Today’s post is the third in a series on helping us to prioritize our lives. I chose the photo above by Phillipino artist Emmanuel Garibay to represent this post because it makes me think of someone who has no focus or sense of purpose.
In my post two days ago I commented: God doesn’t intend us to live overburdened, stressed out lives yet so many Christians I know commit themselves to far more than they can possibly handle and as a consequence many end up burning out. Some reject their faith or walk away from their faith communities because they cannot cope with these extra pressures on their lives.
So how do we avoid this? Looking at the life of Jesus I notice several characteristics that we could well adopt and I strongly encourage all of us to spend time as I am currently doing, reflecting on scripture and our sense of purpose in order to be more effective followers of Christ.
Jesus had a clear, and very precise sense of what God had called him to do. – Lk 4:17-19 – Jesus came announcing the Kingdom of God – All of Jesus actions demonstrated to his disciples & followers what God’s eternal shalom Kingdom was meant to look like. As a result of that focus He knew exactly how to allocate His time & resources, He know when to say yes and he knew when to say no to what he was asked to do. As a result, his life seems to flow to a rhythm that attracted all who knew Him
I think our lives need to be as focused as Jesus’ was. Like him we need to have a very clear sense of what God is calling us to do and when to say no to what does not fit within those boundaries. A good starting place is to revisit the clear overarching calling statement Jesus gave to all human kind. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind and love your neighbour as yourself. Or you might like to do some study on the values and culture of the kingdom of God. Living into these values should be the central passion of all followers of Christ.
Out of this foundation we need to use Jesus priorities & life example to develop our own kingdom focused personal or family calling statement. A statement like this can help us shape not only our work priorities but all of our commitments.
A calling statement is a short phrase or sentence that provides an individual or group of people with a sense of purpose for their lives. It expresses what we see as the reason for our existence and defines the focus for all we are and do.
Biblically based calling statements begin with scripture study and an understanding of God’s shalom purposes for our lives as a foundation for defining that focus. They are centred on our relationship to God not on our personal happiness, dreams or ambitions. They are outwardly focused on care for others not inwardly on our own needs They are clear, concise & easy to memorize. Such a statement should have broad enough wording to incorporate every area of life. Make it purposeful & inspirational – A sense of meaning that wakes you up in the morning and sends you striding enthusiastically into the day ahead.
Stay with us tomorrow for the next post in this series on an active listening process for developing your own personal calling statement.
Check out the previous posts:
This is the second post in this series on setting priorities and refocusing our lives. It is not the first time I have written about this topic and you may like to check out my earlier post Did Jesus Lead A Balanced Life where I talk about the need that all of us have for a balance between solitude and community, work and rest, spiritual and secular. To this in recent years I have added the need for balance between feasting and fasting.
Today as I think about this however I am coming from a slightly different angle. As I travel I am reading Strangers to the City: Reflections on the Beliefs and Values of the Rule of Saint Benedict by Michael Casey a Monk of Tarrawarra Abbey here in Australia. What caught my attention this morning is his comment
The purpose of a quiet life needs to be clear: It is to facilitate a quiet mind in which spiritual priorities become progressively more dominant. Nor is this withdrawal an invitation to isolation and introspection. It is, rather, a matter of providing the opportunity of entering more deeply into reality and of living from the heart. (25).
He goes on to suggest that living from the heart can only come from a heart that has tasted how good the Lord is and how energizing it can be to be still before the Lord.
I find that my own heart aches for this kind of priority. I have indeed tasted how good the Lord is and want spiritual priorities to become progressively more dominant, but when I am busy I must confess that this does not happen. Work not God so easily becomes my priority.
Reminding myself that my ultimate goal in life is to both draw near to Jesus, the lover of my soul and model the same priorities and values he displayed is an important regular discipline for me. None of us can hope to change if we do not intentionally discipline our lives to accept the need for change and work rigourously to see that change occur.
I have no intention of becoming a monk, but I do realize there is much I can learn from the disciplines they practice. Listening to the whispers of the inner voice that is only heard when I step away from external distractions, even from external excitement and seek only for the inner peace and contentment of a soul that has indeed tasted and seen that the Lord is not only good but more to be desired than anything else.
Lord God Almighty,
May I learn to live from my heart.
In times of quiet may I still my soul
That I might taste and see how good you are.
Lord God Almighty,
May I desire your presence above all else.
May I find my strength in being still
Before the one who is the lover of my soul.
As you know I am currently on vacation in Australia, having a great time with family and friends but also taking time to refocus and rethink where I am at and what I want to accomplish in the coming years. I thought that some of you might appreciate the process I am going through and encourage you to consider a similar evaluation on your own life every few years.
