. This has been key in my own practice of life in Covid. Spend 30 minutes being caught up and informed and then pull away and turn the TV off and the computers go dark.

4. Practice a rhythm of life that is sustainable by every six days, making one complete and whole day as a day of rest.  I call this a DEAR DAY.  DEAR being an acronym meaning Drop Everything And Rest! Ask yourself this simple question the eve before you Sabbath:  What would bring me life on Sabbath?  And then do that which brings you life.  Cease talking about your work, your church, or your ministry for these hours.

5. Cultivate a relationship with 2-3 people that you can have the deeper conversations you need to have right now.  It’s just impossible to talk on a soul level in groups of 8 or in classes of 12. We were built for the church of 2-3 people and this is the church that Jesus himself described and prescribed for us in Matthew 18.  The deeper conversation is most always underneath the surface and begins with this question:  “What do I need to listen to from you right now?

Each one of these have their own challenges and of course modifications. But I believe that in these sacred practices, we will find the anchor that will hold us through this storm.

Our Transition

Gwen and I are continuing our work at Potter’s Inn—though now reducing our time to ‘part time.’  We are both involved in the podcast planning and work; both are offering spiritual direction and soul care intensives on a limited basis.  We continue to need to raise our own financial support and we appreciate your support through being a patron of the podcast or by your donations to Potter’s Inn.  We send this with our love and gratitude to each of you.

Challenging Times and Soul Care: Embracing the New Realities

We are living in challenging times.  We are hearing the news; adjusting our lifestyle; embracing the new realities and finding our way forward. Our whole world is different and we are different too!  The first wave that swept over us is the virus and germs called COVID 19.  A few weeks later, we are all feeling the personal impact of surviving and grieving  ̶ so much that has been lost along the way. Sickness and death; the loss of graduation and birthdays, job loss and a heightened sense of anxiety and worry have all collided in our new lives.  But now new realities face us that will challenge us to the core. 

Now, new waves face us: record unemployment, economic anxiety and the rising tide of the mental and emotional toil of living through and living with the unprecedented woes of the pandemic. This is the need now, that the newly launched Soul Care Institute will face and meet with God’s help. As you read on, you’ll see that this is not the time to shriek back but actually it is the time to move forward.

Exciting News to Announce!

left to right: Steve, Gwen, Kaylene, and Jimm

While the pandemic has been happening, the Board of Potter’s Inn has been hard at work to help in the transition of Potter’s Inn.  We are excited to announce that the Soul Care Institute will be launched into it’s own entity in July 2020. Through an extensive search process, we have invited the new President and Vice President to begin their work.  The Board of Potter’s Inn unanimously called Kayleen and Jimm Derksen to serve in this capacity. Kayleen will be President and Jimm will be the Vice-President. Together, they will lead a new Team to not only launch the Soul Care Institute as it’s own entity and 501c3 but will be tasked to grow, expand and morph the Soul Care Institute into a much needed future. You can read more about the Derksen’s below. We are most grateful to Joan Hall, David Sachenmaier and Katy Kloosterman for their work in interviewing a host of qualified candidates and discerning, along with the Board of Potter’s Inn, who the new leaders will be!

What has become clear in our discernment journey is the vital need for soul care in the new world we face now. When Gwen and I founded Potter’s Inn in 2000, we faced the daunting task of offering a message to leaders in the market place and ministry who were tired, burned out and weary of religion.  Now, the new heart-felt need that the Derksen’s will face is for the equipping, training and release of prepared leaders to meet the needs of the world in pandemic and post-pandemic times.

Everything is being rethought in the wake of the pandemic and this is true of the Soul Care Institute as well.  New ideas, new strategy and new leadership are needed! The Derksens will now stand on a strong foundation of the Soul Care Institute and the wonderful stories from our graduates!  We are so thankful to Joe and June Walters for their leadership in beginning and implementing the Soul Care Institute. Their work of building the Institute from the ground up is so deeply appreciated by the Board, the students and staff of the Soul Care Institute. As they transition away from Potter’s Inn, we pray God’s blessings upon them and wish them well!

Soul Care for the Sake of Others

Soul Care is never for just for someone to get better in life. Soul care, when properly understood, has a missional focus. Soul Care for the sake of others is what someone does when their life has been so deeply changed and transformed.  We feel a compelling sense within us that, “This truth is not just for us—we must tell others.”

