Tags
calling, challenge, Christ, Christianity, discipline, faith, God, grace, Jesus, personal, religion, spiritual discipline, Spirituality
I think it is safe for me to say I have, for quite some time, resented even the mention of practicing spiritual disciplines. I’m not sure where the resentment stems from, there are many reasons I am sure.
taken from reverendfun.com
Perhaps it was because I it was the first time I was ever introduced to them was at Bible school. There was an assignment where we had to practice a discipline and record our experience, and maybe whether rightly or wrongly, I thought to myself…who is this prof to grade me on my spirituality?
Another reason I resented them was because we had to do them in another class, and the instructor encouraged us to be open-minded as we would practice different ones. He admitted that we might not “get anything” out of them all, but he had a feeling we would. I resented that because what if I didn’t get anything out of it at all? (And again I was being graded on the experience)
Even if I did believe that I was being graded on my willingness to participate fully in the experience, and just my report on it, I thought it was stupid of them to ask me for a report in the first place. If I was willing to participate the results should be between God and I.
Or maybe it was because the only people I had ever known who practiced the disciplines did so in a very showy way and they seemed to want to come across as holier than thou.
So needless to say I have been jaded on the whole discipline thing. Until now.
Being a pastor can make it difficult to want to have personal time with God, and that is something you cannot be told, you have to experience it for yourself. During the average week I prepare 2 sermons and a Bible study at the minimum. I don’t say that to brag about how much I have to study for those, but just to show that when the studying is all done for those it can be difficult to want to carve out my personal time.
The trouble with not spending my own time with the Lord on a much more regular basis is that I am getting tired, and I am only 5 months in as a pastor. I find myself tired and needing refreshing, and so I am going to have to be more disciplined and make sure that I carve out the time. (EDIT: I feel the need to say I love what I do, but this early in I recognize the need to get into a routine of spending more time with God, or I will wear myself out)
The other challenge that I meet is that my attention span is very short. I tire of things quickly and so I cannot simply commit to just reading my Bible and praying everyday, although that is part of it. I have pulled out my text books from Spiritual formation class, and plan on spending the next year (starting tomorrow because why wait until January 1st, or Monday, or whatever to start) practicing some spiritual disciplines.
The goal is to spend a month on each discipline I choose. As each discipline is completed I will blog about the experience, what I found helpful and what I found hindering me. Hopefully by sharing my experience it will help you in your walk, as maybe you consider the disciplines? (And don’t worry, should you choose to practice them there will be no grade).
Keep tabs on the project discipline page…there will be links to my reflections there.
I’m going to post every few weeks….not about my own experience necessarily because that is going to be kept personal, but some observations on different disciplines, as I study more about them…then I will do a follow up in about 6 months on the impact is has (or has not) on me.
This post has been very convicting and there’s a lot of truth to what you’re saying. You’ve given me lots to think about! I’d be interested in a follow-up post in a few months.