Introducing: An Uninvited Discipline

Spirituality is a messy business.  Historically, the "spiritual" disiciplines have been compacted into a list of activities sometimes accessibly only by people living in a convent or monastery.  Try finding silence or solitude when you are mother of young children; try to meditate any where but the drive home from work (and please don't close your eyes).  

I am not saying silence, solitude, meditation and other ancient practices are not worthy pursuits.  In fact, to find spaces for those and other such practices can prepare the way for others, but I think the wrong things can happen when we confine our spiritual discipline to places that the whole of our lives cannot enter.  Such confined practices can leave us to feel less connected to God when maybe He is crying out to us in alternative ways, in the corners of our lives that are noisier and cluttered.   Or maybe we end up compartmentalizing spiritual growth into spaces which we can control, because to allow our whole selves, our whole lives in on spiritual growth would require vulnerability or real sacrifice.

It is crucial to see the significance of our entire life as spiritual.  Because most of our lives are noisy and busy, we often cannot see the the spirituality of it.  Because we are distracted and self-centered, we don't want to bear the burden of discipline in certain areas.

So, I introduce to you the Uninvited Disciplines:  Grace, Suffering, Comfort, Discernment, Repentance and Forgiveness, Relationships and Aging.  We may not want to own our part of the discipline (Grace - isn't it all God?), or see the struggle inside the gift (Comfort) or want to suffer at all, even for the cause of God.   These disciplines will only stand as examples of others we are also avoiding, but the model will stand.

Here is the perspective I want to take each time we face an uninvited discipline:  that at the center or heart of any discipline, we would look for God, seek God, desire God - no matter the outcome for us.  I believe our greatest failure in our usual spiritual pursuits is that we are at the center of any discipline we encounter.  Even as we look for answers, comfort, or correction, we are still at the center.  Thus, we are looking for our agenda to be satisfied, trying to command the discipline to meet our needs.  Sometimes that keeps us from the discomfort of the discipline God actually wants.  Sometimes that tact keeps us from God.

I challenge you to look into each discipline - either the ones I mention or any you are avoiding - and seek to see God, be with God and join with God in it.  Then you can move out with God in any change, if it comes.  Be like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego as they went into the firey furnance:  they expected to be saved, yet held to their faith even if they were not.

 "If you throw us into the blazing furnace, then the God we serve is able to rescue us from it and release us from your power...but even if He does not, you can be sure we will not serve your gods and we will not worship the golden statue you erected."  Daniel 3:16-18

Spirituality is a messy business.

Find the Beauty of God

I am reminded of a paragraph written by Augustine of the beauty of God.  I wanted to update it for today:

Late have I loved you, O Beauty so ancient and so new;  late have I love you!  For behold, You were within me and I outside. I kept looking for you out there and in my unloveliness came those lovely things of creation that you made.  Yet,You were with me when I was not with You.  Since my attention fell elsewhere, I was kept from You by those things, yet had they not been in You, they would not have been at all.  You called and cried to me to break open my deafness. You sent your beams to shine upon me and chase away my blindness. You breathed fragrance upon me and I drew in my breathe and do now pant for You.  I tasted You and now hunger and thirst for you.  You touched me and I have burned for Your peace.

Taste and see that the Lord is good.  Psalm 34:8

The Unexpected Discipline does not end.

I come to the end of what I called the Unexpected Disciplines, but I am sure God is not done surprising you as he weaves himself into your life and you into his Kingdom purposes.  I choose these because I think the surprise can sometimes cause us to miss the chance to move towards God and His Kingdom – and I wanted to call attention to the possibilities when he surprises you with discipline.  Take the joy in it!

God continues to call us through all of life’s events, some more or less comfortable.  This is grace, the unexpected gift God uses to move us and change us.  We may like to compartmentalize and control the movement of God, but grace insists on spilling over into ordinary days.  Let each defining moment drive you to prayer to seek out God as he would have you know him and to be changed as he would have you be. 

Discipline helps us see what we need and need from him and if our images of God are rooted in grace and truth, we can develop the eyes to see what he is doing in these moments.  I am grateful that I don’t have to be dead to see heaven and heaven-at-work in me.  The gospel/Good News is at work now, in unexpected places and ways.  So, I can more readily look for the good in other messy disciplines:  forgiveness, repentance, marriage, parenting, aging, consequences, time, traffic and more.  These may deserve another classification, but I am thankful for God in each.

“God will have his way with us and he will be severe at times.  The journey though at times is difficult, it is glorious.”  The Beautiful Fight by Gary Thomas

An Unexpected Discipline - Leadership

In leadership lies one of the great challenges of the gifts of God, which can always be perverted towards sin.  It is an unexpected discipline to find that our greatest temptation may lie in the center of our greatest gift or collection of gifts needed for most leaders.  

This is my theory of strengths and weaknesses:  In every strength lies weakness and in every weakness lies evidence of possible strength.  In leadership, when one has been chose by people or God, this truth can be magnified and the examples are prolific.