I have started with the following questions:
- What’s driving you? What are the major stresses in my life and how does this compare to 5 years ago? There is pressure on all of us to work harder and longer than we have in the past and I must confess I often succumb to this pressure. There is even greater pressure to stay connected no matter where we are and what we are doing.
- How do I control these pressures rather than letting them control me? It is easy to assume that life pressures are unavoidable and we often do little to overcome them. Intentionality and discipline are the two words that come to my mind, Oh and that little word NO too. Often we face unnecessary stress because we are unwilling to say no to the good things we are asked to do that are not really part of God’s plan for us.
- What sets the rhythm of my life? At least once a year I like to sit down and go over my daily, weekly and yearly schedule trying to determine what sets the patten of my life and time commitments. Being away from my usual routine as I am now is an ideal time to do this. I find that in the demands of my busy world God’s priorities can easily get pushed to the margins without my even noticing. Spending time with God becomes less important than doing things for God.
- What kind of rhythms does God intend for my life? As I start on this reflective exercise it is always good to remind myself that God does not intend me to lead an overburdened and stressed out life. I love to meditate on Matthew 11:28-30 as my starting place and want to suggest you spend time reflecting on these words too.. Listen to how it is translated in The Message
“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
Over the next few days I intend to look at the life of Jesus and how he set his priorities. If as these verses imply, Jesus does not give us heavy burdens to carry, where do our heavy burdens come from? He carried the weight of the world on his shoulders yet rarely seemed stressed out and over busy. He had time for prayer. He had time for friends. And he had time for all that God called him to do. Perhaps we really can learn to live freely and lightly jsut as he did.
As I mentioned in yesterday’s pot, Tom and I are now in Australia. We arrived just in time to celebrate my 63rd birthday. It is the first birthday celebration I have had in Australia for almost 40 years. Significant in the timing of God I don’t know, but definitely for me a sense of new beginnings as I negotiate this trip without my mother’s presence.
Yesterday we had a wonderful birthday lunch with two of my brothers, my niece, one of my nephews and his wife. As you can imagine we started with a lot of reminiscing about our childhood, stories about Mum and our interactions together. Then we started talking about our family history.
My father was Greek but it is probable that my maiden name Aroney originated in the Middle east, a rendition of Aaron. Perhaps way back we have Jewish blood in us. My ancestors migrated to Constantinople, then to Spain and finally to the island of Kithera off the southern coast of Greece. Then in the early 1900s many headed for Australia. Blue eyed Greeks, maybe mixed with Viking blood, no one is sure, but we all wonder and speculate. We want to know where we come from. We want to know where we belong.
My mother’s family is harder to trace. Her parents migrated from Scotland in the early 1900s, her mother from Aberdeen, her father from Keith. Her maiden name was Milne, a common Scottish name and her Dad’s family probably goes back a long way in Scotland. But Mum’s mother’s name was Cato. Is it Spanish, Italian? Again no one knows but we can speculate. Her family was part of the aristocracy and the Scottish nobility had close ties to the Spanish Court.
These discussions have been very important for me. Knowing where we come from and where we belong is important for all of us. When we have no sense of rootedness we feel like souls without anchors.
For us as followers of Christ, our rootedness is meant to be in the story of God and our sense of belonging is meant to tie us to the kingdom of God. It culture, its values, its way of looking at the world transcends the cultures in which we grew up and from which we draw our stories. Living into this culture with its emphasis on love, peace, and generosity is meant to anchor us in ways that the stories of our birth families never can.
But just as I have had to make a deliberate effort to travel back to Australia to reconnect to my family and to my culture, so we need to make a deliberate effort to “travel” regularly into the land of God’s kingdom and immerse ourselves in God’s culture. Only then will be really find the anchors that our souls need to hold us through all the ups and downs of life. So in the midst of my family times I find myself asking a question I would like to challenge all of us with:
What am I currently doing to anchor my life, my values and my world view in the kingdom of God?
Many of you know that Tom and I are on our way to Australia. In fact this post should go live around the time we land and head to my brother’s home for our first few nights. This is my first trip since my mother died and though I am looking forward to it with joy and excitement there is also much sorrow. I know that it is a trip on which laughter and tears will intermingle.
Over the last week, more by coincidence then design, I have been reading Tim Keller’s book Walking With God Through Pain and Suffering. I really admire him for addressing this issue and have been mulling over his words as I travel. He points out that the modern viewpoint of individual freedom and pursuit of happiness has no place for sorrow or suffering. Yet suffering and sorrow is an integral part of the Christian story and in fact becomes part of the perfecting process. In talking about the growth of the early church he comments:
The Christian approach to pain and evil with both greater room for sorrow and a greater basis for hope was part of its appeal (42)
I am very much aware of this as I head down to Australia. It is my belief in the resurrection of Christ and in a personal God who desires to restore all things to wholeness, that gives me hope on this trip. The promises of God do not take away my grief but they do temper it with hope.
