Three Ponderings
Here's a couple of ideas & thoughts my mind has been pondering in the month of November...contentment..."clean holiness"...update on journaling...
Hey Fellow Faith Traveller,
11 months have gone in 2023!
How has your November been?
What have you learned?
How have you grown?
Has anything shifted in/for you?
One amazing truth of being a human is our ability to transform. To change mindsets. To change our perceived identity. To refine our beliefs. To grow more in various actions, whether that is loving or not.
I guess this ability to transform is due to being made in the image and likeness of God.
The Father, Son and Spirit are into transformative actions.
Always in love.
Always gently.
Usually taking time, right?
yeah it takes time.
Selah. Ponder that.
Here are my November ponderings… I would love to hear your response to them so feel free to press the comment button and let’s start a conversation.
Update on Journaling
After my October piece on the spiritual practice of Journaling, a close friend asked me a probing question in the comments for you all to see….
Question: have you continued this in November?
Ummmm. Here was my reply…
November brought new challenges and invitations and evening time journaling seemed to be moved aside for more contemplative walking and gardening as the weather became more settled and warmer. At first when I read your question I felt shame as I didn't keep up with it but now I realise that it is okay. We go through seasons and use different tools that God has given to us to strengthen our faith and mental health. Both journaling (whether morning or evening or both) and being outside are great invitations to connecting with ourselves and God along with other practices. We all are invited to a buffet of options and we can pick up one and feast on it for a season and place it down and pick up another and maybe return to the first one at the next right time. Oh the freedom! Thanks for asking the question.
Have you ever felt shame for not perfectly continuing a spiritual practice?
Let’s take this season to let go of perfection and instead give ourselves the permission to leave, put down or drop away any practices or beliefs that are not serving us well OR to enter, pick up or adopt any practices or beliefs that invite us into a more welcoming connection to Father, Son and Spirit. The Divine Dance.
Clean Holiness
I listened to a sermon titled “Clean Holiness” by Chris Green this month1. I tend to shudder when I hear the word ‘holiness’ so I was a bit hesitate to listen. But there were some great takeaways that I just have to share with you:
When we leave the presence of someone, it should be easy, not hard, for the person we left, to pray. Wow that takes some pondering right there. It should change the way we talk and treat people.
As humans, we are super anxious right now. This is because we are either withdrawn from people OR we are too close to people, in the moment. What he means by ‘too close to people’ is the amount of news we watch and listen to each night on our TV’s. We are exposed to a vast amount of other people’s issues and troubles from around the world. That is causing anxiety. So true. The same is said for not being with people - we lose the human touch. A very interesting paradox.
God is always present with us in the right amount that we need. He gives the example of Peter at the Transfiguration. Peter was trying to handle what was going on. He was trying to contain and manage the presence as it was terrifying him. This is why God used a cloud to cover the meeting on the mount. This is why God always says…Do not be afraid. There is two things to remember in this quote… God is ALWAYS present. I would add, with anyone (whether they are a “Christian” or not) and God is ALWAYS knows what we need in each moment. Not too much and not too little.
Contentment
Talking about journaling…. as I flick through my journal, an entry on the 30th November stood out (one of two entries for the month of November!) . I asked myself the question…
AM I CONTENT?
I then decided that it depends on what my definition of contentment is. I asked myself a couple of questions.
How can I tell I am contented?
Are there any signals or feelings to notice?
Are there any actions that need to be taken in order to experience this feeling of contentment?
Great Questions.
My first reaction was to define contentment as being fully satisfied. But how do I get to that state? As a person who operates with To-Do Lists… the easy answer was… when my To-Do List is ticked off.
Oh, but there is a massive problem here. A giant issue.
I don’t know about you, but my To-Do Lists (yes there are more than one, maybe not written down but in my head) never end. Once I tick one task off, another jumps into it’s place. The To-Do List is never ending. Kind of like eternity, really.
Does that mean in reality a person can never be contented if we go by my definition of a ‘ticked off To-Do List’?
This is the problem of thinking in a dualistic way. I am either contented because I have everything ticked off or I am not because there are still outstanding items in different areas of my life.
What if we allow ourselves the joy of being contented even if there are areas of our lives that still have work to be done?
“Contentment is about slowness and slowness is about contentment. Not settling necessarily but finding enoughness and satisfaction in who and what and where we are, right now, even if we’re working towards something different.” - Brooke McAlary (Check out her post here)
I love Brooke’s comment on contentment. Finding Enoughness. That sounds like the search for the Holy Grail, right there!
I think I’ve found my focus for this coming Advent season….to Find Enoughness.
Do you want to join me? Love to hear your thoughts…
Unfortunately I can’t find the Facebook Video that I watched Chris Green’s sermon but here is his website if you want to know more about him - https://www.cewgreen.com/
Two quotes I'll post here about contentment. This has been my word for 2023 and when I feel myself moving out of contentment, I go back and read these quotes to recenter my thinking. Quote 1 from Dr. Tony Evans - "Contentment is a discovery. It's a process of learning how to be at ease with what the Lord had provided you." Quote 2 from Chuck Swindoll - "Deep contentment comes from a place of complete security and confidence in God."