Yesterday I wrote about a prayer class and how I had to overcome the predisposition to learn about prayer instead of learning and practicing prayer.
Similarly, I led a class on the Spiritual Disciplines. Many wanted to learn what the disciplines were. Few would incorporate the disciplines intentionally into their lives.
I think that most of the ten people in the class could name five different spiritual disciplines (practices) a month after the class.
I think most had not incorporated one new practice intentionally into their life.
An amusing anecdote. One person later told me that the pastor had assigned a book for the staff to read and discuss. Celebration of Discipline by Richard J. Foster. This sounds familiar, the person thought. Oh, it was that class I took with Gary. At least the lesson returned.
If you choose to read that book, and I hope you will, make it a goal to incorporate at least one new practice into your daily life. Don’t let the book go to waste by just reading through and putting it on the shelf. (One of my daily disciplines is reading, thinking, and then writing these short posts, for example.)
Another of my disciplines is fitness and nutrition. I’ve recently been reading “a positive corner of the internet” Pump Daily by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Interesting–I may have only seen one of his movies (Kindergarten Cop?) and I most likely would not have voted for him for governor were I a California citizen, but his evangelism for positivity and health for everyone is worth copying. God knows, literally, that we need more positivity on the internet these days.
Faith Venture 
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