There is an ordered pattern of daily prayer, work, study, rest, and meals in Benedictine life. Such a balance of activities promotes living simply because it encourages a healthy wholeness–all aspects of life are honored and developed. The balance of prayer, work, study, rest, and meals is so inviting. We are mind, body, and soul beings. In fact, some have even said that this Trinitarian form of being reflects how we are made in God’s image. But it seems we generally forget or neglect the fact that we have a soul.We nourish our bodies. Well, we feed our bodies at least. A lot apparently. It looks like 68.5% of us feed our bodies too much, and 34.9% of us stuff our faces waaaaay too much.*

We feed our minds. Again, we don’t want to assume everyone is nourishing their mind, but it does seem we feed it with…something. A lot of something according to phone, computer, Netflix, and Hulu usage. But hey, a lot of people go to college, feed their minds, and earn degrees too, from what I’ve read. We’re definitely feeding.

But our soul. Our soul is the core and the essence of who we really are. And our souls are living. Therefore, like all living things, our souls can thrive or they can diminish and shrivel. They form the very foundation of who we are, the deepest level of life and power in the human being. As Dallas Willard puts it, our soul is like the silent, invisible yet necessary central processing unit of our person. Our soul, and thus our soul’s health, is the driving force behind everything that matters to us.

So why the neglect of something so important? Maybe we don’t know what makes a soul healthy. Well, it’s not related to external circumstances, that’s for sure. Quite simply, the soul is healthy to the extent that it maintains a strong connection and receptivity to God. To nourish our soul, we must feed on God. For me personally, nothing nourishes my soul more or allows me to feed more directly on God than intentional times of listening prayer. Sitting in the presence of God, soaking it in, and just listening to Him for anywhere from twenty minutes to two hours. Also, I have found lectio divina and the examen to be extremely effective for nourishing my soul by feeding on God.

Often, symptoms of soul neglect include self-absorption, shame, apathy, toxic anger, physical fatigue, isolation, stronger temptation to sin, drivenness, feelings of desperation, panic, insecurity, callousness, a judgmental attitude, cynicism, and lack of desire for God.

Some symptoms of soul health would be love, joy, compassion, giving and receiving grace, generosity of spirit, peace, ability to trust, discernment, humility, creativity, vision, balance, and focus.

So there’s the balance of feeding our whole selves in order to be a whole person. Then there’s the flexibility with ourselves, others, and our circumstances required for living simply. I heard years ago that the average person is interrupted 72 times a day. So the way I see it, you have two choices: Be flexible, or be a grumpy, impatient jackass.

“How we do what we do is as important as what we do. There’s two extremes–sloppiness on one end, and perfectionism on the other. Perfectionists are never–or rarely–satisfied. Benedict says gifts are to be used, but only if they do not become a source of pride. Living simply means performing a task to the best of our abilities without letting it absorb us.” -Jane Tomaine

Living balanced and flexible lives brings a grace to us and those around us, as well as a unity that is felt because of the wholeness that it fosters.

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**These numbers come from the CDC. According to their statistics, 68.5% of people in the U.S. are overweight and obese. 34.9% are obese.

 

The two paragraphs on the symptoms of soul neglect and soul health I took from Mindy Caliguire’s little book Discovering Soul Care.

In the Name of Jesus,
Soli Deo Gloria

There is a difference between needs and wants.When it comes to clothing, food, work, possessions, and speech, Benedict emphasizes moderation. For example, on the chapter concerning clothing and footwear, he says it should be adequate and appropriate, and more than two complete garments is “superfluous!” And if you receive a new garment, the old is to be given to the poor.So last year I was “moderately” impressed with myself when I whittled my t-shirt collection down to 156.* Yes, you read correctly, I got it down to 156. How ’bout me, savin’ the world thru my generous t-shirt give-away. I should button up my top button so my huge heart doesn’t fall out. Wow. Sad.Needs and wants.

What do we really need?