A person who knows how to get things done, might do so with no consideration of others.  The task takes precedence over the people. Work relationships are strained; home relationships are sacrificed; even the leader's health is compromised, all for the cause or task.

A person who is trying to bring a team together for a worthy cause, endeavor or even the advancement of the Gospel may mistake the way to do team-building, thinking it the cause or endeavor alone is that which causes people to bond.  The significance of the phrase "team-building" is forgotten and the cause - though right or pure - is subjected to a tyranny that destroys the team.  As Simon Sinek says, "A team is not a group of people who work together.  A team is a group of people who trust each other."

Especially when talented people are put in position as leaders in their skill area in the Kingdom of Heaven, with the best of intentions, they can miss the mark of who is to be served and who is to get the glory.  The attention given a servant of God is easily translated into glory for the servant and not God.

Beware of the unexpected discipline - the test and lessons - of leadership where new possibility for movement towards God or sin can immediately present themselves.  Beware of virtues in which sin lies-in-wait, and strengths, which can devolve into weaknesses.

Prayer-led attention to the dangers of leadership can increase a person's ability to stay humble and effective as a leader:

• Remember whose purposes you serve - God's and not your own.  This can be examined in your agenda, your focus, your measure of success.

• Be careful of rule-making which leadership often concocts in order to protect its position.  This can leave a leader unchanged and unbending, and which a leader can come to trust more than God.

• Be careful of rules which only serve the cause and not people, often superseding compassion and love.  Rules, which are needed for structure and due process in an organization, can become a vehicle for hypocrisy.  This happens when I, as the leader, use them to measure you but not myself.

The apostle Paul speaks very well of the dangers of leadership, whether it draws criticism or praise.  As divisions were arising among Christians as to whose leadership was better or worse, Paul or Apollos, Paul refused to take part in the criticism or praise. (1 Corinthians 4:1-5)

Let a man regard us (Paul and Apollos) in this way, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.  It is required that stewards be found trustworthy of their call and gifts.  For me, it is a small thing to be examined by you, or by any human court.  In fact, I do not even judge myself.

For I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not relieved by this nor unaccountable by my own judgment, but the one who examines me is the Lord.  So, I do not go on passing judgment by any but the Lord.  In time he will reveal; he will bring light to the things hidden in darkness and will disclose the motives of people's hearts.  Then each man's praise will come to him from God.

Each leader, who has followed Paul, should trust that same standard:  God's.  Trust not your own heart, nor the praise or criticism of people.  Do not let yourself be deceived by yourself.

An Unexpected Discipline - NOW

Ephesians 5:1-20

Live in love, as a fragrant offering to God…

What if NOW is the greatest moment of your life: being able to gift God with the thing he wants most – Love? A life lived in love. Love which drives you to see God in the moment and all aspects of life, whether pleasant or not. This moment is the only moment you hold and which holds the possibility of offering to God that which pleases him most. Yesterday is gone; tomorrow may not arrive in the same condition in which you hold today.

To remove all known sin from your life and to replace it with a love for God and his people is a worthwhile effort because every moment counts. Every moment is recorded in history, in your memory, impacting the lives of others. What you do NOW reverberates into your relationship with God!

Make proper use of your words, offer words thankfully in praise…

Capture this moment with a different perspective. Whether it is a moment in traffic, at your worksite, sitting in a doctor’s office, or in a quiet place at home, see God in it and see what he is doing in it.  Formulate your words so as to express the presence of God and the work of God into the life he has given. Your mouth will reveal what the heart holds. Be thankful, even in the difficulty, that he is still at work in you!

Once you were the personification of darkness but now you are the light of the Lord, a beacon. This can be seen in fruit (that which is good, right & true). Make it your aim to learn what pleases the Lord. Expose deeds of darkness.

The great purpose of this moment is to expose God! Let his light, which is in you and shines through you, become the means by which evil is revealed and maybe changed. Let no opportunity pass that could be filled with the light (good, right & true deeds) of God. This means I cannot look the other way, minimize another’s suffering, or fail in justice at any time. For it pleases God when we are vessels of his light.

Be careful how you live, be mindful of your steps. Walk as wise!

Next to pursuing God, wisdom is one of the greatest pursuits available to people. Anyone can participate in folly; fools are everywhere. But a person of wisdom is a rare gem. Now is the time to raise your attention and differentiate between the foolish and the wise and to walk as such. Every step counts; every choice matters, now more than ever!

Make the most of every moment…understand and be confident in God’s will and don’t live thoughtlessly…

The Christian life is not a hobby, confined to Sunday morning, Wednesday nights or even daily devotions. It is life, new life, ongoing life, the whole of life, your life. The greatest question we often ask of God is “What do you want of me?” It is a worthwhile effort to discern and disseminate God’s will such that you can live today in the confidence of God-led purpose. It is the difference between whether life seems to matter or not. And what you do does matter.

