Category: Faith

Being Open To Change

Yesterday marked the halfway point to Easter Sunday! If you have been making a Lenten fast in an effort to become more hungry, I hope you’ve been able to see and feel a spiritual growth over the last few weeks.

For this post, I wanted to share a small prayer that I found while going back through my journal. I originally copied it from my devotional, but it’s come to mind regularly since Ash Wednesday and has helped keep me in the right mindset while praying. It simply states…

“Father, do what you must in me to do what you will through me.”

lenten-prayer

It’s so simple, isn’t it? But so difficult to accept!

To me, this is a crux (and crutch) of discipline in my spiritual life – to be able to discern what God is trying to do inside of me (with thoughts, feelings, etc.) in order to follow his will for me here on Earth.

The Trap
For me, it becomes easy to use just two types of prayer:
1. thanksgiving
2. asking for something that I want (my default)

The prayer that’s missing, though, is the one that says “…thy will be done…”

The humility to realize I’m in a situation for a reason isn’t easy to accept. But if I give it time to play out, God has a pretty good track record of bringing things full circle.

What I’ve come to realize is that, sometimes, to get the things I want, God has to change my perspective on what I really need.

Sure, I want the guy that cut me off in traffic to get stuck behind a semi.

But maybe what I really need is to learn patience.

When I get annoyed by another driver, it changes the mood in the car for a minute. It’s not fair to my wife. And it’s not fair to other drivers around me because my attention is now slightly less focused on my surroundings in thinking about that car.

If I can learn patience in that situation, though, it can eventually carry over to other areas of my life.

The Release
By becoming more patient, I become a better husband, co-worker and friend. Heck, I even become a better stranger by holding doors for people and not hurrying past the sweet old couple scooting down the grocery store aisle.

Who knows? My new-found patience could ultimately have the potential to put me in a situation where someone else’s prayer is answered because of my patience. If that doesn’t create a sense of personal fulfillment…I don’t know what ever will.

It’s a roundabout way of getting there, but I believe that by being open to Him moving inside of me, I’m more susceptible to finding true freedom in Him moving through me.

So try the prayer out for yourself. Really sit on it. And see if you learn a deeper lesson from something you’re going through.

Why Lent Should Make Us Hungry

Today is Ash Wednesday, the official start of Lent in the Catholic Church. In most people’s minds, this means it’s time to give something up: candy, desserts, soda, Starbucks, etc. But what’s the point?

dust

Getting Hungry
I recently heard a discussion on a local Christian radio station about the differences between physical hunger and spiritual hunger.

The pastor noted that with physical hunger, we begin to have a discomfort that, until satisfied, only intensifies. If we try to ignore our stomachs, there are immediate side effects: anger, sleepiness, loss of focus, etc.

It’s only after consuming food that we feel content.

Then there’s this: if we consume too much food, we actually feel sick.

With spiritual hunger, however, it’s almost the exact opposite. Things of the world (possessions, pride, prestige, etc) tend to draw our attention pretty easily. We don’t necessarily feel spiritually hungry from the get-go because we have things to fill that void. If we ignore our spiritual lives, we probably don’t notice it because we’re having so much “fun”.

Like food, it’s only after feeding ourselves spiritually that we find true contentment.

But then there’s this: once we begin pursuing God on a regular basis, we won’t be able to get enough! We’ll never be full.

And that’s the awesome part.

So…Lent?
As the article linked above states, the tree traditional pillars of Lent are prayer, fasting and almsgiving. These are a great place to start in helping to remove some of our spiritual barnacles, as my priest would say, and help us grow our hunger to know God more.