Just as the Risen Jesus told Mary—the first witness of the resurrection—to “Go and tell” the others, Potter’s Inn is now embarking on this same mission to “Go and Tell” market leaders and ministry leaders about the vital message that we can lose our very souls in the chase and hunt for security and for that which we think is life. 

This same “Go and Tell” mandate happened along the road to Emmaus when two other disciples met the risen Jesus and found solace in his company. Rather than staying there and soaking in their own healing of despair, they “immediately got up and returned to tell the others” (See Luke 24:33). (I have written several devotions and published them on Facebook if you want to read about the Emmaus story.

The bottom line of what happened on the road to Emmaus is simply profound and informative.  Grief and despair were assuaged by the Risen Jesus. Soul Care happened in a profound way, yet we learn there is a new mission that we are invited into just as those two disciples were!

Along the Emmaus road, we see profound change happening. Then a compelling need to tell others. The story in Luke 24 is compelling. What happened in the souls of the two companions of Jesus was not just for their own insight and communion with Jesus. It was so deep; so life changing and so compelling that Luke tells us that they got up “at once” to return on mission to tell others.

Soul Care’s mission is first you breathe—then you help others to breathe—just as the flight attendant directs us on flights!

A bona fide sense of urgency is facing the world now in these pandemic times and we believe the message of caring for the soul and caring for the soul for the sake of others is more real now than ever before. The Soul Care Institute is a part of this “go and tell” strategy. It truly is an exciting time coupled with a dire need facing us like never before.  The core message is this: We cannot help others until we first find our own healing and hope. Change happens first to the messenger! Then the ripple effects of authentic change will last, endure and be blessed!

This is exactly what happened to me. I was changed. Then, I told someone else. This is what the soul care journey is all about. One life is impacted; then that same life begins to spill over and share what has happened to them.

When my life turned around in 1996 by spending time with Dallas Willard in the monastery in California, I was not the same when I flew back home to Gwen in North Carolina. I immediately told her.   Step by step and little by little, we both embraced new insights and teaching just at these two companions did. Together, our hearts burned but we quickly realized that we could not hoard the truth. We felt compelled to tell others.  One cannot keep for themselves, what is so good—so life-giving and so life-changing. You simply want others to know.

Our sense of being compelled to tell others was so life-altering we quit our jobs and embraced a whole new direction which involved massive change; leaving what we knew and embraced a compelling mission to help others know a deeper truth—a truth that is the Gospel—Good News for those who already knew Jesus, but still could know him deeper.

Progressive Revelation—step by step!

Potter’s Inn is the result of this encounter of our own Emmaus road experience. First, we encountered Jesus. First, our hearts burned within us.  First, we sat and stayed with Jesus in a deep fellowship. We built a retreat where people could come to have their own Emmaus road experience. But then, mission happened. I wrote books. Gwen was trained in spiritual direction. We travelled the world together to tell people what had happened to us and envisioned an equipping ministry that would teach, impart and train the message.

But more was needed. We could not do this great task alone. So, God gave us a vision to multiply this great work.  We would help train and equip other people to do this same work! This became known as the Soul Care Institute—a two-year, intentional community where people could have their own Emmaus road experience. Then, the hope was “they”—the new travellers on the Emmaus road would continue the mission. (See www.soulcareinstitute.com for more information).

Challenging times call for great courage, sacrifice and commitment. We believe this is the time to not pull back but the opposite—to meet the challenge at hand with the compelling message of soul care for the sake of others.

A very special “Shout Out” to the front-line workers of Potter’s Inn who are the Board of this wonderful ministry.  Our Board members are: Michael and Hallie Doyle (San Antonio, TX), Joan Hall (Colorado Springs, CO), Katy Kloosterman (Holland, MI), Tammy Magaldi (Indiana), Steve and Gwen Smith (Charlotte, NC) and Ray Walkowski (Colorado Springs, CO). The Board has helped steer the rudder through these challenging times and walked a long path of discernment together. I would say that working with the Board has been one of the great highlights of my entire work life. All that we have learned together has been remarkable and humbling.

Gwen and I look forward to providing soul care, leading the Podcast work and offering spiritual direction. With our shoulders lightened by the launch of the Soul Care Institute, reorganization of Potter’s Inn and now working less, we are excited to embrace our own message as we offer it to others. This summer we will be the keynote speakers at the US Navigator Leadership in July and also the Canadian Navigators in June.

