My Spirit... It's All About Discipline

I've been fortunate enough to find a graduate program that places a tremendous amount of emphasis on the importance of facilitating whole-person education. The benefit is that in learning how to facilitate, I also am wholly educated. Right now my cohort is taking a Spiritual Formation class and it has made an impact on me, to say the least. If nothing else, this class has pointed me back to the spiritual disciplines, and I've begun to find a new, refreshing power in them.

I hope the title was a bit intriguing to you, and maybe even found you disagreeing with it. However, what I've been finding, both through study and personal experience, points to that statement being true. I'm beginning to see that the spiritual disciplines are foundational elements to my faith, and without them, my foundation becomes less like concrete and more like sand.

A simple example is reading the Bible every day. I've heard people say that you shouldn't read your Bible unless your heart is in the right place, ready to receive the Word. Or I've heard, "Well, I just didn't feel like reading my Bible today." In my opinion, those are classic examples of how your heart can be deceived.

I'm reading a book for class right now called Desiring the Kingdom and I can sum it up for you in one phrase: "Habits are formative*." If that is the case, then shouldn't I make it a habit to read my Bible? Shouldn't I read it even if my heart is in a terrible place, if I'm ticked off at God, or if I just feel lazy? I have not been perfect, but since Jan. 1 I have tried harder than ever to make this an everyday practice. This class is only confirming what I've learned and experienced in the past year; if I open up my Bible, even out of habit, his Word will not return void. I notice that my SPIRIT is different on days that I start it all off by opening up my Bible. It's the same way with the disciplines of fasting, solitude, prayer, submission, service, confession, and celebration**.

My generation, and that includes a good portion of the people reading this blog, have strayed from Discipline, especially of the spiritual variety. I know everything I've written is not groundbreaking, but I want to encourage you all (if you're not doing so already) to pick one of the previously listed spiritual disciplines and try to make it a habit (either daily or weekly) and see what God teaches you through being diligent and disciplined. No, it's not a bad thing to daily open your Bible or pray, or fast a day a week out of habit. That's like saying it's a bad thing to put your seat belt on or to not swear because they are habits.

Make some of these disciplines habits and watch your spirit grow and change to become more like Christ!

*I'm not kidding. You really don't have to read the book because I just gave it away. It's not a huge message, but it's an important one to understand.
**If it sounds like I took a bunch of these from Foster's Celebration of Discipline, it's because I did.

The Pains of Single Living

No, I'm not talking about romantic relationships. I'm talking about living in an apartment all by myself. One of the things that was hammered home while I was at the Institute at Focus on the Family was to never live by yourself. I understood their reasoning, but now I've experienced it for a year and can say with certainty that it is an important rule to try to live by. I will grant that sometimes life demands otherwise, for instance my situation being an RD in a res hall, or maybe moving to a place where you initially don't know anyone. However, I've found it to be a very negative experience, mainly for the reasons I was warned about at Focus.

Maybe you completely disagree with me when I say single living might be one of the worst things you can do, but hear me out. What I witnessed in my own life was a bit disturbing. Because of my previous knowledge, I was aware of what was happening, but often it was hard to curb the effect of single living. When you live by yourself, you immediately lose all forms of daily accountability and awareness of others. You get home and don't have to be a servant to anyone - you don't have to be selfless. That was the hardest thing to fight because my flesh was loving being focused only on ME. But my spirit sensed that it was wrong. It's kind of like exercise; when you don't lift, your muscles don't grow. If you never have to practice selflessness, you won't learn or grow in that area. I have found my self-awareness diminish along with my desire to and awareness of opportunities to serve others.

Lastly, you don't have individuals to challenge you to grow because they simply aren't around. Say what you will about having accountability partners, etc., but the fact is, your accountability partner most likely isn't going to be around you all the time. A roommate will, and they will force you to address issues that you otherwise wouldn't normally have to address. On a side note, I think living with roommates of the same sex is a great preparation for marriage because it forces you to think of others when often you don't feel like it.

I say all this to let you know selfishness is something I've really been struggling with, and I think it largely stems from living by myself. Feel free to call me out on this if you notice it in my life.

For you recent post-grads out there, take my advice. Do yourselves a favor and find a couple solid people to live with. If you live intentionally with each other, you'll be a better person because of it.

Someone Pinch Me...

I think I'm getting old. Maybe it's a dream, maybe I just don't want to face reality, but Saturdays are becoming like Sundays for me.

