The Unlikely Spiritual Practice of Coming Alive
Unlikely Spiritual Practices Part 5
ICYMI: Unlikely Spiritual Practices Series So Far
If you haven’t yet had a chance, I’d suggest starting here with these essays before jumping into this week’s Field Notes so that what follows will make a bit more sense to you:
Announcing our new series: Unlikely Spiritual Practices: This one is for the Quiet Time Drop-Outs
We are not trying to become worthy of grace; we are learning to live as though grace is already true: Unlikely Spiritual Practices Part 2
The Unlikely Spiritual Practice of Wonder & Delight: Unlikely Spiritual Practices Part 3
The Unlikely Spiritual Practice of Loving Your Body: Unlikely Spiritual Practices Part 4
Today!
Listen to this essay
The Secret Field Notes Podcast Episode 54 is up and waiting for you to listen to either through your web browser or through your preferred podcast listening app.
Hi friends,
This week’s Unlikely Spiritual Practice took me by surprise. It was just one tiny idea in the margins of my outline for this series that just kept poking her head around the corner. In my great wisdom </sarcasm font>, I thought I knew better and moved her down to the robust “not needed” section.
I had a few different ideas sketched out for our theme this week but despite my best efforts, not one of them seemed eager to show up on the page. For instance, I was sure that we were going to explore a reimagining of more traditional practices like prayer and church in a kind of “got ya!” moment here at the end but that didn’t come together well and honestly, it felt kind of cheap and mean to me by the end of the attempt, like a total evangelical youth pastor move. Old habits, dying hard etc.
This practice said, “Ok, now?” But no. I kept shushing her, convinced that she wasn’t robust enough for a whole theme on her own.
Then I sketched out a draft of a couple practices that I thought might be Helpful and Instructive and Necessary and Practical (these adjectives are always a warning sign). Those also fell by the wayside. And so late in the day, I invited my little half-pint of an idea into the conversation and she ended up surprising me after all.
It was a surprise because this particular practice felt a little too personal at first but perhaps that’s exactly the point of an unlikely spiritual practice. These practices don’t have to have wide universal appeal to have meaning to us. God doesn’t simply mass market factory produce altars for encounter, there are beautifully personal and entirely intimate in our lives too. These are the practices that are deeply personal to you, your story, your make-up, your history, your place; they are the ones that you needed for a particular reason or season. You have practices that are entirely yours and that’s as it should be.
So with apologies to those for whom this practice comes as easily as breathing, this week’s unlikely spiritual practice is coming alive. Waking up. Engaging. Showing up for your own life. Shaking off the numbness and the sloth. Breaking the spell of dissociation.
This practice was/is a hard won choice for yours truly and I have a hunch I may not be alone in this.
Today, we’ll be covering:
Pretending To Be Fine is apparently not a fruit of the spirit
This Is Not About Maxxing
Stepping Out of Line
An Abundant Life
A few starting practices
As well as our reflection questions
Wake up from your sleep,
Climb out of your coffins;
Christ will show you the light!
Ephesians 5:14 in The Message