One thing we did this year that helped to distinguish between needs and wants was follow in the footsteps of some awesome friends of ours and practiced “No-Spend January.” Other than paying our mortgage and putting gas in the cars, we pretty much spent nothing. We had stocked up on beans and rice the month before and were all set. And you know what? It wasn’t all that difficult. And something else, we realized how much we don’t really need. How many things we buy are simply “wants.” And you know what else? We survived! Somehow we did not die in January. I did lose 9 lbs. that month, but I had a few people tell me that that really needed to happen regardless of what we spent. Thanks for noticing.

Moderation is an important ingredient in living simply because excess can affect us spiritually. Just think of all the unnecessary energy I’ve spent upon t-shirt selection in the mornings that I could’ve reserved for more prayer and thoughts of others. In The Way of Simplicity, Esther de Waal writes that the desire to possess “will fill up that inner void which keeps a person open to the experience of God.” I love that honesty. It is popular in the spiritual world to tout that “money and things won’t make you happy!” but they sure can be a lot of fun for a while! We can fill up those voids with stuff and crowd out that felt need and desire for God for quite some time here in our super affluent country. Now we do know that things don’t ultimately satisfy, but we can distract ourselves for quite some time before we may have to take some genuine personal inventory and figure out why we’re such a discontent mess.

“‘Stuff’ clutters our minds and hearts, blocks our journey to God, and undermines the biblical mandate for justice,” as Jane Tomaine so eloquently puts it. And Joan Chittister, O.S.B.** writes that “We have to pare life down to its simplest base” to “learn the difference between needs and wants so that the needs of all can be supplied.”

Moderation is also important with regard to our time. Taking on too much blocks our living simply and our time with God–from the reality of the spiritual realm and what is most important. Benedict explains, “all things are to be done in moderation because of the fainthearted.” All things are to be arranged so that “the strong have something to yearn for and the weak have nothing to run from.” What a great balance to keep in mind. Aim high but don’t be so over the top as to scare people away from you! And it can be very good to sit down from time to time and write out the list of all your roles and responsibilities and their frequencies/requirements to see what all you’re really doing. Like tracking every dollar you spend for a month or so, it may be shocking to you to see where all your time goes. A couple months ago I did this and was surprised to see how many things I was involved with as an unemployed stay-at-home dad. So naturally, I cut a few things out that weren’t as important–like working with children, you understand.

Here’s an example of my own list of roles I came up with recently:

1. Child of God
2. Husband
3. Father
4. Spiritual partner
5. Ripple Effect facilitator
6. Iron Men of Oaks coordinator
7. School of Spiritual Direction student
8. Daily Meditation writer
9. Workout partner
10. Son
11. Field trip chaperone
12. House Church co-leader

So it’s easy to see on paper how many things we are doing and keeping up with and, hence, the need to pare down to the most necessary and the called upon by God. The first three on my list alone account for a minimum of 9 hours of my day. So i must use strategery in using my time well.

Keep a time log for a week…if you’re brave enough. Schedule meetings with Jesus and let NOTHING get in the way of keeping those appointments. Just try it. See what happens. Spend an hour alone with God everyday for one month and then come tell me your life sucks more than it did before and you feel much emptier inside. Right.

That list mentioned at the beginning is interesting in that it advocates moderation not only in the obvious things, but also in work, which I’m a HUGE fan of having moderation in, and also speech. Even good words are not to be said out of esteem for silence. Moderation asks us to listen more and talk less. Try using fewer words maybe. Think more before you speak. Try counting to five before answering anybody for a week. It may drive you crazy. Or be awesome.

Hopefully this all culminates in actually having less to think about. Oh the simplicity, serenity, and peace that comes from thinking about fewer things!

 

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*See how I used the word moderately there in this talk on moderation?

**Stands for “Order of Saint Benedict”
In the Name of Jesus,
Soli Deo Gloria

Do you ever desire simplicity? Do you sometimes just want….less?

Less stuff.

Less to think about.

Less to do.

Saint Benedict wrote his Rule over 1,500 years ago, yet it is still followed by many today. Does it have anything to say to us familial suburbanites in 2015 hurry busy America?

Have you ever been to a retreat center and stayed in one of those rooms with nothing but a desk, lamp, and bed? There’s just something about simple surroundings that fosters peace and spiritual openness, while the atmosphere of “stuff” serves as a spiritual distraction.

