Month: May 2020

As Christians, we are all equally longing to prosper in the fruits of the spirit. This familiar list contains some of the most desirable traits any human could want to possess. Love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, patience, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control are all just out of reach most days for anyone of us. But regardless, we are called to exhibit these traits as we live out the christian life. If these traits aren’t unachievable, what is the point to even trying to live the christian life anyways?

Are we willing to wait?

Every self help book ever written will give you millions of practical ways to become who you are “meant to be”. I know i have personally exhausted myself trying to achieve these things, and regardless of the guarantee, nothing seems to stick. Why is it so hard? The problem I believe is that we are not willing to wait on a good thing. We see small changes fast, then when they we inventively fail, we give up trying all together. The problem is we are not waiting on the Lord to change us. We are relying on our own will power. Only the change he wills changes us at heart level. The Bible tells us we are broken. You can’t fix anything with broken tools. That is all we have to use. You need a carpenter that knows how to mend them and then use them properly. When we wait broken at his feet he can’t help but fix us, leading to growth beyond what we could ever will ourselves. He loves us beyond what we can imagine. We have to choose to position ourselves there. The Lord wants us to choose him. He can’t completely fix us without all the pieces. Will he be an ornament on a put together exterior, or the trunk and roots, powering us from the center . His living spirit in us produces good fruit.

Wait expectantly!

As with any good fruit, growth takes time. Faith is the fertilizer needed. The Lord promises to put his hands in the soil as we seek him. One day bringing us to completion, offering us a 100% guarantee!

Most people, when they think of being present and mindfulness, think of the silent monk who sits with his legs crossed from dawn to dusk. If that were the only way to practice such things no wonder we’ve all seemed to abandon it. Now, it’s more obvious than ever that this is a skill we all desperately need to learn. In the halt of a viral pandemic we’re all showing signs of our deficiency in this. It is not natural for human beings to not be in motion. For so long our brains have been in survival mode so much so that we’re exhausting ourselves just living.

Practice Makes Peace

When we do not take the time to observe the present moment we fail to see that we don’t hold the world together with our own two hands. Think about all the times that it’s felt like the world has fallen apart even against our best efforts. It may be that some of us are just afraid to realize how small we really are. The world does in fact need us. It needs our creativity and productivity to become a better place. Ironically so, we strive so much to make the world better but most of the time we are trying to hard. We’re burnt out and bitter, unable to enjoy the fruits of our labor as we should. I believe a good phase to describe this situation is that we are slaves to this world.

To break free from the chains I think we first all need to do some self -observation What makes us notice the world around us? This could be different from one person to another. There is no uniform rule (remember the peaceful monk trap) . It will not be easy for in being present we are going against the grain. Starting a journal is a great place to start. You will want to do this is a quick place free of distraction to get the most out of it. Journal daily for a week then look back through you journal entries at the end of that week. Note what you talked about most. The things that fall out of the page are things that ground you in the world. This could be the birds chirping or children laughing. Once you’ve made note of what you acknowledging the most, do more of it. While you do these things, it will be beneficial to do a quick body scan. Note emotions you feel. Note how your body physical feels. This is your grounding place. As you practice noticing these things in these ideal environments, you will start to notice when things are off in your daily life. When you feel you have traveled too far from this grounding place, close your eyes and image yourself there. Come back to that grounding place.

The purpose here is to stay in your bod. It’s time we stop being so reactive. We’re missing too many of the beautiful pieces of life. We need to feel our heartbeat, our chest rise and fall, and to marvel at the wonder of it all. It’s time to stop settling for numbing out. We are slighting ourselves. Life truly is full of goodness. Taste the good fruit.