Change

Change

Living with a pandemic these past few months has changed so much about our lives. I imagine for many of us it may have changed how we have interacted with our word of the year and the intentions or goals we set at the beginning of the year. That is what we are exploring this month in our Living Your Word of the Year group. This week we are specifically going to explore the intentions or goals we set early on and see if they are still relevant in our "new normal". My original post about my intentions can be found here.

A while back I read a quote by Dietrich Bonhoeffer that has become the basis for my prayers lately. Bonhoeffer said,

"May God in His mercy lead us through these times; but above all, may He lead us to Himself."

Times like these can test us. They can test the depths of our faith and may force us to ask deep questions about our walk with Christ. Has fear of the virus or the economic changes it has brought caused fear to shake our trust in Jesus? Or have you been surprised to find your faith is greater than you had previously thought; that the years of time in God's Word and prayer, of faithfully walking with Him day-by-day have resulted in a foundation of trust that is not being shaken? Or maybe you're somewhere in between. As Bonhoeffer said, we can make a choice at any point in life to ask God to "lead us to Himself" and filter how we see life and our current circumstances through His lens of faith. We can ask God to "lead us to Himself for the first time or for a mid-course correction at any time.

I want to encourage you to spend some time reviewing the intentions or goals you set for your word. Reflect and pray. Our question/prompt this week is:

Has my connection with my word or my intentions changed as a result of current situations?

Here are a few more questions to help in reflection: 

• In light of the changes we have experienced over the past few months, do I feel God moving me away from any of the intentions I originally set for the year? 
• Do I feel Him moving me deeper into any of my intentions?
• Do I need to make any mid-course corrections to my intentions for the year?
• What do I want for my word in the last half of the year?

My word is fruit. I started out the year wanting to focus on the fact that fruit is a by-product of something else. Spiritually, fruit is the result of walking in the power of the Holy Spirit. Fruit, such as those listed in Galatians 5:22-23, is not something we can produce ourselves. It comes as a result of positioning ourselves under Christ and practicing spiritual disciplines such as Bible study, sacred reading, prayer, meditation, solitude, journaling, etc., in order to live a life that is led by God's Spirit.

But fruit is also something that can be borne through our lives into the lives of others as we live that Spirit-led life. As we love and serve and have a heart that seeks good for others  prompted by the call of Jesus through His words throughout Scripture. As I reflected on the changes in life brought about by the pandemic over the past few months, and more recently by issues of racial injustice, I found a resolve in me to continue serving in the community as I have been. To be wise in how I practiced in order to stay healthy, but to not back down on serving or being generous, and in this way to continue to bear fruit even though serving looks different in many ways now. And so, I feel just as connected, and maybe even a little more connected, to my word and my intentions. I find encouragement in the stories of our Christian heritage in centuries past of how Christ-followers acted and served in times of plague and famine, or in times of war and injustice as in Bonhoeffer's days. They are the "great cloud of witnesses" as Hebrews 12:1 calls the lives of those before us who lived by faith. So, while many things are different, and the ways in which we are able to do them have changed, for me, I find that I am to press on. My intentions of positioning myself before God and practicing spiritual disciplines that tend my soul and produce the fruit of faith within still serve to lead me through the rest of the year. As well as diligently serving that resolve I feel to bear fruit by serving in the community and using what God has planted in me and blessed me with to be used as an instrument of His blessing to others.

How about you? Where are you at right now? We are all at different phases in our spiritual journey and in our life situations, and it's fine wherever you're at.

"May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word." 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

Living Your Word 2020 Opportunity!

My friends Bernice Hopper, and Valerie Sjodin, and I share insights through blog posts for creatively living a word of the year. In our Facebook group, we encourage one another by posting questions and prompts to inspire living out a word focus, keeping a journal etc. It is a safe place to ask for prayer and support. If you would like to connect with others in creative ways about living your word, you can ask to join our Living Your Word of the Year 2020 by clicking on the link below.