Let God fill you with his Holy Spirit, then you will be empowered to speak to each other with songs, spiritual hymns and make music with your hearts tuned to God.

The present moment holds infinite riches beyond your wildest dreams and you will only experience this to the extent you can see with your eyes of faith. Can you discover God in the ordinary as well as the great and awe-inspiring, the painful as well as the pleasant? To be able is to possess a rare and rich faith. 

Realize you are standing on holy ground, not because of the where you are, but because of the Who in you. Take a moment to capture the sacrament of the present moment. Something is a sacrament if it is a means of grace which transmits truth, revelation or the love of God. That makes NOW a vessel of the divine.

Who could foresee this day full of God?

The Cloisters of Iona Abbey - North

Marguerite                        Nightfall:  time of dreams and passions,
                                         Full moon's eye stares into our soul.

Ivyleaf Toadflax                Now that each step is lit by stars
                                         Echoes of memories, held on to, fade

Thistle                              But pricked, we do recall a time
                                         When those attacked were timely saved

Scottish Rose                   To drink sweet liquor here distilled
                                         From fruits of one year's blazing sun.

Dandelion                         Roar as you eat, and count the time
                                         Spent seeking; hoping soon to find

Navelwort                         Connections back to your beginnings,
                                         Remember dark times in the womb

Foxglove                          Where heartbeats lulled us all to sleep;
                                         Life's rhythm-keeper soothed our soul.

Iris                                    And feeding from the Earth's life-fluid
                                        These flags fly high then quickly fade,

Harebell                           Like distant sounds of ringing bells;
                                        Chimed harmonies blown in the air.

Tormentil                          Stand tall in torment and in pain
                                         Surrounded by your dying fears. 

Sea Campion                   Once around your journey starts to end, 
                                         Where once it flowed it tries to ebb.

Saxifrage                          But by the power of this Stone-breaker
                                         We can turn the corner once again.

An Unexpected Discipline - Revelation from God

        

All Christians want a word from God.  We know that the Bible supplies us with His most clear Word, yet in the nuances of life, we want specific revelation.  “Just tell me what to do, Lord, “ we pray.  We want something of God’s truth that is suddenly clear, revelatory, new, or strong as it applies to our situation. We look for it; we wait for it.  The discipline to seek, find and apply is traumatic sometimes.  Yet, the staggering potential for a person to live in conscious awareness and interaction with God requires a discipline to have the “ears” to hear and the heart to honor and act on a revelation from God is the only way to live.  And to be able to hear the voice of God and distinguish it from all other voices, especially our own, is the heartfelt desire of those truly seeking.

The Bible is our first and foremost helper in this task.  We can learn to recognize and interact with the concrete presentation of a word from God, enlivened and empowered by His Spirit.   To lay hold of Biblical truths and apply them is the place to begin to see the validity and availability of the movement of God, whether we deal with ourselves or the world.  

The Bible also gives then gives us extra-biblical clues as to other places to access God’s revelation. 

Romans 1:20 says that nature/creation reveals the great, general truths of God.  To sit in creation's presence, to contemplate nature’s point to the Creator is a basic even the untrained scientist can appreciate.  Then to look for nature's metaphor as an application to our own lives requires a student’s hunt for truth.  I remember when I was in the middle of decision-making in a life change, that I retreated to a summer hill, buried in the foothills of central Ohio.  There the trees and the fields provided more than just an assurance, but also a representation of what it meant to move on to the next level.  That decision could be guided not just by the path I left behind, but the unknown path ahead.  As I was assured of my destination, I realized the path to it could be managed because it was just trees, hills and fields.

John 3:26-36 points to the teaching of valuable teachers, which can contain revelation from God.  This is John the Baptist’s discourse confirming Jesus as the Messiah.  Essentially, John tells his disciples how to recognize, as he does, that Jesus is the coming One: that Jesus’ teaching and baptizing is the sign that he is from God and to believe what he says.  This great teacher, John the Baptist, diminishes his role and increases Jesus’.  It is the sign of a Spirit-led teacher, to give credit where credit is due by giving honor to Jesus as the Son, then their word becomes merited as revelation.

Then Paul gives us one of the most revolutionary chapters in the New Testament in 1 Corinthians 2:1-16.  He teaches how our spirit interacts with God’s Spirit for knowledge of the great things of God (verse 10), even to the point that he declares, “for we have the mind of Christ!” (verse 16) It’s a daunting truth. It’s an unexpected discipline to let ourselves in on this truth:  to trust God with our mind.  Yet, I think most seeking Christians have had truths revealed in mind and spirit - that place of knowing - and then their testimony lived out becomes an affirmation of God's truth. 