I sat around all day today and was content in watching a couple basketball games and talking on the phone to a mentor of mine. I then realized that I needed to get some homework done, but wasn't upset about it and actually felt like doing it. It's almost like I was looking forward to learning.

Somewhere in all that, I snuck in about an hour nap. Then after doing a bit of leisurely reading, I crawled into bed at 9:30ish* to get some much needed beauty sleep. Now, you might look at the time of this post and ask a pretty valid question. There is a reason why I am awake 3 1/2 hours later and that is because I couldn't go to sleep because I was laying there completely caught up in thought.**

I couldn't stop thinking about how I could better invest in the people around me. There are so many hurts, needs, potentials, good intentions, people searching for Truth, people trying to engage in Truth and better serve others, and the list goes on. I want to reach out and touch people where they are and make an indelible impact on their lives.

One of the ways I will hopefully do this is by taking a few young men with me to Atlanta over spring break to work with Desire Street Ministries and expose them to urban ministry and to the issues the needy are dealing with. I was getting all excited thinking about it and had to get back out of bed and look up DSM's website and reacquaint myself with their cause.

I'm coming down off of my high, so I think I might go to bed for real now. I'll keep everyone informed on any news about the DSM opportunity.

*This is definitely an old person's bed time
**To me this constitutes an adult activity/getting old, so if you disagree with me too bad

Huntington Rush

Today is the day!!!!  All the freshmen are moving in!!  Campus is buzzing.  All faculty are off work so they can help move people into their new homes for the next 4 years of their lives... And I'm sitting in my apt. after an RA brunch/mtg., expecting maybe 3 or 4 people to move in to my 2 buildings... exciting day (sense the sarcasm?)  

No Expectations?!?

Is this possible in our relationships?  Is it possible to have no expectations of people, especially those who you've invested in the most?  Would it be right, or would it just lead to apathy?

This is a thought that I have been confronted with several times in the past few weeks.  I was exposed to it in the book 'The Shack'.  It was a powerful statement when I first read it: God doesn't have expectations of me.  This isn't to say that he doesn't want us to follow Him and his Truth, but He knows our nature.   So instead of feeling let down when we screw up, He simply is there to pick us up and show us the Way.  Because He had no expectations in the first place, He is not inhibited to continue teaching, leading, guiding, correcting, and loving us unconditionally and with abandon.

I was recently at an ACSD conference that gathered RDs from Christian universities around the mid-west, where this exact thing was discussed.  We were called to live in relationships with no expectations.  This is tough for me to comprehend.  Often I feel when I pour myself into someone in a mentoring, discipleship, or even friendship role, they owe it to me to not mess up; to perform at a higher level.  Is it ridiculous for me to think like this?  Aren't we supposed to expect more from those we are bringing alongside us?  

The thing that I have to remind myself of, is that the person is on a journey, and unfortunately we humans tend to learn from our mistakes (many times it takes multiple mistakes).  So when you find yourself in a Paul-type position, don't allow yourself to be discouraged or to give up when someone "let's you down", even if it is the 30th time.  Let go of your pride and realize that they are not living for you; and that their mistake is not a reflection on your ability to lead them.  Rather, be there to humbly pick them back up and continue guiding them on their own personal journey because, although that may be their 30th correction, it could just be that it is the 30th in a line of 31 and there is only one more to go in the process that is molding and shaping them into the image of Christ.  

Let me know what you think about this concept?  Is it way off line?  Is it a challenge to you?  Should we make a shift to start thinking like this?

My First Official Day(s) of Work

For those of you that don't know, I recently moved to Huntington, IN to start my new job as an RD at Huntington University.  I'm joined by 3 other 1st year RD's, so I'm definitely not alone in my incompetence (sorry to those referenced if I offended you), which may or may not be a good thing.  My first official day at my first "real" job was last Fri. (Aug. 1).  We went to an ACSD conference which was okay* until we all got icey juicys and then it was amazing (well that and my boss spouting off about reading a book about a rooster that made him cry).   

My first work day on campus was yesterday (Mon. the 4th), but I can't really sum it up better than a new friend and colleague of mine, Steve.  This dude is hilarious and I can't wait to have some great times and memories with him.  Read his blog if you ever get bored.  You'll laugh.  

Basically, I think I'm going to love this job and the people that I'm working with.  Good days at HU. 

*(More thoughts on the not so lame conference will be coming).