URL for Facebook group:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/livingyourwordoftheyear/ 

Hashtag for Instagram:  #livingyourword2020

Check out their blogs:

Bernice: https://newlycreative.com

Valerie: https://valeriesjodin.com/blog/ 

Facing the Unknown

Facing the Unknown

Life has been so different these past few months as we have experienced the coronavirus become a global pandemic. So much has changed is such a short period of time. Little knowledge of this virus and its impact on our future has led to feelings of uncertainty. The crises of so much death, job losses, food shortages, and social isolation have left us struggling with how to handle the immense amount of emotion and stress that crisis and uncertainty bring. Even if we have not faced the death of someone we know or suffered the loss of our income, we have all been impacted by the change this crisis has brought about and face an unknown future in some way.

This week in our Living Your Word of the Year group we are exploring this very topic with a reflection question:

How are you engaging with your word in light of the unknown?

This question has given me an opportunity to look at my word of the year, fruit, and to look back over the past few months. Taking time for some reflection will be something we are going to focus on in our group over the next month. I have always found reflection and evaluation to be valuable practices in my life. My written journal and my art journal both are great tools to help me with the process of seeking God to examine my heart and life. As pastor and author Marc Alan Schelske said, 

"Journaling is an outward expression of your inward thought and heart life."

I use both of my journals for this purpose.

This week I began to look back through my journal for the past few months. On March 16, when we were beginning to face this crisis, I began to explore in my journal what life might look like in the weeks ahead. At that time our governor had closed schools for a month and had just declared bars and restaurants to be closed. Our church had also made the decision to stop in-person services for as long as the Governor deemed it appropriate. Since my job and much of my life revolve around ministry in the community I needed to determine how I would move forward. So I took some time to pray, to read Scripture, and then talk through what I felt was my call with my husband, and then with my pastor.

The first thing I did was to spend time finding out what was known about the virus at that time. How was it spread, what preventive measures could be taken, etc. Using that information to help guide my practice. I spent some time reading in 1 Peter, a letter written to Christ followers on how to live during times of crisis and suffering. I read many other passages in Scripture as well, and I spent a lot of time praying. This is what I determined back in March:

I've tried to use these as my guidelines for the past few month. I am volunteering in the community, trying to help make sure kids and families are fed. I'm trying not to engage in the divisiveness that has sadly become a part of this pandemic. I am mainly working from home, but am fully following the safe guidelines we have been provided with when I go out a couple of times a week. I've lessened the amount of news I take it. Not because I agree or disagree with the broadcasts, but because I am so emotional over the loss of life and over the divisiveness in our nation at a time when we should be caring for and supporting each other. In the early phases of staying at home I spent too much time reading news stories and social media and had times of totally checking out by binge watching TV. I got off track with eating well and exercising for the first month or so, but have turned that ship around. And then I remembered my training. That is what discipleship is all about after all, training to be like Jesus. Building our faith through spiritual practices so that we can draw from that deep well in times of crisis. So, I got back to what I know: Begin my days in God's Word before anything else. So when I look back through my journals for  the past months I find this:

The fruit of years of walking with the Lord and learning to trust Him; the years of spending time reading and studying His Word and learning how to live a life of faith, have borne fruit I didn't know I would need for such a time as this. I found that, while I was concerned about the virus and loss of life and about my family, I also had a peace about my role right now. 

What has not been on my mind: fear and anxiety. That is not to say there have not been times of riding emotional roller coasters, but I have found that the many years of being in God's Word and trusting Him through some difficult trials in the past have produced trust and faith in who God is, and in His goodness and faithfulness.. He is on control, even when the world feels out of control. I don't want to appear as if I have the answers to what is going on or to know exactly how we should handle life right now. It's going to look different for each of us because we each face different situations in this crisis. My time of reflection has just pleasantly surprised me with seeing the fruit of walking with the Lord and pursuing Him wholeheartedly in the practice of spiritual disciplines.

Last year I trained myself to memorize some Scripture passages, something I had always struggled with in the past. The two passages I memorized and meditated over repeatedly through the past year were Philippians 4:4-7 and Colossians 3:1-3. They both come mind so often these days and I've learned the value of having Scripture "hidden in my heart". Those passages have helped me stay anchored, grounded in my faith in God. More unexpected fruit that has blossomed in a time of need.