Think for a minute about the truths God has assured you of, whether through trial, test, enlightenment, teaching or fellowship.  Here are mine:

• I cannot sin and expect blessing from God.
• ·God is quick to forgive.
• ·The Holy Spirit is alive and available to me.
• ·Jesus is enough for me.
• ·The community of God is life-giving.
• ·Being led by God requires trust and going into the unknown.
• ·God is right. (duh!)
• ·God will fight battles for me and with me.
• ·The Bible contains all the truth I need.
• ·The Psalms contain all the wisdom I need.
• ·God’s people are everywhere!
• ·Marriage is sacred and wonderful!
• ·Work’s success defined by God may not look anything like worldly success.
• ·God is generous with the generous.
• ·God is the best Daddy I ever had!!
•  Today only makes sense in light of heaven tomorrow.

These seem obvious, but their deep trueness is embedded in my heart as God let them be lived out in me.  It’s an unexpected discipline to allow those Truths to penetrate my life such that I can be helped, healed and led. 

There is another way God reveals Himself and His truth:  through silence.  I know people often just want something from God – even if it is “no.”  It is a discipline to understand and recognize God’s silence for what it is.  It is a heavy discipline as the silence can cause us to scream in anguish or retreat into our own silence, but I think it is a way for God to draw us close so that we can really hear what He has to say.

We may need to grapple with the truths He has already presented (Ps 46:10).  Silence may also be the chance for us to willingly submit (Ps 4:4). (Ps 37:7)  It may be the quiet which allows us to be brought “safely into harbor.” (Ps 107:30)  It may be the place where the firestorm of other voices are finally quieted so we can discern the still, small voice of God.  Through this, we will know His voice and be able to distinguish it from all other “strange” voices, even our own.  

Sometimes, too, when encountering a great Truth from God, we may find our shallow peacefulness disturbed.  The noise we create around us can dull our sense to the greater need in ourselves.  How often have I, in such moments, cried out loud some inner truth I did not know was hiding there!  

Thus, silence is not absence, but “room” for God to accomplish what he is doing in us. 

It’s an unexpected discipline to stay present for all places of revelation from God.  I can do it, though, because of Jesus’ great assurance in Matthew 28:20, “Lo, I am with you always…” which is just as true today as when he first said it.  I love the discipline of releasing myself into that truth.

An Unexpected Discipline - Humility

I believe that humility is the root of every virtue and its opposite - any arrogance, pridefulness or pretentiousness -  is the root of every evil, every failure of faith.  We could probably agree that a humble spirit is one which serves God and others and that, as Christians, we are to follow Jesus' example as servant and sacrifice.

But do we act that way?

Do we embrace humility?

I've been to many a Christian conference and, in America, a Christian conference is a capitalist's dream!  There is always a bookstore or book sales room (not to mention other vendors) with product piled high.  I was once at a conference on spiritual formation and the main lobby was filled with tables that the vendors could hardly keep filled with books, they were selling so fast.  I stood there watching the buying and selling and I noticed that at one table there was a tall pile of books that no one was touching. I couldn't imagine what Christian author might not sell at an event where people came, determined to get insight from the best writers available.  

I went over to check it out.  The book was Humility, by Andrew Murray.  No one wanted that.

The demands of humility by any definition do not sit well with the citizens from the land of the free, which essentially means "No one can tell me what to do."   To resist the cultural call and move towards a humble life is an unexpected discipline because the depth of my arrogance, pride, and pretentiousness runs deep.  Yet, without humility, it is clear that I will make no gains in the faith, for humility gives room for God to be all in my life.

The weight of the significance of my worship of Jesus Christ now bares down.  Do I allow for His example of life to actually impact mine?  If so, the study of the humility of Christ is the only example I need to follow.

Jesus told his listeners how to engage humility first and foremost through his dependence upon his Father.  He recognized that he was sent by God and was only doing the work God was doing already.  He was doing God's will.  In fact, he could do nothing by himself, not even teach.  His doctrine even came from the Father; his authority came from God.  (John 5:19; John 8:42; John 5:17; John 5:30; John 7:16; John 14:10)

Jesus sure looked powerful, healing the sick, teaching with authority, rebuking whoever needed it, but he was humble enough to know where it came from.  He knew how to give credit to his Father who empowered him.

Am I cognizant of my own power source?  Maybe I once thought I held personal power, something from deep within me, but I have failed myself too many times to believe that anymore. In crisis, I am berefet of even direction and sense sometimes; I can end up in an emotional puddle. Left to myself, no good comes from me.  But with God in me, that all changes.   Humility does not say that I don't hold power, but that I know from where it comes.  

As Jesus knew to give credit to the Father, he demonstrated the nature of worship - to give credit where credit is due. That meant he did it for the glory of God and not himself.  He didn't want to receive honor from men.  This self-renunciation was not about ducking his head, but putting God first and foremost, gladly.

I wonder if humility is not about making ourselves less, but making God more.  That if any any good comes from us, if any rightness comes from us, if anyone gets served, then the greatness of those acts are not to be diminished by a false humility but instead glory should be given to the One who made it possible.

