Faith Venture

Forming Your Spiritual Life.

“Spiritual Formation is not about changing behavior but changing the causes of behavior.” Dallas Willard recently made this statement in an interview.

We are in the first week of March. I know because there’s a foot of snow on the ground waiting for me to fire up the snow blower one last time (maybe). It’s also the time when New Year’s Resolutions are history.

Ah, January First. So much hope. We’re going to begin eating right. Working out. Reading the Bible.

We are going to change our behavior.

Didn’t work, did it. The extra 20 people who signed up for my Yoga class showed up once–or not at all.

Why are we overweight? Spiritually lax? Relationship challenged?

Andy Stanley, teaching on another topic, talked though about getting to what we call in manufacturing the “root cause.” In Lean Manufacturing, there is a technique called “Five Whys.” Confronted with a problem, you ask, “Why is that?” Then again, you ask, “Why is that?” Soon you will get to the real cause.

Back to Stanley. He was talking about emotions in a relationship. You might say, “I’m angry at you.” But if you went to the root cause (my words, not his), you might define the real emotion causing anger as insecurity, jealousy, fear.

What are the root causes in our lives that block us from living a life in the Spirit? Laziness, insecurity, feelings of inadequacy, pride?

Those are the things we need to work on. What kind of person do you wish to become? Focus on that, work on it, and the rest will follow.

What does your calendar say about you?

What does your calendar say about you? Is it filled with appointments for work or church? Who are you seeing? If I looked at it, would one or both of us be embarrassed?

How are you feeling about your time right now? Stressed? Not enough time for things you would like to do? People you would like to see? Books to read — or write? Kids to play with?

Time is a Spiritual discipline.

The Bible does not spell it out. But Daniel took time out of his busy days to pray three times daily. Jesus went off alone often to play and meditate. It must have been on their schedule.

Did you know that you could put time on your schedule just for you? There. You have my permission. Right on your calendar you can block out 15 minutes for prayer or meditation. 30 minutes for Spiritual reading. An hour with your spouse or kids. Date night. Block out time for growth and reflection. Another meeting? Sorry, I’m busy at that time.

Bill Hybels talks about the power of the schedule. When you set out to enter things, he advises, don’t ask what you want to get done. Ask who you want to become.

View your use of time as a Spiritual Discipline. Use it to become the person God wants you to be.

“Religion tends to make you closed and dishonest. Alcoholics Anonymous works, but in church we just don’t trust enough to confess to each other.” Dallas Willard, a brilliant philosopher and theologian, made this comment recently.

James advises us, “Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed.”

Confession may be one of the Spiritual Practices (or Disciplines) that is least done–ranking up there with fasting.

I have not heard my American Catholic friends talk about the formal “going to Confession” (is it a Rite or a Sacrament?) for many years. Is this something slipping away even there? In the Catholic tradition, you would confess your sins to a priest in complete privacy who would offer forgiveness in the name of Jesus and the community. In the Protestant tradition, we remove that intermediary.

But all the same, when was the last time you confessed any sin to another Christian? In my case, most likely never aside from the times as part of a worship service when the leader makes us repeat something printed in the bulletin or liturgy.

Willard suggests a problem. Do we trust those around us in church enough to stand and confess before the gathered community? Probably not. We know too many gossips in the group. Or, we’re afraid of the gossips–or those who would use the information against us.

And that’s a tragedy.

What a lost opportunity to help others heal! What a lost opportunity for us to heal.

My last post talked about opening our eyes to see our failings. The next step is to confess to someone. Confessing to God in private most assuredly helps. But having someone around us offer assurance is necessary for healing.

The small group movement–which I’ve been involved with for 40 years probably–always begins with a covenant that “what is told in the group, stays in the group.” (And you thought Las Vegas invented that line!)

We need that covenant in church. We confess, receive assurance and it stays there.