With Deep Gratitude,

Steve

Soul Care in Pandemic Times

by Stephen W. Smith

A light just came on the dashboard of my car.  Having never seen this light before, I was forced to take out the car manual and search for what this particular light meant.  In my case, this particular light meant:  “Take your car immediately to the dealership for repair!”   And now –in the pandemic, I’m going to have to get someone to fix my car and quick. I wish I were joking because in these pandemic times, who wants to go anywhere and take the chance of contracting the virus and getting sick?

Pandemic times are lighting up all sorts of inner lights and warning signals we are not use to.  The basic light of “Check Engine” on our car’s dashboard use to be enough to do an oil change---something to just get us by for another 5000 miles or so.  But now, the pandemic is revealing warning signs that we are not accustomed to. 

Low grade depression; feeling blue; lethargy; fatigue, irritability; anger, melancholy, grief and anxiety are the current lights going off in many us now that we are past the initial shock wave of the pandemic.  The new wave of the pandemic is going to reveal that our inner world is not fairing well and that any sense of resilience has ebbed out to sea beyond the horizon.

It’s complicated!

It’s more than a viral pandemic happening.  We are fighting this “war” now on all fronts by a generation and culture that is not use to fighting anything more than climbing ladders that move up and to the right.  Now, all the rungs on our ladders are kaput!  At first, the pandemic seemed to inconvenience our lives and routine.  Now, the prolonged social isolation, spiritual quarantine and feeling “zoomed out” have all contributed to wordless feelings that are difficult to express other than, “I’m lousy. You’re lousy. It’s OK to be lousy.”  Someone should write that book right now!

What does caring for our souls look like in pandemic times?  This is the conversation that we need to be having.  This is the narrative that awaits us right now. Talking on a soul level will expose some of the lights that surely are coming on for you, just as they are for me.  These inner lights are trying to warn us that we just might be in trouble.  The soul care principle goes like this:  Look at your inner dashboard and see what is flashing—what is needing attention?

The Soul Needs to be Seen

I recently posted a blog about my own inner feelings that were rumbling around the Saturday prior to Easter. I tried to be honest, vulnerable and courageous in my words. Let me just say here, that at that time I was not feeling like Easter was going to happen.  It meant so much to be when a friend invited me over to sit in their back yard, six feet apart and said: “Steve, I read what you wrote. What is really going on?”  That friend’s question made me feel seen rather than invisible; made me feel known—rather than being isolated and apart and made me feel loved.  It was the answer to my own dilemma and I was so moved and touched that I was cared for in this particular way. I felt the heaviness lift and the spiraling come to a halt.

We are in the midst of a Great Pause—a long, extended time of businesses being closed, withdrawing from our social networks and having more time on our hands than perhaps we have ever had—unless we are on a first responder or in the health care field.  But these five warning lights are worth our attention.

1.     The Warning Light of Emotions

Our emotions are the first responders of our souls.  Emotions are the reactions that our souls are having in our inner world that need to be validated.  It matters when we feel depressed. It matters when we feel irritable for no apparent reason. Emotions matter and our soul as a plethora of feelings that God placed in us to help us become aware of what is happening inside of us—in that place where everything is connected inside; namely, the place of our soul.

Use the “Feeling Wheel” to help you identify more precisely what you may be actually feeling.  It can take some time to identify what you are feeling beyond an elemental feeling of being “blue.”  Use this at the end of each day—perhaps at dinner and let each person begin with a “red” feeling and move to a more informed feeling that is actually going on inside:

Using the Daily Examen will help us here more than I can state. Here’s a podcast to help you listen to how to do the Daily Examen: https://www.pottersinn.com/podcast-episode/12

2.     While social distanced, remain relationally connected. 

In a pandemic time of social distancing and relational isolation, giving attention to a few, key life-giving relationships is vital.  We cannot do life alone. We were not created to live in isolation. Sure, this is a season of being apart. But while apart, foster a few significant relationships that do not drain you but sustain you. Talk to them weekly-even for a quick “Check in call for five minutes.”

Dallas Willard told me that the only church that Jesus ever talked about or referred to is the church of “Two to three people.”  Jesus clearly stated, “Wherever two or three are gathered, there I am in the midst.”   The pandemic is a time for us to re-examine the very words of Jesus and to go deeper with a few rather than wide with many.  We were made for intimacy and in intimacy with a few we find the connection that our souls long for.  This is not the time for huge. This is not the time for being with the many.  We are in a different ecclesiastical season (see Ecc. 3:1). Wise is the person who knows the seasons and lives and adjust accordingly!

