Photo by Athena's Pix (Away for a few weeks)

Shared by Sharon Kim

What have you been learning lately?

This past year, I’ve been practicing the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, also called the “19^th Annotation exercises,” which involves setting aside an hour a day to meditate deeply on Scripture and to use your imagination in order to enter into the setting of the Scripture passage.  It has been absolutely awesome and life-transforming for me.

It’s so easy to be distracted and to let physical and temporary things consume your mind.  It’s also easy to let your mind wander during quiet times and to not take the time to still yourself before God in a focused manner.  Because I was intentional about setting aside that time this past year, the Lord was able to minister deeply into areas that were always veiled in the past, really allowing me to hear His voice in a more clear way.

So that’s a new thing that the Lord’s teaching me: the importance of setting aside and vigilantly guarding that time to focus on eternal, spiritual things.

Sharon Kim is associate professor of sociology at Calstate Fullerton, a mom of two boys, ages 11 and 15, and author of Faith of Our Own, a book about 2^nd generation spirituality in Korean American churches.  She is heavily involved in ministry, as her husband is the senior pastor of Garden Christian Fellowship. In her free time, Sharon enjoys spending time with family, reading good Christian books, and traveling.

Interviewed by Joy Wong