  1. Prayer
    Try reading the Bible on a daily basis with an app like Laudate, available for both iPhone and Android – it also includes a daily reflection. Or use a guided Lenten reading plan from an app like YouVersion. You could even adjust your morning routine and make time for PB&J each day.
  2. Fasting
    On Fridays during lent (and Ash Wednesday), it’s customary for Catholics to only eat two small meals and one large meal; no snacks in between. Some also choose to fast from one particular food or social network for all of Lent. It’s a way to grow self-discipline over our eating, our time and our attitudes. More than that, it should remind us of our hunger for God. When we get hungry, we can offer it up in prayer.
  3. Almsgiving
    Donating to charities (or your church) is a selfless way to help move a cause forward that is bigger than yourself. It could also take the form of sacrifice by coming from another area of your spending (i.e. maybe that daily Venti non-fat, non-whip latte with an extra shot of espresso).If you’re not in a position to be able to give monetarily, we can also give our time. Try volunteering at a local shelter or food bank. Giving of ourselves counts just as much as giving of our wallet. Volunteering is an area my wife and I have discussed multiple times and will hopefully be able to get better at during Lent.

The Goal
Our priest talked about how, at the end of Lent, we should have a greater hunger than for the Pringles we gave up for 40 days. We should have a hunger for God and a desire to know him more.

That’s my prayer for myself and all of you.

Beliefs Become Our Destiny

beliefs become your destiny

Are you an optimist?

A pessimist?

An activist?

What do you believe in?

Gandhi famously said,

“Your beliefs become your thoughts,
Your thoughts become your words,
Your words become your actions,
Your actions become your habits,
Your habits become your values,
Your values become your destiny.”

So it all starts with what you believe.

How you see the world.

Your perspective on anything: faith, health, family, work habits, finances, social issues.

It’s a little ironic that we would have to first think about what we believe for it to then regularly become our thoughts, but take a second to really digest how that chain of events unfolds.

Can you see Gandhi’s words ringing true in your own life, at least up to your habits?

Do those habits reflect the values that you claim as most important?

Are you comfortable with that becoming your destiny?

Lamentations 3:23 tells us that God’s mercies renew every morning, so we have reason to hope in our final destiny with each new day. How encouraging!

It means I can grow and change anytime I realize I’ve developed a habit I don’t like, just as Lam 3:40 calls us to do: Let us search and examine our ways, and return to the Lord!

So remember, it doesn’t matter what area of your life you might be analyzing; if you’re not happy with where you’re headed, it’s okay to take time and evaluate your beliefs.

Think about it.

PB&J Before Breakfast

PB&J – a staple of the American diet!

pbnj

But do you ever have PB&J before breakfast?

Not for breakfast — before breakfast. I finally added all three into my daily diet about 6 months ago, and it’s been awesome. (What?! This guy’s weird…)

Hang on…I’m talking about Prayer, Bible & Journal time every morning. Allow me to explain.

Prayer

It started with a priest’s homily comment. He mentioned how easy it should be for us to pray at least five times a day:

  • When we wake up (“Thank you, God, for another day!”)
  • Before each of three meals (“Thank you, God, for this food.”)
  • Before falling asleep (“Thank you, God, for x, y and z today.”)

It seemed so simple. I was usually good for a prayer or two each day, but for whatever reason I had never considered how easy it should be to fit at least five opportunities into my day to praise God. Plus, St. Paul teaches us in 1 Thes 5:16-18,

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

I began consciously adding more prayer to my daily routine. The result?

Bible

Fast forward to January 2013 when I was very subtly being compelled to dive into the Bible more. But it’s a little daunting, isn’t it? I’m mean…that book is huge! Where do I start? I was given a devotional that followed the daily mass readings and had a mediation for each day, so I made it a new year’s resolution to read each morning.

It’s seems obvious in hindsight, but I’ve come to realize that when I start my day with scripture, my attitude and outlook tend to follow suit. I was being inspired by verses and thoughts in the meditations but I needed an outlet for it.