So, how are you engaging with your word of the year in light of the unknown? May I encourage you to take time in the weeks ahead and reflect on how life has been for you over the past few months. We'll provide questions and Scripture passages to help guide us in prayer and in reflection and evaluation.

Join us in the Living Your Word Community

My friends Bernice Hopper, and Valerie Sjodin, and I share insights through blog posts for creatively living a word of the year. In our Facebook group, we encourage one another by posting questions and prompts to inspire living out a word focus, keeping a journal etc. It is a safe place to ask for prayer and support. If you would like to connect with others in creative ways about living your word, you can ask to join our Living Your Word of the Year 2020 by clicking on the link below.

URL for Facebook group:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/livingyourwordoftheyear/ 

Hashtag for Instagram:  #livingyourword2020

Check out their blogs:

Bernice: https://newlycreative.com

Valerie: https://valeriesjodin.com/blog/ 

The Fruit of Self-Care

The Fruit of Self-Care

In our Living Your Word of the Year group we have been pondering weekly questions to help us connect with our word of the year in order to make it an active part of our lives. This week our question is:

How can you nurture your word with self-care this week?

We can thank Valerie Sjodin for these great weekly questions.  :)

My word for 2020 is fruit. The quote that describes my intention for selecting this word is by Dallas Willard:

"If you tend to the tree, the fruit will take care of itself."

For me, a large part of "tending to the tree" is about self-care practices. Fruit is the by-product of something else. Spiritually, it is the by-product of the Holy Spirit's work in our lives. He enables us to position ourselves before the Father for transformation. Spiritual practices or disciplines help us in this positioning, they help us live the life of the Spirit.

Self-care can be a loaded term in some circles. Some may see it as selfish or being self-indulgent. Others may have the view that it is a time waster, something only those who have a lot of extra time on their hands can indulge in. Whatever your view of self-care may be, I hope you'll indulge me in sharing my thoughts on the subject. 

In my own journey, embracing self-care came out of a time in my life when I was experiencing burn-out. I had worked in ministry for quite a few years - the same ministry I work in now - and I was struggling with feeling worn out, having no energy, constantly emotional, and not seeing how I could continue to pour out myself in outreach ministry for much longer. I was running on empty and it felt like the only solution to my problem was to quit my job. I am not going to go too much into the details here, but I ended up not quitting my job, and over the course of a few years of reading, studying the Bible, and talking with a few trusted friends, I found the answer to my burn-out issues was in self-care.

One of my foundational passages of Scripture for self-care is Mark 12:28-31.

"One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” "

Jesus says that loving God and loving our neighbor/others are the most important commandments. Yet this verse also makes an assumption: that you are already loving yourself. Not loving yourself in an unhealthy manner that is self-absorbent or verges on narcissism, but in a manner that is healthy and good, and that out of that place you will love your neighbor/others in the same manner. To me loving yourself is about self-care. It's about taking care of yourself in ways that keep you healthy emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually so that you can be your best for others. Jesus modeled this when he withdrew and sought solitude, rest and time for prayer. He even did this at the expense of not serving others needs at times. He taught it and modeled it to His disciples. He was so in tune with His Father and the Father's will that he was able to discern when it was time for self-care and when it was time for caring for others. 

Over the past years I have used this verse as a guideline when determining my intentions or goals with my word for the year. Jesus is calling us to love God with our whole being:

• With all our heart - this is our emotional health. Often burn-out has more to do with a loss of emotional energy than physical. So what habits and activities help restore my emotional energy? How can I make time for these activities in order to fill up what has been drained?
• With all our soul - this is our spiritual health. How am I regularly drawing closer to God? What practices can I put into place that deepen my relationship with Him and that help create spiritual health?
• With all my mind - this is our mental health. What am I doing to keep my brain healthy? How can I keep learning and growing? What practices need to be in place?
• With all my strength - this is our physical health. Being physically healthy helps all of the other areas of our health. What practices do I need to put into place to eat well, to exercise, to insure good sleep? What practices do I need to eliminate that cause my body to be unhealthy?

