The spiritual life is a life that is guided by God’s Spirit, the same Spirit that guided the life of Jesus. So, how can we be in touch with the Spirit, hear the voice of the Spirit, and allow ourselves to be guided by the Spirit?
Can we create some space for God where we can hear, feel, and experience the Spirit of God, and where it becomes possible for us to respond? Is there space in our lives where the Spirit of God has a chance of getting our attention?
We fill our inner space with worry about things that might happen and guilt about things that have already happened. And beneath our worry and our guilt there is a deep fear of empty spaces.
When we create an empty space, we make room for something to happen to us that we cannot predict, something that might be really new.
I am still
I wait
I pray
I clean
I am alone
– for the most part
Solitary
– even in a crowd
I wish for it
– interruptions come
some enjoyable
some annoying
I am present, yet not
I know the answer will come
I know movement is coming
but for now
It is the silence
That I embrace
and endure
with patience
and courage
at other times I have even been cheerful during this time
but not this time
This time,
I am in mourning
Grief surrounds my heart
heavy sadness
– for choices made
– being made even now
I long for intimacy
I long to be the choice
I wish I could help
but I can’t
Only God can do what needs to be done
– and He can only do it if the choice is made by you
– to ask, seek, knock – even the slightest opening He can transform
the choice is personal and must be freely made
and so we wait –
me and God
Jesus puts his arm around my shoulders
and pulls me close
I feel the Spirit holding my heart and bringing me comfort
I close my eyes and hear his promise,
‘I will never leave you or forsake you’
and my sadness is blurred
with the surge of peace and joy
The silence is good
we know each other here
in the waiting
we have been here many times before
I have learned to wait
– Even enjoy this path
the answer will come soon enough
this is the place of intimacy and trust
where we know each other most
Life will move forward
and I will spring into action
and do what is being set for me to do in my waiting
I do not question the way
– I am a willing vessel
Mine was a shattered life
which has known your healing touch
you, so lovingly, put my pieces together again
and mended me with love
My God knows the way
– mine is a heart of thankfulness
I am the grateful follower
waiting to love you and share with whomever I can
Not for any other reason except love
You have allowed me to glimpse
My belovedness
My value
The value of each soul you have created
The depths of your love is unending
I desire only to please you
My creator, my savior, my lover, my friend
I long to share this love
with the ones you allow me to
And so I wait
I stay in the silence
until my answer comes
and God speaks
I am listening, Lord
As You have before,
Speak when you are ready
This morning I am reading Still: Notes on a Mid-Faith Crisis, and the words of Laura F. Winner resound in my heart –
And again, to church. Sometimes I cannot say much about why I go to church other than what people who go to the gym say: I always feel better once I’m there; I feel better after; it is always good for me, not in a take-your-vitamins way, in a chidingly moralistic way, but in a palpable way. Perhaps this is to turn religion into therapy. But church is therapy, that is one of the many things it is, and as my friend Mike once told me, the real problem lies not in recognizing the therapeutic balm of the gospel; the real problem is going through life thinking that the health you need can be found anywhere else.
You were created to love.
It is your nature, and your purpose.
Your fears and desires get in the way:
your self-centeredness, your desire for control,
your fear of loss or diminishment,
your weakness and your wounds,
your attachment to things
that subvert love and drain life from you,
all prevent you from loving perfectly.
But their power is an illusion.
We flung them all at Jesus—
even death, and the wort suffering.
And they did not stop him;
they could not stop love.
God has defeated them,
buried them in the grave with him,
and he has come to us now without them.
He has risen, and has overcome them all.
You are free to love.
When you love you die to that world of fear,
and you are raised to a new life.
When you love you enter into God,
into what is divine and infinite and eternal.
When you love, even at great cost,
and even if you fail,
even if you have no effect at all,
you have won the victory.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light www.unfoldinglight.net
used with permission
How do you feel about commitment? I used not to think about it very much, and then my whole life changed and I had to make some of the toughest decisions I could ever have to make in this world. Did my faith really matter? Did my commitment level really make a difference? You bet it did!
