Spiritual Disciplines

Watermelon Whimsy by Angela Powers, Emily Powers or SDS and Lori Barhurst of Scrapartist

Meredith Fenwick's Personality Collection NOW available at SBB


I don't have much to say today so I thought I would share some recent layouts.

Thoughts--

Isabella and I are counting down the days until Grandma and Grandpa are here... 3 to go! Can't wait! I'm busy making lists of things to do, places to go, and foods to eat and figuring out ways to make our flat a little more roomy. LOL

Church--

The message today was a perfect fit for some things I've been thinking through lately. It's so funny how that happens at times. Anyway... I've been reading and thinking a lot about how we give the idea that you are not spiritual if you don't participate in certain spiritual disciplines for a certain amount of time. (For example, if you don't read your Bible EVERY day and have a quiet time for 30 minutes EVERY day than something's wrong and you're not a strong Christian.) This has become something I have been struggling with lately because I'm finding that I just don't work that way anymore. Sitting down in a quiet space, reading and journaling, is not realistic for my current stage in life. I find myself drawing closer to God through observing His works throughout the day (thru walks, watching people, etc), praying whenever something pops into my head or in short spurts when I have a quiet minute, or listening to sermons or the Bible verses reading it. My MIL introduced me to this magazine and this month they had this article that discussed what I'm struggling with and it was so refreshing to read. I was beginning to think how terrible of a Christian I was when I realized that spiritual disciplines are WONDERFUL but they are not what make you spiritual... it's the heart behind them. They are merely a way to draw you closer to God. Now... please do not take this as me saying it's not necessary to read, pray, etc (see above.. I still do those things but in a different way) I'm simply saying that we shouldn't base our spirituality on those. Because I'm sure there are people out there who do read and pray everyday for a certain amount of time but because of the heart behind them, they are not drawing nearer to God.

And Ed shared these three dangers relating to Spiritual Disciplines that I found very fitting because as I have been discovering... if our hearts are not sensitive to the Holy Spirit we can be doing/saying/thinking ungodly things without even realizing it and I think probably one major spiritual thing to get caught up in would be spiritual disciplines because it seems for some people... that's how they determine theirs or others growth.

1.To become judgmental of others who seem not to be as serious about some or all of the disciplines.
2.To center on the disciplines rather than on Christ.
3.To view the disciplines as spiritual in themselves.

I'm so glad that God has opened my eyes to this perspective and I now have a refreshed, excited heart about developing some new types of spiritual disciplines into my life.