Yet, Jesus was meek and lowly.  It meant he yielded.  He yielded to the Father and left heaven for earth.  He served those around him.  He yielded to the cross so that we could be saved.  So, we yield - on the street it means we only proceed when others have passed, then we proceed cautiously.  Jesus' model says that good should come and God should be thanked and glorified. 

I like this metaphor for humility:  we are not the water, only the vessel.  When someone is thirsty, they aren't grateful for the glass, but to the water which slakes their thirst.  Be a worthy water jar!  It's a discipline to know our place. 

An Unexpected Discipline - Change

On some level, those in pursuit of Christ's ways say they want to change, but deep change is surely a process that we don't always understand or even pursue with the right cadence.  

Spiritual disciplines are those exercises we put ourselves through so as to engage in the change we think we need by strengthening of our faith-walk. While there are standard, time-tested practices of spiritual discipline that many have embraced, too often these are limited because of one major problem: they are people-initiated.  Such efforts can be weak or self-aggrandizing and cannot accomplish in our lives all that God intends for us.  We unintentionally hold ourselves back not always aware that God wants more for us than we want for ourselves.

I challenge you to consider, embrace and be grateful for the disciplines that God initiates.  His disciplines are more effective and more directed at what we need, instead of what is comfortable. When change is what God is doing, then His glory gets exposed in us instead of our own.

Of course, God's spiritual disciplines are not always pleasant because they are unexpected and hidden within false expectations and a false sense of righteousness which we often hold. This is true even in our expectations about God, because it can require us to let go of our false images of a "Santa" God or "Genie" Jesus.  Such disciplines are unpredictable, painful and challenging - even severe.  Yet, they serve God's greater purposes in our lives to bring about godly character in us.

Remember that God will not be rushed.  He is known for his perfect timing and it takes time to ready all elements. Without a willingness to wait, we will be regularly frustrated with God and ourselves and become disillusioned when faced with change.  We serve a God whose calendar moves by millenia, not minutes, and who thinks in terms of generations, not seasons (or days).

This means that the present circumstances may not make sense to us, although they do to God.  Waiting for the change we want can be debilitating unless it is marked by hope in God.  It is often not until the present becomes the past that we begin to understand and only waiting can supply us with the passage of time.  For disciplined believers, it is patient, confident and active trust that God still holds power, knows what He is doing and is working things out towards good for those who love Him.

Mature Christians can engage in God's change by doing the following:

• Hold onto Biblical truths.
• Stay reminded of God's victories in the past.
• Keep a firm anticipation of receiving God's promises.
• Stay alert to signs of change to nurture and join with God.
• Stay ready for opportunity.
• Take comfort from God in the waiting or the change.
• Foster a spirit of obedience.
• Let waiting restore and refresh for the energy needed in upcoming change.

When it comes to the change we need most, God knows best. In God's timing, we can begin to see waiting as the portal for hope.  Don't push ahead or divert your eyes. Stay close to His efforts!

One verse of #29

If belief as a child is enough

then all this over-thinking and over-doing is tough

on a child’s heart.

Give me mine back.

#31

I can't find You 

without me.

I can't find me

without You.

An Unexpected Discipline - Waiting

Waiting is one of the last things we usually want to do.  Wait for dessert, wait for our favorite TV show to begin or movie to come out, or wait for our greatest dreams to come to true. It's America:  we're pretty instantaneous!  We can have dessert first.  We can catch trailers and early glimpses of what we want to see on the screen. (Although waiting for OSU football season is always forever.)  

Our dreams.  What we want most for ourselves and our loved ones.  Sometimes we don't even know what we are waiting for, but some will wait for a lifetime for life to seem worth living.  That is what will often drive us to God, praying and waiting for Him to accomplish a task in us or others. Waiting. I think, generally, we hate it.

Under what conditions do you find yourself waiting on God?

"What is God waiting on?" I have asked myself.  When the topic is about my path or another person's path, waiting can be a difficult demand.  It proves to be disciplining when we wait for any answer, whether it be "yes," "no," "not now," or "better than this."  

I have decided that lots of time, while I think I am waiting on God, in truth, I think He is waiting on me.  I think I am the one not ready and I need the waiting to prepare for God's answer.  I find that truth in James 1:2-4.  

Consider it pure joy, brothers and sisters, when various trials come your way because the testing of your faith produces perseverance.  Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.

The King James uses the word "prove" in place of "testing" of your faith.  The meaning of that word can be seen in its use in Geometry (for those who dare to remember).  A proof demonstrates and does not cause.  The "proofing" (revealing, demonstration) of your faith will develop that all important character trait of perseverance.  And this proofing isn't because God didn't know, but because you need to know what you are made of.  You need to know what faith is made of.

That line of thinking makes me more appreciative of the discipline needed in waiting, but how do I wait in such a way that my character is built?  How do I wait on God's timing, His purposes, His way?

There are two verses that I think really help us wait properly.  