The other passage for self-care that is important to me offers Jesus' prescription:

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

Self-care is about resting in Jesus and learning from Him. But that's a message for another day!

This week think about your intentions and goals for your word of the year and ponder this:

What am I doing to care for my heart? For my soul? For my mind? For my strength? What am I doing to grow healthier in these areas, so that I may love God with my whole being and love my neighbor/others well? 

(Complete with a pen slip-up!)

"When I stop and rest, I can fill up and that enables me to pour out." ~Sunshyne Gray

Join us in the Living Your Word Community

My friends Bernice Hopper, and Valerie Sjodin, and I share insights through blog posts for creatively living a word of the year. In our Facebook group, we encourage one another by posting questions and prompts to inspire living out a word focus, keeping a journal etc. It is a safe place to ask for prayer and support. If you would like to connect with others in creative ways about living your word, you can ask to join our Living Your Word of the Year 2020 by clicking on the link below.

URL for Facebook group:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/livingyourwordoftheyear/ 

Hashtag for Instagram:  #livingyourword2020

Check out their blogs:

Bernice: https://newlycreative.com

Valerie: https://valeriesjodin.com/blog/ 

Intentions or goals? What's the Difference and Why Does It Matter?

Intentions or goals? What's the Difference and Why Does It Matter?

I have never been one who put much stock in setting New Year resolutions. Setting them never made much of an impact on my life, or took me very far into the year. Yet, I have been one who has continually sought change in my life. Not change for the sake of change itself, but rather a continual desire to become who God desires me to be. To me this is at the heart of spiritual formation. Over the years the practice of choosing a word to guide me through the year has been a significant tool to help with the goal of "Christ being formed" in me. (Galatians 4:19)

In conjunction with using a word as a lens on life through the year, has been the practice of setting intentions. A few weeks ago my friend, Bernice Hopper, asked me what I thought was the difference between intentions and goals. Here was my answer to her:

"I think the main difference between goals and intentions is in how you view them. Goals are usually specific in nature and are future oriented. I want to save 100.00 each month or I want to lose 20 pounds. Intentions are usually focused more on daily living in the present moment and lean toward habit forming and lifestyle. Both play a role. In fact intentions can help us meet goals. But I tend to prefer intentions because I think they help create a lifestyle or mindset instead of just completing tasks. Intentions can help us become the type of person we want to be. So instead of simply setting a goal of how many pounds I want to lose, instead my intentions are to eat healthier for my overall health. As I work on that I may or may not lose the pounds but will gain so many other health benefits. If I simply have a goal of losing ten pounds then every time the scale doesn't change I feel like I have failed."

Today I would like to expand on my answer to Bernice and explore a bit deeper into the topic. Here is a brief, basic rundown of goals and intentions from various definitions I found online:

Goals	Intentions
Future oriented	Present oriented
Concrete, tangible, specific	Aspirational, values-based characteristics
Action oriented	Way of being
Usually have a fixed outcome	Often ebb and flow as you grow
Generally more outwardly focused	Generally more inwardly focused
Usually focused on an end result	More focused on day-to-day living

I think both goals and intentions are valuable. However, I do tend to lean more toward using intentions, and here is the main reason why. To me, setting intentions is about making choices in my daily living that focus on who I want to be, more so than on what I want to get done. And this is based on a value for me: Doing flows out of being. Who I am is more important than what I do, and I want what I do to flow out of who I am. Who I am is about my character and my heart. I can change behaviors or habits and still have no change in my character or outlook. Because I also value authenticity - I want what I do to reflect who I am, or put another way - I want my actions to reflect my heart. And my heart is continually being transformed as I intentionally seek to be formed in the image of Christ.

So, I focus on intentions when looking at how I want to live out my word of the year. And I keep my values before me as I set those intentions. Then setting goals can help me put action to my intentions. But all of it is determined by my "why" - the values that guide my life. 

