Say Yes – part 4 – “The Right Accessories for the Walking”

So, you might be done with this metaphor of mine, but I hope you will give me one more moment to talk about – “Walking in the Yes!” Again, the “Yes” that I am referring to is your response to Father God’s story – his pursuit of your heart, his gift of life, and his constant desire for a conversation. Have you “opened your door to him” (Romans 8)? If so, then I hope that you are “weaving and reaching” – weaving him in to your day to day by reaching out for him in prayer and conversation amidst the details of your day. And lest I ever let you forget – He has already said yes to you, and he endlessly reaches for you with his love.

“I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.” Jeremiah 31:3

As I have continued to think about our “walking,” Father God and I have been talking about where the spiritual disciplines fit in to all of this. There is more than just “reaching” for him in the details. When I say the words, spiritual disciplines, I am talking about prayer, fasting, bible study, service, confession, and worship. There are also some really cool ones that I am just learning about like celebration, meditation, and solitude. Richard Foster has been a great walking companion for me and given me some great insight on this idea of spiritual formation and the disciplines. I like to think of them as great accessories. When I go for a walk on the treadmill or in my neighborhood, I always wear my “cushiony socks” and my Brooks running shoes. In my hand, I hold my water bottle with some nicely squeezed lemon and lime and usually my DJ Ditty fits snugly in my ears. Though I don’t need these things to walk, they make it better. The spiritual disciplines are the same for your journey.

“The classical Disciplines of the spiritual life call us to move beyond surface living into the depths. . . The purpose of the Disciplines is liberation from the stifling slavery. . . .The Disciplines allow us to place ourselves before God so that he can transform us. . . .They are meant to bring the abundance of God into our lives (Richard Foster in Celebration of Discipline).

I must tell you that I fouled these up for a long time in that I used to see them as a responsibility and an obligation. If I was going to call myself a good Christian, then I had better study my Bible for at least 30 minutes every day, pray every day, and go to Church on Sunday. As I became a mother and entered into being “undone” most of the time, the guilt for not doing enough of the spiritual disciplines was at times more than I could bear. So, I would either spend half of the “quiet time” that I had amazingly found telling Father what a reject I was or quickly remembering the other more demanding things that I must do and escaping the noise of my discontent. Much of my walking these past few years has been “detoxing” my mind and heart from such religion and moving into the wide, open places of a relationship with Father God. As I have come to know who he is and my identity in Jesus Christ, thankfully I have come to see the disciplines as they were intended, and I have begun to use them as my pathways to communication with Father. Just like my running shoes and DJ Ditty, they make my walking better. I hope you have a chance to read Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster. He really explains each of these disciplines and how to use them on the journey. The walking will be much richer as you accessorize!

At The Whole Peach, we also have begun to look at these accessories in light of how we share them with our children! We must first have the conversation with Father for our own relationship. Then, we bring our children on the journey and tell them the great promise that he has a story for them as well. He has things he wants to say and adventures he wants to have. The Toolbox at The Whole Peach is our attempt to help you in this endeavor!

I look forward to sharing with you some great stories from my journey as I have worked these disciplines into my MO (mode of operation). Perhaps you have some stories you would share with me!