The first is Psalm 27:14 - Wait upon the Lord; be strong and of good courage. Wait upon the Lord.

So, I am not to be twiddling my thumbs, worrying myself into a puddle or growing impatient with the process.  Waiting involves some definitive action.  I am to strengthen myself.  I am to seek out that which enables me to grow strong in spirit, emotionally and bodily.  Especially in the area of the request and need, I need to bring vitality to whatever effort God will bring about.

I am also to "be of good courage."  Some versions say "take heart" or "take courage."  It means to "ready the will."  As I wait, I need to ready myself to do the will of God:  to be able to see His way and to take on His tasks.

Wow!  I need to get busy as I wait.

Isaiah 40:30, 31 is the second.  Even youths grow tired and weary, and you men stumble and fall, but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.  They will rise up on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not grow faint.

I am to keep my hope in the Lord and not in the situation and culture around me.  Hope is the assurance of what God can do.  I nourish hope in reading God's word: finding His truths and keeping them in the forefront of my thinking.  I also find hope in seeing God work in other people's lives and hearing their testimony.  It is important I surround myself with people of hope, because I will become the company I keep. That is a basic truth in all kinds of change models:  we need mentors, guides, friends, and a culture which will support the change we need.

The other part of these verses uses a phrase I find interesting: ...they will rise up on wings as eagles...  Some versions use "soar" in place of "rise up."  "Rise up" is the better translation considering the context. In Hebrew, the meaning is "to go up, to meet, to come up (before God)."  In the context of eagles, the metaphor is complete.  An eagle can only fly from a perch - a tree top or a cliffside.  Because of their wing span, they cannot get a flap going from the ground.  If they end up on the ground, they have to hop until they gain some heighth so they can catch the breeze to soar.

We are like eagles, destined to soar, with a "reach" that belies our position when we are down in the dirt, on the ground, not reaching for the heights God intends.  We all want victorious living over failure, loss, and even sin.  When waiting for victory, in what position do we need to be to catch the wind of what God is going to do?  Maybe it has been blowing all this time and you have not been in the place to feel it, to catch it. Maybe you have not even spread your wings.

I think God is waiting on us.  He has been patient through many circumstances, desiring to give us what we needed all along.  The activity of waiting is quite the work, a lot of effort, with powers that may even try to dismantle our strength, our courage, our desire and to keep us out of position for the good of God.  Use waiting as a time to enter the battle for the good of God in our lives.  

Remember, for there to be a victory, there must have been a battle.

An Unexpected Discipline - Eating

It seems to make sense that God cares about our dietary choices, but can eating be a place of spiritual discipline? Well, I know not to be a glutton.  I know Paul released people of his day from strict Jewish dietary laws, but is eating a spiritual discipline?

If there was only one reason for eating to be a spiritual discipline, the reason is in its metaphorical reflection of the great struggle in distinguishing need from want. Some people may experience that struggle in consumerism of other products, but for most, we experience it in how we eat because everyone of us have eaten when we were not hungry or have eaten (a lot) to satiate some emotional need, essentially going to something else instead of God for our needs.  To consider eating as a spiritual discipline in this case is to consider why we are eating.  Why this bite? Why this food?  Why do I want to eat? What am I hungry for? What do I delight in?  Do any of our answers cause us to turn towards or away from God?

Jewish dietary rules give us insight into the significance of the way we eat.  Most of the Jewish dietary laws serve two purposes. One is that they were actual safety rules. Some foods were unfit for human consumption.  The strictest rules, though, revolve around foods which were too closely identified with idolatry practices.  Is it possible for us to examine if our eating is related to idolatrous practices? 

Gluttony is when a person eats more than they need.  The words used in the Old Testament and in the New for gluttony indicate someone who is out of control. In the Old Testament, gluttony is translated from a word that means to shake or tremble, like a person "who must have it."  

In America, in modern times, food availability makes gluttony an every day opportunity.  It takes a prayerful consideration to participate with God in food selection, especially the amount.  We cannot use the culture's standards on how much is enough.  Maybe, though, the New Testament standard can help us.

Paul tells Timothy, "Godliness with contentment is great gain...and if we have clothing and food, we will be content with that."  The word to concentrate on here is the one translated "have." In Greek, it is "echo," which means, in part, to have something on, which speaks to clothing.  It sort of means "the clothes on our back" is enough.  "Echo" can also mean to hold oneself to a thing, to cling to it, or to keep it in its appropriate significance, with food as the object.  Food is to be sustenance - enough to sustain a person bodily. Maybe it means to understand food's place in God's design: to appreciate it, to see it as a vehicle to approach God.  For food can be a vehicle for gratefulness, especially in light of the rest of verse, and to be content with what God has provided.  

When it comes to food, have we vacillated between holding food in too high regard or allowed eating to become meaningless?  We wolf it down, not only missing gratefulness, but also the appropriate volume of what to eat. 

