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May 10 - June 18, 2023
Having an uncluttered soul isn’t a one-time declarative statement but an ongoing way of being.
God meets us where we are, not where we pretend to be. Dr. Larry Crabb, Real Church
While staying in today keeps us from rushing into the future, being where we are allows us to admit what’s really going on in the present.
When we don’t admit or become aware of our current life situation, we will continue to have expectations of ourselves and of other people as if things are as they’ve always been when, in fact, they are not. When we’re unaware of where we are, we can’t possibly make informed decisions about where we want to go. This leads to an inability to discern our next right thing.
God’s ideas are not always obvious, and are always more clever than we can imagine. Even though the circumstances may be the same as many times before, God may have a different and better idea. So we are wise to ask for guidance each time. Jan Johnson, When the Soul Listens
Many times we’re looking for guidance somewhere out there, a sign, a word, an encouragement, a conversation. God speaks to us through the Bible, in prayer, and often through other people, but another regular way I know he speaks to me is the one way I have most often dismissed: through the voice that comes from within.
just because the doubts show up doesn’t mean you have to let them sit down. They won’t linger if they’re not welcome.
he keeps on reminding us that he has made our heart his home, and that’s often the place from which he’ll make his voice heard.
in order to give yourself the space to receive clarity, maybe you need to let go of the expectation that clarity will come in a particular way or at a particular time.
If there’s a longing or a vision growing within you, or if you have an idea, a project, or work you can see even though you can’t see it, carry on. Walk slowly. Listen closely. And let that candle burn.
making a living is nothing if I’m not also making a life.
As it turns out, the best time to look for an expert is not when you need vision, it’s when you need a plan.
If you feel frustrated and pulled in many directions like I have felt, it could be because you’ve been looking for advice about the journey even before you know or understand your hoped-for destination.
Sometimes it looks like you’re going nowhere, or that you’re headed in the wrong direction. I’m learning that the decision itself is rarely the point. The point is becoming more fully ourselves in the presence of God, connecting with him and with each other, and living our lives as though we believe he is good and beautiful. The point is being honest about where you are and what you need, and then looking around in your own community for people to walk with you and with whom you can walk.
The most common way he shows his with-ness to us is in the actual, physical presence of other people.
he isn’t so concerned with the outcome of our decision, at least not in the same way we are. But he would be delighted to know that the decision we are carrying is moving us toward community and not away from it, that it is leading us to depend on others more and not less, and that it is turning our face toward his in a posture of listening with the hopeful expectation of receiving an answer.
The biggest deception of our digital age may be the lie that says we can be omni-competent, omni-informed, and omni-present. . . . We must choose our absence, our inability, and our ignorance—and choose wisely. Kevin DeYoung, Crazy Busy
Part of what it means to be a person of presence is to pay attention to what is happening around you—both in the place where you live and among the people who live there too. If you want to be a person of presence, it’s important to pay attention to what is happening within you as well. But you can’t be present to everything all the time.
Every opportunity is not created equal, and you get to decide along with God whether something is great for you or not.
Let’s get quiet and listen to the heartbeat of our own lives rather than looking outside of ourselves for better, more important opportunities. Choose your absence so that your presence will have more impact.
remember Christ dwells within you, beside you, behind you, and before you, he will remind you of what really matters. Ask him, then listen well. Your work is your work. Your pace is your pace. Your life is your life. What a gift.
we tend to ask the most easily accessible people for advice rather than considering if the people around us are actually modeling the life we want to live.
A good No Mentor knows how to differentiate between her stuff and your stuff.
big part of discerning your next right step is knowing and understanding what you really want to do.
Maybe your next right thing is to be your own No Mentor and to pray for a person to come into your life who could walk alongside you in this way. Refuse to feel bad here for what you don’t yet have. In fact, the best way to ensure that more No Mentors are out there is to be a No Mentor for somebody else.
The critic only lives if we let her live.
Just because someone is critical doesn’t automatically mean you should ignore them and call them a hater. But it also doesn’t automatically mean they’re right. We can learn a lot from critique, from correction, from critical thinking and direction. But the trouble comes when we allow all critical voices to weigh the same amount.
The gift the critic brings, whether we like it or not, is a line in the sand. When the critic says words, we have to decide if we believe them. We have to decide who gets to have a say.
What if we stopped standing on our own front porch and bullying ourselves? What if we decided, instead, to be a gracious hostess to ourselves at the threshold of our own soul?
What is also true is we can’t move through what we refuse to acknowledge.
Fear, we see you. We acknowledge you. But you don’t get the final say.
One of the ways we punish ourselves for not being more or better or thinner or stronger is by trying to squeeze ourselves—force ourselves, even—into all kinds of ill-fitting relationships. With other people, with ourselves, with our pants. Leeana Tankersley, Breathing Room
“If a discipline is not producing freedom in me, it’s probably the wrong thing for me to be doing.”
Practicing a spiritual discipline is more about receiving power to live in the kingdom. It’s about being aware of the presence of God and putting myself there on purpose so that my character might be transformed. It’s about training my mind and my will to practice what my heart deeply believes. It’s about knowing that each moment is packed with grace, but sometimes I need practice to see it. It’s about becoming the person I already am in Christ.
This need to be liked doesn’t define me, but it does tempt me and it’s not as simple as just wanting to fit in. It’s more like wanting to know where I fit, which is, if you can believe it, super different from wanting to fit in. I don’t want to be like you, I want to be like me. The trouble comes when I’m not sure if being like me is good enough, acceptable, or approved of by you.
As it turns out, I don’t have to define myself. I simply have to be myself.
how I practice my life and how I move into the world around me, does not just inform my ministry but is the ministry.
I want to practice the spiritual discipline of honoring the story my body is telling me by listening to it when it’s telling me the truth. I want to practice solitude more intentionally, to continue to get comfortable being alone with Jesus so I can more fully embrace my identity as beloved. I want to image God in community through forgiveness and celebration, not in order to get acceptance but because I already have it. I want to be gentle with myself and with others, and to remember that our life with Christ is measured not with boundary lines, right practice, or perfectly made decisions but
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Could it be possible that the person you’re competing with most is some idealized version of yourself that you can never live up to? Would you be willing to set her free? How about just for the next ten minutes?
no matter how much we plan, list, discern, and plot, sometimes the best things that happen in life are ones we never even know are coming, much less plan for.
As we make plans, fill out lists, and do the things that need doing, may we remember still to remain open to surprise. Instead of insisting on clear plans, may we be willing to settle in and take the next right step even though it may lead someplace we didn’t quite pack for. May we stop insisting that everything have an explanation. Let’s be men and women who keep our ears pressed gently against the heart of God, willing to respond to faint whispers and small nudges, and even have an openness to be the wink of God for someone else.
While we learn to embrace the light, may we not forget the gift of the darkness.
It doesn’t mean you chose wrong if (when) you discover your motives are wonky. What it does mean is there is still much to learn, you are desperately in need of Jesus, and here is where you can walk together with him toward health and wholeness.
decisions are rarely right or wrong. It doesn’t always matter which road you choose. What matters is God is with you.
