Just
a final wrap up for our Chichester Chronicles. It was really an experiment to run through Easter. The premise was to begin each day by
praying that God would intercede in our daily lives so that we might see Him
more clearly, love Him more fully, and follow Jesus more closely.
It was a great learning experience
for me. It reminded me how much
discipline it takes to do anything every single day—something new that is. It probably took most of my childhood
to get me to brush my teeth every evening. Then it took a big chunk of my adulthood to floss every
day. And I’m not still at the
brush after every meal standard my parents and dentist held out to me when I
got my permanent teeth way back when.
Beginning the day with St. Richard’s Prayer (with some real thought and
feeling behind it) wasn’t as obvious or easy as I thought. Taking a few minutes every evening to
debrief and/or journal how that prayer was fulfilled in my life was nearly
impossible.
It was helpful to learn that each
of the three aspects of that simple prayer build on each other. I had to be looking for God in order to
see God’s hand in my day. And it
was only when I was better able to see God’s hand that I was able to appreciate
and love him more fully. And it is
my love for God that allowed me to follow His Son more closely. The more I saw the Spirit moving in my
life, the more appreciative I was of God’s presence. The more appreciative I was of God’s presence, the more I
found myself celebrating and loving that presence. The more I celebrated and the more I loved God, the easier
it was for me to make the decisions to do God’s will and pursue God’s
purposes--and stick to them from moment to moment.
I learned one more thing and this
was probably the most sobering insight of all. Wanting to be “All In” for God, having a genuine desire to
intentionally grow in our faith is easy to declare and affirm in Sunday morning
during worship, but it doesn’t amount to a hill of beans if it doesn’t
translate into what we do and who we are Monday through Friday. Sustaining a growing relationship with
Jesus is just as difficult for some as starting an exercise program after years
of inactivity; it is just a challenging as radically changing our eating
patterns in order to take better care of our health; it takes as much planning
and discipline as cutting back on our daily expenses and small extravagances in
order to put money aside for a family vacation, college expenses, new car that
we couldn’t otherwise afford.
Almost everybody I talk
to in our congregation puts a priority on their relationship with God. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t be
here. But just watching the folks
who were moved to agree to pray this daily prayer during an altar call in
worship vs. the folks who came out to the first group gathering of those who
were committed to pursuing this goal vs. the very few who were still at it and
still making it a priority enough to meet together at the end—as I said—was sobering. I
have been around long enough to know that coming to a meeting and fulfilling
the prayer experiment are two separate things. I am sure that there were any number of folks who have kept
up this discipline and are being blessed by it even now. At the same time, I am convinced that
most of us contemporary Christians have no idea what is required to grow in
spiritual wisdom, maturity, and into the example of Christ.
That being said, I hope that those
of you who’ve been following along with this blog and who have made use of this
terrific prayer tool have found strength and renewal in your daily walk with
Jesus. It’s time for me to go back
to my old blog, or in this case, launch a new blog. In the next few weeks I’m going to reflect on the wide
variety of spirituality that is exploding on the Internet and in our
culture. What all that has to do
with humble followers of Jesus like us?
That is exactly what I hope to find out.
Blessings
and Peace,
Tim
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