“Prefer nothing whatever to Christ,” Benedict advises, and “let peace be your quest and aim.”

Centering life on Christ and seeking this peace form the foundation of simplicity and frame five practices from Benedict’s Rule:

• Moderation
• Balance and Flexibility
• Attending to the Present Moment
• Generosity of Spirit
• Time with God

“These practices guide our relationship with possessions, with God, and with others to form a framework for living simply.” -Rev. Dr. Jane Tomaine

In the Name of Jesus,
Soli Deo Gloria

Thomas Keating, well known for his teaching and writing about prayer, suggests that there are three desires we need to let go of:

• Our desire for control and power
• Our desire for affection, esteem, and approval
• Our desire for security and survival

At first, this list seems like utter insanity and against everything in us, against our nature.

But is it?

Or is it utter sanity?

To me, it is nothing but maddening and eventually dismantling to expend vast amounts of energy on these things that the God of the universe owns and/or promises to give us Himself.

As I journey toward God, I find myself needing less and less to go my way in order to have a good day (hey, that rhymed!).

Time alone with Jesus is about my only requirement these days for a complete day. Without a couple hours of that, I start to get a little cranky. Reminds me naturally of Ace Ventura in “When Nature Calls” when he said, “If I don’t get to practice my mantra, I tend to get a little–CRANKY.”

In the Name of Jesus,
Soli Deo Gloria

What do You need
But me
Watching, waiting
What do You use
But me
Watching, waiting
What do You want
But me
Watching, waiting
For You
For You
For You
In the midst of the storm
I strain my eyes
For a glimpse of all that matters.
And upon that view,
That beautiful view,
I sigh, I rest, and I stay.
It is here I am home
And nowhere else
But locked eyes, and in union with You.

In the Name of Jesus,
Soli Deo Gloria

I wonder how much time we waste on  trying to figure out what other people are thinking.

Think about it.

But not too much.

How much of our limited energy and capacity is spent toward something so futile? We can’t possibly know all the thoughts in someone’s mind. Heck, do we even understand our own thinking? And I know whenever I predict what someone is or was thinking, especially in regard to me, I’m usually wrong anyway. A mind reader I shall never be.

I’ve thought for a while how we are groomed to judge others in our culture here. In between sets at the gym, I walk around the magazine rack perusing the train wreck of glossy papers stapled together. So what if Bruce Jenner is cross dressing and possibly becoming a woman? What good does it do me or the world to take time speculating on his (her?) life?? Not only have I never met these people being gossiped about, I don’t even know anyone who knows them. I know nothing about them, their family, their childhood. So we’re not conditioned to love others as much as to judge them on the most minuscule of information. It’s like an evil game show: “OK, you know how it works, we’re gonna flash one sentence this person said, or one outfit they wore one day, and YOU judge their entire life based on that information! Let’s get started!!!”

How awful and ugly.

As Christians, are we called to love or to judge?

What’s a practical step we can take to become more loving? Well, we can turn our fruitless and impossible predictive thoughts into prayers for that person. Typically this changes my demeanor immediately. Pray for their good. For them to seek God with all their heart, and your judgement will most likely fade into “Stupid Land” where it belongs.

Look people, let’s be real, we can in no way at all know what has gone into and shaped a person over the journey that is their lifetime and has brought them to what they are thinking right now–even if we do know what they are thinking right now.

It’s best for us to pray for others to our God who does know everything in their heads, and to keep our thinking about thinking to our own thinking, which I think will do us well.

In the Name of Jesus,
Soli Deo Gloria

Perfection could not be reached through the old covenant way of Law and priests. That covenant was a mere foreshadowing of the better covenant to come.The word “perfection” in verse 11 is teleiosis, which does not mean “without flaws,” but has to do with “arriving at a desired end” or “reaching a goal.” And that “desired end” is the establishment of a healthy relationship between God and His people…you.

The aim of God for humanity is healthy relationship with Himself. And being the loving Initiator of relationship that He is, God provided the means for that relationship–Jesus. All of history led up to and radiates out from that point–the consummation of Jesus Christ as eternal high priest.

