My team at work is reading through The Life You’ve Always Wanted together and we had a discussion in our meeting the other day about the discipline of celebrating. We asked each other the question, “What can you celebrate right now, or what are you celebrating?” As person after person spoke about what they are celebrating, I noticed that I could be celebrating some of the same things, but I didn’t want to. I could celebrate the health of my family. I could celebrate the fact that I have a job, and on top of that it is a job at a church. I could celebrate that I have close friends who I can confide in. I could celebrate so much, but I said nothing.
It’s not that I don’t like to celebrate. I just didn’t feel like it. I know I had plenty to celebrate, but I was distracted by the other stuff in my life. I was distracted by a pain in my shoulder and my wife not feeling well. I was distracted by the debt I have. I was distracted thinking about the extra people in my house. Are you seeing the pattern? I could have been celebrating a number of things, but I was distracted by another aspect of those things.
The other side of not wanting to celebrate is the fact that the things I want to celebrate are things that I have not yet achieved. I tend to look to the future and dream of where I could be. This is not a bad thing until I lose sight of what is right in front of me. I know that I should not give up on my dreams, but I still need to live today and let tomorrow worry about itself.
I started reading through our assigned chapters again and one sentence jumped out at me.
Instead of wishing we were in another season, we ought to find out what this one offers.
The difference this past week between celebrating and not wanting to for me has been a matter of wishing I was in another season instead of being open to what this season has to offer. The goal of following spiritual disciplines is not to be more spiritual, but to be more open to God so that we can make the right decisions in specific situations. Ortberg uses the analogy of a sail boat. The Spirit comes like the wind and it is up to us to have our sails open. Opening our sails would be like a spiritual discipline, being open to the wind of The Spirit to move us.
Ortberg also talked about a devotional book that he went through once. His goal was to finish the book rather than pause any time he felt the Spirit moving. To grow through spiritual discipline would have been to pause when he felt The Spirit moving and stay in that moment until God had stopped speaking to him, and then move on until he reached another place where the “wind” picked up again
I love how focused you are, even when you think you’re not! My journey or walk with Christ started less than a year ago and my eagerness to learn has got me scrambling for answers, not just anxiously, but looking in all sorts of directions. Reading your post clearly shows how truly blessed you are and has given me something else to pray for – “focus”.
My God continue to bless both you and your family (Psalm 115:14),
Bernie
Thank you Bernie. One thing to remember is that seasons will change. You are eager to grow and learn now, but there will be seasons that come along where you might feel stagnant. Practice keeping your focus on Christ.
I’d recommend picking up a copy of The Life You’ve Always Wanted to learn more about spiritual disciplines. It sounds scary, but it’s really not. If you click on the book above, it will take you straight to Amazon.
“…be prepared in season and out of season… keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist…” (Bits of 2 Timothy 4:2&5)