Some of my core values are:

• Faith first. Matthew 6:33 "Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness" has long been a guiding verse for me. 
• Doing flows out of being. Who I am guides what I do. You see this principle laid out in many of Paul's letters in the Bible. He gives a doctrinal foundation of who we are in Christ before he goes into instructions on how we are to live.
• Wholeness is the goal - seeking health in spirit, mind, body, emotions (Luke 10:27). Over the past few years I have used each of these areas as a guide to set my intentions.
• Authenticity. I highly value honesty and being real. I want the outside to match the inside. It may not always be pretty, but it is character shaping.
• Life long learning. Especially in the pursuit of spiritual formation, but other areas too. I am always curious!

So, then, each year when I have chosen a word through reflection and prayer, I set intentions for my word to be lived out through the year using my values as a guideline. I shared my mind map for my word a few weeks ago.

In keeping with the theme of my word, fruit, I used agricultural words to head each of my areas of focus. And my areas of focus are divided into the four areas of life that make us whole beings. 

Spiritual: This is a big focus for me this year. Since fruit is not something we can produce ourselves, my desire is to focus on being more dependent on the Holy Spirit. It is He who produces the fruit of Christ in our lives. I continually battle my stubborn, independent, I-can-do-it-myself personality, so I need to continually be intentional about leaning into and living by the Spirit. 

Mind: For me, much of soul care is about the continual effort of training the mind, thoughts, and heart to the mind of Christ. Last year I made great strides in overcoming my doubt that I could memorize Scripture passages and am going to expand in that practice this year. Other spiritual practices such as prayer, journal writing, and reading help train my heart and mind as well.

Body: I really just added this category over the past few years as I have learned more about the body being an active part of our spiritual life. So areas of healthier eating and building exercise habits can help me grow healthier and stronger physically, and, I believe, aid the other areas as well. 

Finally emotions: Emotional and mental energy are so important to me. The more I understand my personality and being an introvert, the more I have learned to make time for self-care - the things that restore my energy and help me have a healthy outlook.

From here, setting intentions that are driven by my values, I can then go on and develop goals - action steps that will help me live out these intentions. Things such as reviewing my daily schedule and rearranging things or removing things to make time for walking at the park, which actually helps me build my exercise habit and has the added benefit of being out in nature, which I have learned is something that helps my emotional and mental outlook. I can now go through each area of focus and spend time planning steps that will help me live out my intentions and see healthy fruit produced as a result of following the Spirit's leading in each area.

Here are some questions that show the process in a nutshell:

Your values help determine your why: What are the values that guide your life? 

What are your hopes for your word this year? 

Intentions help determine your how: What intentions would help you live out your word in a manner that help you be who you want to be? Do they align with your values?

Goals help determine your what: What goals will help you move toward your intentions?

Valerie Sjodin will be also have a post today about intentions on her blog: valeriesjodin.com 

Living Your Word 2020 Opportunity!

My friends Bernice Hopper, and Valerie Sjodin, and I share insights through blog posts for creatively living a word of the year. In our Facebook group, we encourage one another by posting questions and prompts to inspire living out a word focus, keeping a journal etc. It is a safe place to ask for prayer and support. If you would like to connect with others in creative ways about living your word, you can ask to join our Living Your Word of the Year 2020 by clicking on the link below.

URL for Facebook group:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/livingyourwordoftheyear/ 

Hashtag for Instagram:  #livingyourword2020

Check out their blogs:

Bernice: https://newlycreative.com

Valerie: https://valeriesjodin.com/blog/ 

A Season for Reflection

In the Everyday Journal group I belong to we are exploring the season we are in. I am using the contrasts in Ecclesiastes 3 metaphorically as way to examine my heart and mind in the season of life I am in. Unfortunately my month got very busy and I did not get to do a blog post for each verse as I had planned. So, this post will give the reflection questions for the remaining verses for anyone who is interested in using them. 