How could we get more meaning out of eating?

Some of the significance of Jewish dietary laws was to create a sense of eating attentively - to think about what a person was eating; to think about how a person was eating.  Some of those dietary law's purpose was that a food's source was to be known and that it was to be prepared attentively and consumed with awareness of that attention. As my husband says, "made with love" makes a difference in the quality of the food.  This creates an awareness of the quality of the preparation of a meal as part of spiritual discipline, building gratitude and contentment.

Another part of the spiritual discipline of eating could also be in its communal nature and its connectedness to fellowship, as seen in traditions of the banquet, the Lord's supper, the feasts in heaven. To keep an awareness of the company with whom you eat, the etiquette of the meal, and the shared joy of the meal  can keep us in awareness of God, too!  A joyful, shared meal lifts the community fellowship and moves us to see God!

Have hands lovingly prepared it and contributed to its presentation and quality? Have you savored your bites lately?  Have you relished the company which surrounds your meal?   The burning question, though, is how do I stay spiritually attentive to eating?

There have been movements in history to slow how fast a person eats.  One monk dictated that a bite of food should be chewed over 500 times before it was swallowed.  In some cultures, clearing of the palate with water, ginger, wine or an allowance of time causes the taste buds to recovery and enjoy the next "first" bite.  

I remember a seven-course French meal that took three hours to complete.  The setting was elegant.  The pace was slow. The room was quiet.  Most dishes were small and followed with an extended time period, water and wine allowed.  I remember it as one of the best meals I ever had!  Add that it was done in fine company and the memory of that meal is full of meaning. Maybe more of our meals could be filled with the meaning of gratitude and contentment if we savored them, too.  

Eating a meal with an awareness of good food lovingly well-prepared, add an awareness of a taste-system that he invented and the awareness of satiation, suddenly the meal can become hallowed ground.

Meditate on the meal. Why the fast? Why the Lord's "supper"? Why heavenly banquets? They all hold spiritual meaning.  Even if each of those are symbolic, and especially if they are symbolic, consider how we can participate with God in transforming all eating from mere nutritional necessity or idolatrous gluttony into an act of faithfulness.  Eating can be an unexpected spiritual discipline because it gives us a chance to draw closer to God and to become conscious of God in the simplest of ways.  

#26

life would shake me loose

from the Life I choose.

it goes at break-neck speed

trying to replace the Need

that I really have.

I am not unaware or lame to its ways.

So I detach from one

and re-attach, yea, cling to the

One

who has brought me thus far.

Let Him give me steer

and break me clear

from all that would not be

His.

An Unexpected Discipline - Rest

One of the missing ingredients of work's purpose is in the understanding of its relationship with Sabbath-keeping, not in the formal sense of a church day, but in its nature as rest. Work frames Sabbath.  In fact, rest cannot occur without work; rest grows meaningless without work.  In the Old Testament, people worked six days and were directed to honor the Sabbath.  Today, because of the American spirit of "working hard," we need to remember that work is to give a place for Sabbath and not take the place of Sabbath.

Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy.  You have six days for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God.  Exodus 20:8-10.

This set of verses also gives us guidance for the true nature of rest:  it is to be about God and not ourselves.  Our striving is to cease.  Our expenditure of energy is to not be directed outward, but inward, able to take in the nature of God and his ways in rest.  Sabbath's purpose is to give us a chance to portray the set-apartness of our lives, that we are dedicated to more than just our impact on the world.  It is the chance to let God impact us. 

It is interesting to note that pursuing rest and resting properly is a spiritual discipline.  The Israelites were commanded to rest as a sign of the commitment between them and God.  Like going home after a day of work, Sabbath was to be a going home ("set apart") space which would be the chance to move towards God, give the human spirit and body pause in a dedicated space.  Its spiritual discipline arises when we use this dedicated space correctly.

How to use it well?  That hint is given in the first word of Exodus 20:8 - "Remember" or "Recall."  This hints at recalling the Sabbath's purposes throughout the coming week, not just capturing its moment for a day.  If it is used well, its calm can shine on subsequent days; its rejuvenation will carry us through the coming week.  It can be a beacon whose practices are more likely to enter daily efforts at work (and home).  For the Jews, Sabbath is the beginning of the week.  It launches them.

How do your Sabbath practices enter your work week?

Workers who engage in spiritual practices and God-attention at church will be able to transfer them into the daily spaces of a work day.  Worship, prayer, peace and rest transfer forward.  Ultimately, faith development that has happened on a day of rest can then happen at work, too.  Work becomes a spiritual activity not only because it was instituted by God, but because it can be part of the outpouring of Sabbath when it is rightfully observed.

Part of our problem comes when work fills the space of Sabbath-keeping.  We all need rest and a chance to honor God and his influences in our lives, which includes the community practices of the faith. (Hebrews 10:25).  Hard work is part of life maintenance and the use of our gifts and it is easy to let the demands of work enter non-work spaces, especially given technology.  Sometimes people don't get the luxury of a Sunday off or even a consistent day off.  