I just finished the book, Not a Fan, by Kyle Idleman http://www.notafan.com/ it is one of the best books I have ever read on this subject. Are you a fan or a follower? Do you understand commitment? Do you understand intimacy? Do you understand the price of being free? Do you know your value? Are you committed? To Christ? To any of your relationships?
When my whole life exploded (about 15 years ago now) and I plunged into poverty, loss, homelessness, chaos…for year after year. When I thought I had nothing left to lose and then I lost more and even more – I had a choice to make: Was I committed? What did I really want? I didn’t understand exactly that I was committing. I remember in 1990, praying, I want to be happy…and AS LONG AS I am moving in that direction…I will continue to follow God’s path. Ha Well, it certainly hasn’t been the path I expected, but I have become so in love and so consumed and so full of love, joy and peace – not because of me, but because of the Spirit of God, I have found it is my all-consuming passion to die to myself and to attempt to move out-of-the-way so I can live and love in God’s way that is sooo much more than I can ever explain!
There have been several moments when it could have gone either way for me, I stood on the edge of the decision, day after day, and made the very tough choice toward faith. It didn’t make sense to many people, there were many times when it certainly didn’t make sense to me, and during those times I would cling to the promises. I would read Psalm 37, James 1, Matthew 5-7, and daily words of encouragement, many times over and over. I would listen to music, I would walk in nature. Each time I struggled and each time I found peace, hope, grace to continue my journey with Jesus.
I have to tell you, many times God seemed silent, Jesus was just a shadowy figure who didn’t seem real or relevant, and I had to look back at the path behind me, the miracles of the past years to keep my faith alive. Many times I sat for a while and just couldn’t move any further, a few times I made desperate decisions and ended up having to deal with those decisions for many years, but every day I have continued to ask, seek and knock. My faith and my passion have grown and I want nothing else in this world than to know my creator more. To understand love so that I can share that same love with others.
Yes, it’s true, life truly begins when we decide to take personal responsibility for our lives. That decision changes everything! Doesn’t make life easy – in many ways it makes it harder – but the benefits are so wonderful, profound, even extraordinary you will never want to allow anyone else to control your life again.
As with all of life, this is s process, but it all starts with a choice. Your choice! That choice must be followed through with awareness and determination!
Good stuff will follow! Not saying it will all be easy…just saying it will bring you to a place of peace and joy which is the best way to live life!
We can choose to start over in this very moment, there is no need to wait for a new year or a new month or a new week.
There are times in our lives that lend themselves to starting something new. The beginning of a new year, finishing school, leaving a job, or changing homes—these all are times that turn our minds to fresh starts. Their advantage is that they bring with them the energy of that event, creating a tide of change around them that we can ride to our next shoreline. But we can choose to start anew anytime. In any moment we can decide that a bad day or a relationship that’s gotten off on the wrong foot can be started again. It is a mental shift that allows us to clean the slate and approach anything with fresh eyes, and we can make that choice at any time.
Starting new is most powerful when we focus our attention to what we are choosing to create. Giving all of our attention to the unwanted aspects of our lives allows what we resist to persist. We need to remember to leave enough room in the process of new beginnings to be kind to ourselves, because it takes time to become accustomed to anything new, no matter how much we like it. There is no need to get down on ourselves if we don’t reach our new goals instantly. Instead, we acknowledge the forward motion and choose to reset and start again, knowing that with each choice we learn, grow, and move forward.
Making the choice to start anew has its own energy—it’s a promise made to you. The forward momentum creates a sort of vacuum behind it, pulling toward you all you need to help you continue moving in your chosen direction. Once the journey has begun, it may take unexpected turns, but it never really ends. Like cycles in nature, there are periods of obvious growth and periods of dormancy that signal a time of waiting for the right moment to burst forth. Each time we choose to start anew we dedicate ourselves to becoming the best we are able to be. http://www.dailyom.com
life: acoustic & amplified 