Photo by Aaron Burden, unsplash.com

"A time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance." Ecclesiastes 3:4

• Are there areas in your life where you have not given yourself time of permission to grieve properly? Any losses that you mourn? Any heart aches that you rushed by, covered over, moved past without allowing yourself time to experience grief?
• Ask God to help you see those wounded places and to help you give them the time and space needed to grieve them.
• What needs to be celebrated in your life? 
• What has brought you joy?
• Take time to experience and express gratitude to God for those things and times.

"A time to scatter stones and a time to gather them." Ecclesiastes 3:5a

Scattering and gathering stones reminds me of the altars that would be built in the Old Testament as a way of remembering what God had done. Read Deuteronomy 27:1-8 where God told his people to build an altar of stones to remember His commandments.

• Are there times and events in your life where God protected you, rescued you, carried you through? 
• Do you need to do something significant to help you remember them and to remind you of God's faithfulness? Maybe an art journal page or a piece of art or even a sculpture of stones in your garden.
• Or maybe you have allowed things or habits in your life to become idols and you need to scatter them and return to fully worshiping God alone. Confess these things to God.
• What spiritual practices might you engage in to help you focus on God?
• A practice I did at a retreat one time was to write something I was struggling with on a stone, then leave that stone somewhere as a symbol of letting go of it and giving it to God in trust. What do you need to let go of?

"A time to embrace and a time to refrain." Ecclesiastes 3:5b

This makes me think of spiritual disciplines. Some are disciplines of engagement - embracing times of Bible study, prayer, worship, serving others, etc. Others are disciplines of abstinence - refraining from things in order to draw closer to God with things like fasting, silence, simplicity, serving in secret, etc.

• Is this a season where you need to make more time to embrace the things that draw you closer to God? 
• Do you need to deepen your time in the Word or prayer? 
• Do you need to focus more on serving others rather than simply being focused on your own needs?
• Do you need to refrain from something for a time in order to be reconnected with your dependence on God? 
• Do you need to fast from food or social media or spend some time in solitude?

"A time to search and a time to give up." Ecclesiastes 3:6a

• This seems like a great connection to reflection. Ask God to search your heart. (Psalm 139:23-24)
• What does God reveal to you? Are your thoughts more Christ-centered or self-centered?
• Are you searching for things in life to fulfill you that God alone can fulfill?
• What might you need to let go of or give up in order to trust and rest in God alone?

“You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” ~Augustine

"A time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend." Ecclesiastes 3:6b-7a
This makes me think of Jesus talking in Matthew 6:19-20 about treasure: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal." 

• What areas of your life and which practices help you keep a kingdom focus?
• Where do you need to throw away the things that are earthly and getting too much of your focus, that may be taking your time away from God? 
• What areas of your life need to be built up or mended so that you "treasure God, investing your life in what God is doing and devoting yourself to the good of other people"?

Author Jan Johnson, in her book Abundant Simplicity, says that focusing on the messages the culture feeds us can often take our minds off of Kingdom matters. We need to look to Jesus and "subtly replace them with thoughts of treasuring God, investing our life in what God is doing and devoting ourselves to the good of other people."

"A time to be silent and a time to speak." Ecclesiastes 3:7b

• Sometimes it is best to not speak our minds if doing so may offend or cause someone harm. Ask God to reveal any areas where He may be calling you to silence your voice.
• Proverbs 31:8-9, however, call us to speak for the voiceless and destitute. Are there things in life that scream injustice to you? How might you speak up to help benefit those things or people?
• Do you need to refrain from gossip or unkind talk? Do you need to defend those being spoken ill of?
• Do you need to practice giving kind words more often?

"A time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace." Ecclesiastes 3:8

• I personally struggle with loving others well, yet feel the clear call of God to do so. Ask God to show you who you may not be acting in loving ways toward. Spend time praying for them and asking God to help you love them.
• What does it look like to love your neighbors? 
• What are some steps you might take to show them love?
• How might you counter the hate and division that seems to permeate our world?
• How can you share God's love in your community today?

Thank you for journeying through a season of reflection with me this month. I pray that you will find, as I have, that reflection on all things - good and bad - helps us draw near to God, who has "made everything beautiful in its time". Ecclesiastes 3:11

Previous posts of reflection on Ecclesiastes 3 can be found here, here, here, and here.