St. Jerome Studying

Sometimes you just sort of start doing something without realizing it is becoming a new habit. I rise early so that I can read either from the Word or from writers who can teach me about the Word. Have my coffee. Meditate. Write. And then I’m ready for the day.

But…the first thing I do when coming downstairs is head for the front door and pick up the morning paper. Then I scan the first couple of sections while my coffee is brewing. Then I sit down and finish the paper. Then there went 15-20 minutes. Gone. Most of the “news” is “olds” by the time I read it in the paper. Except maybe for some sports scores. And I read some of the comics. Sometimes I find I’ve read a column or article or two that were just mindless entertainment.

I’ve become distracted. Lost some of my precious time. It’s not that I’m so Puritan that I don’t believe in entertainment. I watch the TV series “Elementary” most every week. Sometimes I watch European soccer–but that’s partly also learning more about the game and how referees manage the game. Partly entertainment and partly learning.

Pope Benedict XVI (What do we call him Friday? Back to Joseph Ratzinger? When you’re not Catholic, it makes for a quandary.) gave a series of talks on the early Church Fathers. Looking at St. Jerome, he quotes:

“It will be difficult for you to correct those things to which you are quietly habituating yourself.”

Those are the most insidious of the habits. You didn’t consciously choose to start that habit. You didn’t consciously choose to keep it up. You just sort of fell into it and then just sort of do it.

But the genius of being human is the power to reflect. If you stop occasionally and look back at your life and habits, you can actually realize what you’re doing and then make that conscious choice to change. To develop a new habit to replace that unconscious one.

What new habit do you need to develop today?

Balance, focus, awareness, relaxation

“Try easy.” Have you ever attended a seminar led by one of those self-help, motivation, time management speakers? The first one I ever heard was in the late 70s. This was his mantra.

Yesterday I wrote about focus. Last night as I was teaching Tree Pose (see picture, it’s not me) to some new people at Yoga class, I thought about the paradoxes. New people will be trying so hard to balance. They think it’s very hard to do. They try hard. Where is the foot? Where are the hands? Stare at my spot.

And I was reminded. You have to relax.

Still the mind as you focus on your spot. Use your mind to scan your body (awareness) looking for places where you are holding tension. Release the tension. Make sure your breathing is easy and normal. Count breaths (that’s how you know how long to hold the pose). The key to balance is focus with awareness of your body and relax into the pose.

Sometimes we try so hard that we just cannot succeed. We actually lose focus by trying so hard to focus.

By the way, you don’t have to have the shape of the model in that picture to successfully hold Tree Pose. We have shall we say “larger” men and women who can hold Tree for 10-15 breaths in my class. I have actually learned to hold the pose focusing on my stable spot all the while using peripheral vision to watch all the people in class so that I can go to someone and help if necessary. But I have to achieve the relaxed awareness state of mind.

Try relaxing your mind and body and discover that your focus and attention on the task at hand improves.

I almost always write these meditations just before I go to the gym for a workout. I run and practice some Yoga strengthening poses. Before all that, I begin the day with some reading and meditation.

So, I hit both the Spiritual “gym” and the physical gym most every day. I dislike the days at conferences when I wind up with days that begin with 7 am breakfasts and end at 10:30 or later after dinner. Well, to be honest, I like the interaction. But it upsets my routines. I didn’t even pack my workout clothes last week. That meant that I could pack everything I needed for 3.5 days in a backpack. But it’s hard to squeeze in the workouts.

My last post discussed strengthening your Spiritual gifts. Reading in Hebrews 12 over the past few days, I was struck by two physical conditioning metaphors within just a few verses.

In verse 1, the writer says, “let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us.” Then in verse 12, “Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees.”

These are references to athletic events. We are to strengthen our souls as well as our bodies. We do that through the practice of Spiritual Disciplines. Discipline meaning training and instruction for responsible living.

Just as our muscles don’t get toned without regular work outs, so our souls also need regular workouts.