Paul warns us about the world's message.  He (Jesus) has disarmed spiritual powers and authorities.  He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.  So, don't let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, of for not celebrating certain holy days or the Sabbath.  For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come. Christ being that realty. Colossians 2:13-23

So, find your day of rest according to the path God has you on.  Get creative in seeking fellowship with God and people. Find Sabbath-keeping another way and gain the benefits of joining in God's rest and reverence.  Do it for God's sake.  Do it for yours.  

Let all that I am wait quietly before God

for my hope is in him.

Psalm 62:5

#22

We were ordinary.

We trod through the days like any

We worked some, slept some and ate some.

We loved, wondered like any.

Yet, we were extraordinary.

Responding to God’s great invite

made days seem celebrant

and actions deliberate,

though it only be work, sleep and food.

We were loved in such a way

that often we wondered at ourselves.

What Vision fired life deep in an ordinary existence!!

An Unexpected Discipline - Work

I may be able to see work as discipline - to get there, to do my best, to grow my skills - but is it a spiritual discipline?  Does it cause me to move towards God or cause me to become more like God?  As a point of confession, the stress of work can cause the opposite in me.  Too much stress, too many demands, not using my best strengths can do me in.  So, I have to ask myself if I can see work as a spiritual discipline, under duress or not?

Proverbs 12:14 says, "..the fruit of a man's hand will come back to him."  Some versions say, "A man's work will be rewarded," but a closer look at the original language really helps to see that the intention is not "reward" as I might have thought.  It really means that productivity begets productivity; integrity begets integrity; use of skills births new skills.  This is not "reward" as in monetary gain or advancement, but in character gain.  

When work is developed that way, then it would be a spiritual discipline.  Maybe I need my view of work to be adjusted so I can look at the spiritual discipline of work not just in crisis, but in the development of my soul.  

It seems best to start with God, who worked.  He worked in the creation story (Genesis 1) and he thought so much of work that He gave Adam some work to do.  In a sinless environment, work was a benefit and it did not become "toil" until after the Fall. (Genesis 3).  And God continued to give work to people even after the Fall. He gave skills (Ex 36), success at work (Gen 39), and controlled promotion at work (Ps 75).  So, work must contain great spirit-possibilities since God is so committed to it.

Remarkably,  He is still working today.  These are some of the most hope-filled verses to me about His work:

"For God is working in you...."  (Phil 2:13)
"He (God) will complete the work began in you..." (Phil 1:6)
"We are co-workers with God..." (1 Cor 3:9; 2 Cor 6:1)

That is so comforting to hear!  Suddenly, I realize I am not doing this alone.  It's a blessing to know that the attention, activity and power of God are at work in my life, even at work.  No matter what effort I am making at work, God has another agenda to let me join in the process of making me into Jesus' likeness.

Another part of the spiritual discipline of work is in my effort to join in with God.  No matter what I thought the objective was at work, it quickly becomes clear that my goals at work are more than the mere tasks and objectives set by the job.  Colossians 3:23-24 provides an alternative view of work. We are to "...work hard and cheerfully...as unto the Lord...?" The critical word here is "unto."  It is a word that can mean for, unto, towards or forward.  Working "for" the Lord.  Okay. But I think using the word "towards" or "forward" might better portray the nature of the spiritual discipline of work.  I am to work in such a way that I move toward God - that I grow spiritually toward Him. 

Now I can think of aspects of my job differently.  My performance is undertaken so that it moves me closer to Him.  My relationships at work, especially the relationship with my boss, is to facilitate me looking more like God with each interaction.  The quality of my work is to move me into greater relationship with Him.  That throws a monkey wrench into my views about performance, relationships, and quality.  I know how to pursue performance so that it drives me in the opposite direction from God.  I have had difficult relationships at work in which my solutioning didn't look anything like God.  

Pause.  Suddenly, I can see that work is totally a spiritual discipline.  A job is not merely a task designed to make money.  It is intended to produce godly character and display ultimate truths about God and it even develops my relationship with God.   I never expected that the entire work experience would be a spiritual discipline!

How do I get intentional about work's spiritual aspect then?  I can invite Jesus into the tasks of my job; I can partner with him in activities.  I can use my breaks to refocus my heart towards God throughout the day.  Work definitely can be a place to develop and demonstrate my integrity before the Lord.  I can see my performance as a place for the display of the gifts God has given, whether as abilities, spiritual gifts or the gift of the sanctification process.   I can listen and look for God's truths in all work activities.  

One more area where  work is a discipline is that it gives a place for Sabbath.  It frames Sabbath, giving it place and purpose.  When people are without a job, the full effect of rest completely evades them.  This is why retirement is not a topic in the Bible.  Rest is only needed or significant in light of work. The spiritual discipline of working hard grows our desire and need for the full force of Sabbath.  

Take it!