Look at connecting with a few in the pandemic as vital as you do prayer—as necessary as your time alone with Scripture.  To foster resilience means to build bridges or even digging tunnels below the water line, to truly find each other.  By digging deeper with one another, we will fulfill the law of Christ. By doing this, “Bear one another’s burdens, and in do doing you fulfill the law of Christ” (Gal. 6:2). The Message urges us to “Be creative” in how we do this.  What does it look like for you to be creative with two or three life giving friends?  Have a time together weekly?  Just yesterday friends of ours invited us over for a meal delivered by Uber Eats. We sat in their driveway and our food was more than food. It was time together that we devoured. 

I think it begins with sitting down and writing the names of two or three people that are your micro-church. Tell them that you are planting a “micro-church” and you want to live out your life—right now with them in these pandemic times; not alone but along side of them. 

The wisest of human beings once wrote these words:

“It’s better to have a partner than go it alone.
Share the work, share the wealth.
And if one falls down, the other helps,
But if there’s no one to help, tough!

Two in a bed warm each other.
Alone, you shiver all night.”  (Ecc. 4:9-11 The Message)

While churches are trying to worship on Zoom and Face time, and I applaud all these efforts, we need the incarnational presence of another human being.  It was to the doubting Thomas that Jesus invited to go beyond  social distancing and touch him—feel him—know for sure that it is Christ in your midst. What’s missing these days is the touch of our souls: we will need to be creative to explore how we find this as the pandemic continues to unravel the world we once knew and we lean forward into our whole, new world ahead.

3.     Do something physical every single day.             

As we know, this one is a choice that we have every day to do: Move!  Move the body every day.  When you play music, move!  When you work: stand up at the computer.  When you zoom, take an extended time afterwards to reconnect with your body to help you not feel so “zoomed out.” 

Walk, ride, stretch, run, play and be outdoors.   The sedentary soul is a sad soul—we know this from all the research available to us. So, the antidote is to move.  Endorphins are released within us which is the bodies very own anti-depressant, which is God made and God endorsed. Make the choice to move your soul as much as you can.

At a conference with Christian psychiatrist Dr. Curt Thompson, Curt had the 200 people present stand up as he played a beautiful piece of music for all to hear. While listening, he coached us all to simply raise our hands towards heaven and stretch. He then explained the science of how that simple movement released molecules of endorphins into our blood that woke us up; made us feel a moment of bliss—then we returned to our chairs to learn more about the soul and the body working together in sync. We need these experiences. Our souls are not spirits detached from us.  Our bodies house our very soul—the true temple, not in Jerusalem dear friends, but in us, right here and right now.

With all the loss—we are gaining!

Gwen and I are joking about gaining the “COVID-19 Pounds” now due to the comfort food we are partaking.  With all the loss, we are gaining!  So, the antidote is finding comfort, not in our food but in our souls and to foster a sense of inner shalom.  Look again at the “Feeling Wheel” above for the feeling of “peacefulness” and see the wonderful feelings that are described there which are all feelings of well-being.

Read Dr. Curt Thompson’s excellent article on why we feel so “bad” after long and extended calls or zoom meetings.  Click Link here: https://curtthompsonmd.com/a-body-of-work/

4.     Every Soul Needs “Self-Compassion.”

When we are other focused; when we are managers of our home, children, work, taking care of aging parents and other responsibilities; when we are always giving “out,” we can ignore giving compassion to our own self.  It is never selfish to care for one’s own soul!  It is only when we are full of care that we can truly care for others.  An empty cup has nothing to give.  We cannot live well while running on empty.  In pandemic times, it is no doubt challenging to figure this one out. Yet it is vital. Be creative in your homes by “negotiating “ time that you need and how a partner can help you; then have their time without shame or guilt. 

5.     Anchor yourself in the witness and stories of others who endured hard times.

We are not the first to go through something like this pandemic.  History is filled with the perils and stories of endurance.    What books, stories, movies can you share in the comments below that inspire you?  What characters in the Scriptures have become mentors to you in this pandemic time to help you learn from their own stories?  Joseph endured prison when falsely accused. Moses persevered in wilderness after lived a lavish life for years.  Prophets lived isolated lives and Jesus himself was “thoroughly acquainted with sorrow and grief.”   By using their examples, we can find inspiration in difficult times.

Pandemic times require the reformation of how we do life, church, work, and soul care.  By taking simple steps now to care for our souls, we can allow the ripple effect of our own inner resilience begin to flow from a healthy place to bring about the change we have been hoping for and praying for in these pandemic times.