Journal

So finally, about six months ago, it all came together – I bought a journal. I’ll admit, a little part of me felt self-conscious that I was acting like a high school girl, but I’m over that now for three reasons:

  • The more books I’ve read, the more it’s been mentioned that journaling is an important part of many successful people’s daily routines (including men), so I’m clearly going overboard on the high-school-girl-self-consciousness thing.
  • My wife had been journaling since that 2013 new year’s resolution and loved the peace of mind it gave her. I was late to the game in learning this, but it’s been awesome to keep track of verses I want to memorize or thoughts I’ve had (like blogs I should write). It helps de-clutter my brain.
  • I was apparently getting old and having trouble remembering when I did something, where I went or what I accomplished. That’s all documented now. (Added bonus, if anyone asks where I was six weeks ago between 2:15pm and 2:36pm, I’m going to have a much better idea then I did before journaling…)

The Result

It’s been a steady and gradual faith journey with noticeable growth along the way.

It’s reinforced the importance of having discipline in my spiritual life. In the times where I’ve slacked off and not made an effort, I feel as though I regress.

It’s brought a greater sense of order to my daily routine. Yes, I have to get up about 20 minutes earlier to make it all happen, but the long term results far outweigh a few more minutes in bed.

So how about you – What do you do to start your day? Let me know below. And if you’re looking for something new, try giving one of these three a shot for a month and see what happens.

 

A Merry Mary Christmas: Reflecting on the Season

snow

Merry Christmas! ‘Tis the season for jubilant greetings, warm embraces and laughing until it hurts with family and friends.

For me, though, one of the big obstacles of Christmas is to make sure I truly have my heart and mind in the right place as it relates to my faith.

The Issue

Remembering “the reason for the season” is easy enough with a cliché phrase, but putting it into practice is sometimes a personal challenge because of all the distractions: I’m excited to head back home; I want to give thoughtful gifts; I’m thinking of next year’s goals; holiday parties have awesome food. The list goes on and on and my attention bounces from place to place.

In reality, however, my primary concern should be focusing on the fact that Christ loves me so much that He came to Earth in human form to save me from sin and show me how to live my life.

(Man…even typing that just made my list of distractions seem silly…)

So this year, my wife and I both prayed that we would keep our hearts in the right place during the Advent season and be drawn closer to Him in this time of preparation. I didn’t know what would happen or how, but was willing to hear anything Jesus wanted to tell me.

I Think I’ve Got Something

Most of the time, I really try to see things from other people’s perspectives, and so it hit me that I should try to consider Jesus’ birth from another perspective: Mary’s. It was precipitated by Francesca Battistelli’s song “You’re Here”, reinforced while celebrating The Immaculate Conception and hit home while discussing Gabriel’s visit to Mary (Lk 1:26-38) in a bible study this week. In each instance, my mind kept grappling with the incomprehensible enormity of the fact that:

  1. Mary was open to whatever God had planned for her and
  2. She got to hold him [God] in her arms!

The first point is one that can be a regular struggle. I dream up ideas and create plans of where I want to be and what I want to do; that’s just my nature.  So if God asked me to go down a different path (one that seemed really hard and out of my comfort zone) sheesh…I pray that I would have the grace to answer in the same manner as Mary.  Her willingness to accept her calling is such an amazing example of humility through faith. Plus, her situation of being an unmarried, pregnant woman in Jewish biblical times put her in a far more serious predicament than any I will probably ever face. It can be a scary thought, but I have to trust that whatever situation I’m in, He’s leading me through.

The second point is one that just fills me with a sense of awe. What it must have been like for Mary to know that she was responsible for raising her own savior and the uncertainty of what that would look like. God turned her world upside down, but in doing so literally put himself directly at the center of it. To me, it’s such a powerful thought to envision that situation. What could I ever say or do that wouldn’t make me feel completely self-conscious?! I can only imagine being speechless, staring at the infant in my arms and having an overwhelming sense of love take hold of me!

The Final Count Down

So where does this leave me now? With seven days to go, this may well be my most merry Christmas yet, but I believe it’s because God lead me down a path to consider what a Mary Christmas was like first.

Have you been doing anything specific this Advent season to prepare for Jesus’ birth? I’d love to hear about it in the comments below!