At times I felt Keller’s approach, suggesting that sorrow and pain can be dealt with just by reading the Bible more and praying, sounded rather superficial, but generally speaking this is a book worth the read.
Tom and I are on our way to Australia, but my thoughts are still with the garden I have left behind and all I need to do to get ready for the upcoming season. The place I start is always with reading a few books to get me revved up for the season. Leah Kostamo’s book Planted: A Story of Creation, Calling and Community, is a great place to start. It is easy to read, full of delightful stories and yet well grounded in theology and a deep concern for God’s good creation.
Leah’s story of the growth of A Rocha in North America is engaging and fascinating. She wrestles with important issues of justice, poverty, simplicity and environmental degradation. I love the humility that admits to the struggle and frustration that she and her husband Markhu face when they make significant life changes in order to commit to what they believe is God’s call on their lives. Her vulnerability is refreshing.
My favourite quote:
What I’m striving for in my own daily life is true simplicity, characterized not by deprivation, but by honest, joyful living. Out of this place of joy and material simplicity one is able to question both consumer trends and one’w own desires…. If we live in this sort of freedom we are also released from making simplicity a goal in itself
I highly recommend this book not just to all my garden friends and to those who are interested in environmental stewardship, but to all those who want to take the purposes of God seriously. This is a great book to give to your friends who need to be gently introduced to these concerns.
Its time to get ready for Lent and Easter and I want to challenge all of us to consider taking Lent seriously this year. Lent is often regarded as a season of soul-searching and repentance for all Christians as a preparation for the joy and celebration of Easter. Unfortunately our soul searching is often as perfunctory as our sacrifices. We spend a little more time reading the Bible and praying. Some of us spend a few hours working with a local mission, but otherwise our lives are unchanged. And after Easter, there is very little to show for our commitment.
So lets us take Lent more seriously and help others to take the plunge too. Let us accept the challenge to develop new disciplines and reach out more actively as God’s loving and compassionate hands. The theme for our Lenten journey this year is is A Journey Into Wholeness. We are planning a multi-pronged approach to the season.
Here at Godspace we will post daily reflections, prayers and practical suggestions for the weeks of Lent. We already have an exciting array of bloggers signed up to contribute posts. These will complement the publication of our new Lenten/Easter devotional A Journey Into Wholeness: Soul Travel from Lent to Easter, now available for pre-order at a special discount price from the MSA website. This book is based on the popular Lenten guide we published some years ago but information and resources have been updated and daily reflections have been added. We hope that you will consider journeying with us through the book as we share the season together. As many of you know this book arose out of my frustration with the triviality of most peoples’ commitment to Lent – giving up chocolate or lattes for 40 days just does not seem to cut it.
Each week of Lent emphasizes a different area of brokenness in our world. Over the five weeks of Lent we will deal with issues of inner healing, hunger, homelessness, stewardship of creation and the brokenness of God’s family.It is our hope that the daily reflections in the book and the additional reflections on the blog will help draw people more fully into those themes, beginning a few days before Lent with reflections on preparing for Lent and Easter.
Keith Anderson President of the Seattle School of Theology and Psychology comments:
To offer daily reflections into wholeness will require substance, range, and depth, if it is to be richly whole itself. The readings in front of you now offer all of that in an accessible way. The material recognizes that we come to the journey with others—there are reflections on the Cross, on self but also on others, creation, and God’s family. The material offers practical ideas for individuals and households. And, because it is written by an ensemble of writers, the material is evocative. You will find yourself drawn into ideas, stories, and more—invited to set out on this journey with others in the season of Lent. I recommend it to you with great hope for what you will see on the journey.
We hope that you will not just read along with us but commit to some of the suggested practices. Maybe you would like to join us for the $2 challenge , or leave your car at home for a week and take public transport. Perhaps you would like to spend a night in a homeless shelter, or visit a couple of churches with different theological perspectives and seek to understand their viewpoints. Whatever you decide we hope that you will share your stories with us so that we can encourage each other by our actions.
Those who live in the Seattle area might like to join us March 1st for our pre-Lent retreat, Return to Our Senses In Lent. This will provide a great opportunity to prepare your heart and establish some new practices for the season. We are also working on a new set of Lenten prayer cards that we hope will help us follow through with our intentions. I suggest you write your weekly commitment on the back of the card so that you can revisit it at regular intervals through each day.
So my question for you today is: How will you use the season of Lent to move from brokenness to wholeness this year? Will you join us in the journey?
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