Faith Venture

” ‘Tis a gift to be simple, ’tis a gift to be free.”

That’s a line from an old Shaker hymn known as “Simple Gifts.”

One spiritual practice that doesn’t always land on the charts up there with prayer and study is the practice of simplicity.

Clutter in your environment is a distraction. It impedes or prevents focus on what’s important. It is good in the beginning of a new year to take the time to clear out the accumulated clutter of the past year.

Some of that clutter may be physical. You may have too much stuff. We tend to buy things and add them to a room. It becomes like the metaphor of boiling a frog–if the water temperature is raised a little at a time the frog won’t notice when danger is upon it. Just so, a little at a time we add clutter until our living space is no longer simple and pure.

We can also clutter our minds and souls with clutter. Memories that need to be released. Poisonous relationships that need to be purged. Too much thinking, not enough doing. Focus and clarity must be our guides.

Matthew reports that Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Pure means not mixed. Not an alloy. Nothing added. This can be related to simplicity. Unadorned. Uncluttered. Focused.

Jesus was most concerned about the state of our hearts. Keep it simple and pure. You shall see God. Maintaining simplicity as a practice helps us on our way to God.

Yesterday, I talked about determining who you want to be. Before that I talked about getting up early to read, meditate, get ready for the day.

Say you woke up this morning and said, I’d like to be a more spiritual person. Except for a rare few, it doesn’t just happen. It’s really a journey. The journey starts with behaviors that become the pattern of your life.

It starts with getting up early. It’s quiet. You can study, meditate and pray. And it really only needs to be 30 minutes or so. If you can get in an hour, that’s great. In some ways it’s easier for me, because I don’t have small children at home. But when I visit my son’s family, the little ones know I get up early. So I don’t have as much time. But I have my cup of coffee and quiet time. When they get up, they know I’ll be downstairs and we can have some quiet time watching the sun rise and chatting.

I talked about changing your story–that idea you plant in your brain that says “I’m not a morning person.” But let’s change some behaviors.

It starts with getting prepared the night before. Do some of the things you might rush around doing in the morning–pack your (and your kids’) lunch; lay out your clothes; set your alarm. Plan out how many hours of sleep you need and go to bed earlier if necessary. Maybe that means you DVR your 10 pm TV shows (if you are still addicted to that thing) for later viewing. Make you to-do list the night before. That gets it off your mind.

Get up, turn on lights. Fix a cup of coffee or tea. Have your book already out by your favorite chair.

Commit to doing it for 21 days. After that time, it should become a habit.

Oh, and do it weekends, too. Don’t sleep in until 8 for two days and expect to get back into it. Maybe you’re up a half-hour later, but don’t sleep in.

As you act, so shall you become. If you begin to act in spiritual ways–and study, meditation and prayer are excellent starting places–you will reflect one day about how your life has changed.

Before a weaver begins weaving a pattern into the cloth she’s making, there must be a clear picture of what that cloth is to be. Is it a Tartan plaid for a scarf or a herringbone for a jacket. Regardless, the first priority before beginning to make the cloth is to know what the cloth will eventually be.

I’m still working out the idea of patterns in your life. Rather than resolutions or goals, I’m thinking more about what my life looks like and then living into it.

You must be someone before figuring out what to do.

Jesus wanted us to be the kind of person who “leans on” (translation of the Greek that John uses for believe in) or “leans toward” him. The first thing is to be a person with a relationship with Jesus.

Beyond that, what else would you like to be. Andy Stanley recently talked about writing the script for the talk the pastor will give at your funeral. There might be a little about what you did, but mostly it will be about who you were.

You might, for example, write down a few keywords that describe who you are/striving to be. Honest. Transparent. Servant. Trustworthy.

If you see yourself as a good teacher leading people into faith and knowledge, then your to do list becomes easier to figure out. You will do things that help you become a better teacher. And you will do things to put yourself in a teaching situation.

Even more foundational are the qualities that guide daily life. Honesty, for example, means when you are faced with a situation where you might want to squirm out through the use of falsehood, you decline that urge and deal honestly.

By striving to be the sort of person you envision–the whole cloth so to speak–you begin picking up habits that move you in that direction.

That’s where the Spiritual Disciplines come in. Developed over millennia, the practices of study, prayer, meditation, celebration, worship and the rest help you become that person you want to be.

This is the time of resolutions, goals, objectives. You tell yourself, “This year I’m going to (insert wish here).”

Many of us who  have lived through this, and observed others, and have pondered these things have developed the idea of forming habits rather than adopting goals or New Year’s Resolutions.

There was a man (I was told this story by a third person) who was always late. Late for appointments. Late with reports. Just totally disorganized.

One day, he decided that rather than lose his job and even his family he would change the way he lived. He adopted one small new habit–he decided to start getting up a half-hour earlier in the morning. He heard that if you fill your mind with the right things in the mornings it would set the tone for a better day. So he got up and read something that was educational or inspirational.

This worked so well for him, that he started getting up even earlier and reading longer. People noticed the change. He became a top-performing sales person in the organization.

Your story

What do you tell yourself about yourself? Do you say “I’m not” often? “I’m not a morning person.”

What if you changed your story? What if you told yourself, “I get up early so that I can read from the Bible and meditate before I go out to face the world”? Your mind believes what you tell it repeatedly. You can change your story.

What if you began the year looking at the pattern of your life? Do you feel defeated or insecure? Do you lack energy? Do you watch too much TV?

You can weave a new pattern that includes getting up early to start the day with God. Then you can go out and view every event and situation of the day as an opportunity for service. Where you set your daily patterns, your life and thoughts will follow.

Maybe this is the year you begin to live more fully. It’s your decision.

As we bring spiritual practices into the pattern of our daily lives, we become ever more aware of the forces that intrude into our balance. Perhaps relationships with dysfunctional people. Perhaps worries about what we did yesterday or what may happen tomorrow.

Every ancient wisdom and religion I have studied up to and including modern social science has taught the importance of living only in the moment. T.S. Eliot said in Burnt Norton, “At the still point of the turning world is the dance. And there is only the dance.”

That brings me to one piece of practical advice that just happens to be supported by a scientific study as reported by Matt Killingsworth in this TED Talk on Happiness. He found that happy people tended to focus more on the present and bring their thoughts back from their wanderings.

Science “proves” ancient wisdom

For years scientists have uncovered the many benefits of meditation. Here’s on on remaining in the moment. I discovered this many years ago. My hair stylist at the time said that we were worriers due to our German heritage. Don’t know about the truth of that statement, but I know I got it from Mom (didn’t we all get our phobias from mom?).

Then I discovered techniques such as when I caught my mind wandering into all manner of weird thoughts and worries and fears of what tomorrow may bring, I would consciously bring it back to the present moment. If necessary, I would consciously choose to focus on something else–usually something much more pleasant. In that way, I could change my mood.

Our pastor in a recent talk mentioned three Laws that he uses. Trust me, they work.

Law of Attention: Become aware of what you are focusing on.

Law of Exchange: As you become aware that you are focusing on negativity, exchange that thought with a positive one.

Law of Reversibility: If I don’t like the way I’m thinking, I can work my way out of it.

We must first be aware of what we’re thinking. Don’t go through life reacting to every passing thought. That’s a definition of insanity. Become aware of yourself. Then you can change yourself.