Our Journey Through Lent Begins

Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Lent Season. Today we begin a journey of reflection and sacrifice, mourning and celebration, abstinence and engagement. We set aside this season of Lent as a time of remembering the sacrifice of Christ, and in turn committing to sacrifice as well, following in His steps. We practice spiritual disciplines, not as a way to gain God's favor and holiness, but as a way to mourn our sinfulness, lest we take for granted the gift of grace through salvation in Christ. Today, if we participate in an Ash Wednesday service, we will receive ashes on our foreheads in the shape of a cross to remind us that there, on the cross, Jesus paid the price for our sin to redeem us.

"For you are dust and to dust you will return." Genesis 3:19

Throughout the Bible ashes or dust are used symbolically of mourning, death and repentance. 2 Samuel 3:19, Esther 4:1-3, Job 42:6, Ezekiel 27:30-31, Matthew 11:21 are just a few examples of how ashes/dust are used. Author Ruth Haley Barton explains the significance of Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent well:

"Ash Wednesday also initiates a season of acknowledging our sinfulness. In very intentional ways, we invite God to search us and know us and (eventually) to lead us into resurrection life. The ashes marking our foreheads carry the same meaning contained in the Old Testament practice of covering oneself with ashes: they are an outward sign of an inward repentance and mourning as we become aware of our sin. This, too, is good for us because we live in so much denial. Facing our sin in the shadow of Christ’s cross and impending resurrection is the healthiest way to deal with our sin.

The inner dynamics of Lent have to do with fasting or abstaining from the ways we normally distract ourselves from what’s really going on in our lives spiritually—the reality of our sin and the deeply patterned behaviors that keep us from our calling to follow Christ. We allow some of the external trappings of our lives to be stripped away so that we can find our true identity and calling in God once again. We acknowledge the subtle temptations to which we are prone rather than pretending we are beyond temptation. We face the spiritual reality of the battle being waged for our very souls."

I have not participated in the Lent practice of fasting or self-denial in the past. But this year as I have prayed and looked at what God's Spirit has been pressing into in my life, I decided to participate by engaging in some practices that in so doing are actually a practice in abstinence. Over the past year God has enabled me to experience some healing in some areas of my life. Emotional and relational areas that became damaged as a result of my not dealing well with loss and disappointment over a period of time. As is often the case, when you become healthier in one area it opens your eyes to other areas that need restoration. For me, I have become aware of a lack of loving others well in some areas of my life. I wrote the other day about how spending some time studying Hebrews 12:1-3 opened my eyes to the reality that being "weighed down and entangled" keeps me from living in the flow (my word for the year) of the Spirit. How I react to people and not  loving others well is something that weighs me down. So, for this Lent season I am going to try to abstain from the feelings and habits that get in the way of loving others. I'm going to engage in kindness and extend grace and forgiveness in those times when I feel inclined to have my way or feel defensive or the need to be right. I'm going to be asking myself questions like, what do I need to give up to be more loving and what do I need to practice? I have not totally figured out what this looks like or even what to call it, but I feel the need to practice it. To deny myself in those times when ego or pride want to have their way and instead to practice humility and kindness. 

So, how are you practicing sacrifice in this season of Lent? Are you participating in Lent in any way this year? 

Here on my blog I'll be posting a few devotional writings/Bible studies each week surrounding Lent words. I have also invited some fellow sojourners to write guest posts in the weeks ahead. On this post from last week you'll find a list of 40 words with corresponding Bible verses or passages. We have a group of people who are responding creatively to these Lent Words for 2018. They will be sharing their responses in a private Facebook group or on Instagram.

Join us, it's simple:

• Follow this blog by putting your email address in the box in the right hand column to be notified when new posts are published
• Join the Lent Words 2017 Facebook group where you can share your art and ideas and join the conversation through the Lent season. www.facebook.com/groups/LentWords. 
• Share on Instagram and other social media with the hashtag #lentwords2018.

Retreat and Surrender

Isaiah 30:15

Rest. 