In referring to the Old testament and proclaiming Jesus as a “priest forever,” the author of Hebrews is saying that God’s new covenant way of relating to people has replaced the old and will never be altered. It continues in this paradigm forever without change. “Consequently, Hebrews’ view of reality, grounded in the eternal high priesthood of the Son of God, offers us lasting stability for life,” says George Guthrie in his commentary on this passage.

For us today, chances are, we are not tempted to relate to God via Levitical priests or goat sacrifices. But what false, non-God-given ways do we relate to God? What do we need to turn from in order to relate rightly with YHWH? What paradigm do we still cling to that needs to shift in order to be in healthy relationship with our Creator? For some, maybe you need to repent of reading your Bible or going to church in order to be close to God. Maybe you need to turn from relating to God as wrathful, eager-to-punish task master since that is not the truth revealed by Jesus. For others, you need to stop running yourself ragged serving God, ministering to people, doing good deeds for the purpose of intimacy with God. For that comes only through a humble clinging to the one and only mediator between God and humans–our eternal High Priest.

Perfection, God’s desired end of healthy relationship with Him, comes through Jesus Christ, our means, guarantor, saver complete, and eternal intercessor. The paradigm for relationship with God shifted cosmically with Jesus, and was set never to shift again.

In the Name of Jesus,
Soli Deo Gloria

In the Kingdom of God, a person is good in relation to how much of God’s love is flowing through their heart.

A good person is humble. In fact, the greatest person in the kingdom of God, Jesus tells us, is the one who is the most humble and most serving of all others.  A humble person thinks of others more than themselves. A humble person is not obsessed with them self.

A good person is forgiving. Always. They have a default setting of forgiveness. They harbor no unforgiveness in their heart.

A good person shows mercy, just as our heavenly Father is merciful.

So we see from Jesus of Nazareth, the human, perfect, and final revelation of who God is, that what makes for a good person is one with God’s love flowing through their heart to the point of humility, forgiveness, and mercy. One who lives agape.

I was explaining to Gaby and Zayra this week that what makes a person good is how much love is in their heart. That’s it. That’s how God defines a good person, and let no one else tell you differently. Already I see their little identities being challenged by this ultra retarded culture we live in. The competing voices of idiocy yelling at them (and all of us) about what makes for a good or “valuable” person.

Have you seen the commercial where a small group of women are asked to look at side by side pictures of the same guy standing in the same place, but by two different cars, and they’re asked which guy is hotter? Obviously the one where he’s standing by the big red truck, not the little silver car. Are you serious??? This is what we deem worthy of promoting??? God help us. (And I’m not just saying this because I drive a silver car)

Let’s keep filling our children, and ourselves, with God’s truth of who we are in Him, and that God is the ONLY authority on defining us! That is freedom.

In the Name of Jesus,
Soli Deo Gloria

How do we test everything?How do we test a church to see if it’s following Jesus or it’s own pursuit of members and money? Or a pastor to make sure they’re not just up there because they like people looking at or listening to them? Or if a ministry is for real? Or a Christian school holds to Christ?

How do we know if these things are for real, genuine, authentic, godly? We test to see if they are in accordance with God’s word, of course. But sometimes people speak the truth and may even technically be doctrinally sound. Then what? I’ve run into this. Twisting truth and Scripture and God’s will.

Speaking with a couple fellow travelers this week, we talked about the horrendous wake that is left from a ministry gone awry. It got me thinking about tests to make sure you’re staying on track–for God, and not for self.

So here’s some thoughts that seem good to test these meditations against before sending them out. These can be for organizations, people…yourself:

• Does it inspire you to love God more? – Joy and inner peace
• Does it fuel your love for others? – compassion
• Does it build a healthier love of self – soul care
• Does it bring glory to God? In other words, does it promote and draw attention to Jesus or yourself?
• Does it draw you more toward God or away from God?

Many have spoken accurately according to the Bible and failed every above test.

I’d love to hear from you if you have more thoughts on this…

In the Name of Jesus,
Soli Deo Gloria