Repentance - or "returning".

Quietness.

Trust....

Last weekend I attended a retreat called Refine. It wasn't what I expected. Most retreats I have attended in the past had sessions and workshops throughout the day and we were filled with information to process in our downtime. This retreat had limited information or content and was filled with downtime, a two-hour art journaling session, worship and some guided reflection time. At first I was a bit put off by the lack of content - isn't that what we pay for on a retreat, after all? But as it turned out, the way of this retreat was just what I needed. It was just what God had in store for me.

I have been in a slump, a dry place, especially creatively, since late January. We dealt with a family crisis throughout the month of February which drained me emotionally. Add to that a week of illness in the midst of it and I have struggled to regain any sort of creative energy. And then the time for this retreat came along. On Friday evening Kris Camealy, our retreat host, laid out the weekend and shared her heart for our time. Using Psalm 66:1-12, and especially verse 12, Kris laid out the theme for our weekend as "a place of abundance".

"For you, God, tested us;

    you refined us like silver....

we went through fire and water,

    but you brought us to a place of abundance."

Psalm 66:10 & 12

She called us to open our hands and release whatever we are holding onto that is holding us back from experiencing the abundance and freedom God has for us. On Friday evening and early Saturday morning I spent a good amount of time reflecting and journaling about this passage and the state of my mind and heart. And slowly I began to feel filled and rested. And then came the art journaling session led by Christine Hiester. 

Oh, the art journaling session.....Christine started  in a time of prayer and reflection to lead us into our art journaling time continuing the theme of open hands. My creative slump began to lift as ideas and images began to fill my mind. We filled our journal page, writing down the things that are holding us back, keeping us stuck, not allowing us to move in God's freedom. Then we covered our writing with paint and paper and and let the art flow! I felt so released and filled with creative energy! When the two hour session ended I quickly ate lunch and returned to the art room to keep going. When the afternoon art session began I simply switched rooms and made art until dinner time, feeling so refreshed by the creativity that filled my heart and my mind. I felt restored!

Over the past months, as I felt lost in this emotionally draining time, I didn't do the things I normally do to process life - journaling, art, blogging - I even had to miss scheduled times with my mentor during this time. I felt stuck and couldn't focus for long on these things that usually bring me life and energy. But this weekend in the midst of pine trees and the sacred surroundings of a retreat center that was once a convent; in the midst of a community of women, times of reflection, worship and downtime, God pulled me out of my slump and restored me. I am refreshed. My ability to journal and make art and blog has been renewed and I feel like...Me. A rested and restored me.

Since early January the word surrender, or synonyms such as let go or release, have been popping up everywhere. In songs, in books or blog posts I read, in Sunday morning messages. It popped up again at the retreat and became a theme for my weekend. 

On Friday night Kris said:

"The way to a place of abundance is through surrender."

My word for this year is "whole", and I have had a sense through the first few months of the year that "surrender" is going to play a big part in living out this word.

Through this past week as I have reflected on the retreat, I have had a deeper awareness of things I have known about myself. Sometimes God has to tell me things a few times before they sink into my heart. Repeated, gentle, loving reminders. My creative slunps are usually not about a lack of creativity. They are usually an indicator of a deeper draining within me. I have become aware of how intricately connected my spiritual, emotional and creative health and energy are. When I'm drained emotionally I find it difficult to write in my journal and read the Bible, and even at times to pray. When I'm not writing in my journal and connecting to God through His Word and prayer, I find that my emotional and creative energy are impacted. So, the best prescription for me to remain healthy is to keep my heart and mind connected to God through His Word and prayer and writing in my journal, and then processing it all through art.

"Come and hear, all who fear God,
And I will tell of what He has done for my soul." Psalm 66:16

We did a great exercise while at the retreat. We were asked to write down the baggage we brought with us onto pebbles. Things that were holding us back, things we didn't want to take back home with us, We were then told to leave them somewhere in the retreat grounds...leave them and don't take them back home.

Rest

Repentance

Quietness

Trust

Salvation

Strength

Surrender

Whole