september challenge: honoring my body, my physical temple

An hour or two ago, I ate a Schlotzsky's pepperoni pizza for lunch, along with a Barq's root beer. Now I feel sluggish, and a headache's coming on. Maybe they're not related, but the idea that they could be inspired (if you can call it that) my September challenge. I'm going to let this one go till October eighth, to fairly give it a full month.

If you read my blog, it's pretty clear I'm on an Omnivore's Dilemma kick right now. Michael Pollan isn't a Christian, and his book doesn't preach that you should eat whole, unprocessed foods in order to honor Christ and your body and the earth; but for me, the book was all about that. Implementing what I've learned has proved to be a whole 'nother baby. It's just too easy to live unhealthily in this culture. A girl's got to go to great lengths to eat whole, healthy, locally grown food from sustainable farms.

(Completely unrelated sidenote: A pick-up pulling a trailer just drove by our house. The trailer had a lawn mower sitting on it. The lawn mower had a man sitting it. I laughed out loud. You don't see that every day.)

My spiritual challenge this month to honor my body through eating right and exercising is a bit of an experiment. I want to see if some of my grogginess (which I've been attributing to being a mother) dissipates. I want to see if I have more energy to do the things I "should" be doing.

Rules for the month:

1. No pop!
2. Exercise for 15 minutes every day, even if it's only a walk.
3. No fried fast food.
4. Eat fruits and/or vegetables at every meal.
5. Every day, substitute something not very healthy for something healthier (e.g. whole grain bread for white bread).
6. Limit sweets and fats.

I didn't do much research on these rules, but they seem to make sense. Please leave a comment if you have suggestions for me.

To good, God-honoring health!

august challenge: hospitality

Well, the month is half over and I haven't posted my monthly spiritual discipline challenge. I've had one in my head; I just haven't told you all about it.

Yesterday I delivered a basket of goodies over to our new next-door neighbors Ross and Lindsey. I took Isaiah on a sweaty walk to drop another one off for a man whose wife had just died yesterday morning. I tell this to my shame because in the three-plus years we have lived here, I have never given gifts to people in my neighborhood. I've wanted to, but I've learned that that doesn't count for much in the sheep-and-goat separation.

This month, I want to learn what hospitality really is. I always think it's about having people over and being a gracious host, but I've heard there's more to it than that.

We're having a group from church over on Saturday, and I hope that will be the first of at-least-monthly parties at our house. I want to fling open our doors and invite the whole world inside. If I can't run a coffee shop now, our house will have to do in the meantime.

my lonely existence

Withdrawal pains are coming on strong. I thought I could quit e-mail and the internet any time, but I miss them so much. Is it only Thursday? Four whole days to go.

Day one was okay. I was busy on the computer, so that was like eating fake sugar. Kills the cravings without the calories.

Day two I thought to myself that this fasting from the internet was a good lesson because I could determine what I really need the internet for -- bank account information, for instance -- and deem everything else as wasting time.

Day three I called some people, but they didn't answer. So I sulked a little and felt very isolated. I came to believe that I need the internet to stay connected to people since I have so few friends with regular, in-person relationships. But I was kind of mad at the world we live in, too, that has become so connected in technological ways that real relationships are often superficial or nonexistent. If I were in a little village, and took all my laundry to the river to wash it, Isaiah would get the grandma-love he needs on a daily basis, and I would get some adult time.

Today it all just got harder, and I began to dread the weekend when I'll have to say "no" to our Friday or Saturday night movie because I just had to add that to my list of things from which to fast. Why am I such an overachiever? But today was good because I got return phone calls from a couple people, so at least I didn't feel so isolated.

I write this so you don't feel isolated, dear readers. If new blogs posts kill some cravings for you, be thankful for Windows Live Writer, by which I can post to my blog without using the internet. It makes me feel pretty generous.

july challenge: redeeming the time

My tardiness in posting this month's challenge is all the proof you need to know how much I need the assignment I'm giving myself.

Over the weekend, the house got clean for the first time in who-knows-how-long. As Kyle and I cleared away clutter and swept up the evidence of my post-pregnancy hair loss from the carpet, it was amazing: I started to feel sane again... like I actually could focus on something besides taking care of Isaiah and catching up on sleep! I know, I know, clean houses aren't everything, and the Bible does not say "cleanliness is next to godliness" (does it?). But a dirty house is enough to make me believe I'll never, never, never get ahead. It makes me feel guilty for reading books, it distracts me when I worship, it makes outreach seem unreachable.

So, step one is to try to keep the house (pretty) clean. But even if I fail in that, I've gotta move on to step two: redeem moments in the morning to worship through prayer, Bible study, and quietness. And then, step three is creating goals for the day, so I don't get overwhelmed with the (not just physical) clutter of life.

To me, redeeming the time means capturing it from the Devil's clutches -- to claim it for Christ instead of for self. Instead of giving my moments to the sins of pride, anger, or laziness, I claim the time for joy, for pursuing worthwhile passions.

One last thing: For confidentiality's sake, I am not reporting specifically on last month's challenge. As far as my assignment was concerned, I completed it. But it's not enough, I've learned. Walking across the room to one person in a month is not nearly enough. I'm compelled to stretch out my hands and my heart to the lost, to desire their fellowship for eternity.

june challenge: evangelism

As I complete each month's challenge, I realize how I can never stop developing each of the spiritual disciplines I've tried to tackle. Committing myself to prayer has revealed to me how much more I need to communicate daily with God in a genuine and humble way. Focusing on loving my neighbor as myself has not closed the door on ways to give of myself but rather opened a flood of new ones.

And now this -- evangelism. I'll complete my monthly goal and move back to life as usual, right? I doubt it. I hope not. If I thought about what giving myself to evangelism might mean for my future, I might back away at the whelming pressure. But the most daunting of disciplines begins with a single step. That single step is all I will try to commit to this month: reaching one person.

Our small group from church is walking through a study series called Just Walk Across the Room, based on the book by Bill Hybels. Hybels argues that it's not a Christian's job to present a four-point gospel message to every unbeliever she knows (or whatever her preferred method is). Instead, a Christ-follower should simply be sensitive to the Holy Spirit's promptings... maybe to present that four point message, but maybe not, too. Maybe it's just walking across the room to introduce myself to a stranger or inviting someone to church. The point is that I'm available, not to do all the work myself (I'm not capable of converting a soul anyway; that's God's job!), but to do the job God wants me to do -- speak a word, lend a hand, extend an invitation.

I don't know what part of the evangelistic journey God will call me to take, but I'm praying to be open to His opportunities, starting this month.

may challenge: loving my neighbor as myself

I admit it: every time I set a goal, I imagine that at the end of the time period, I will have mastered whatever I had set out to master. I guess that's a good thing because I am now a faithful prayer warrior! Ummm... whatever.

But I did decide that instead of kicking myself in the shins for failing to meet my own expectations, I would rejoice in the grace of improvement. My prayer life is more solid than it was a month ago, praise God! I expect that my future spiritual discipline challenges will be reason enough to keep praying.

I struggled to choose a specific discipline for the month of May. I feel compelled to practice reaching out to people -- my literal neighbors, the poor, my husband, just to name a few. I considered focusing on hospitality or generosity, but I decided to start with something more general because of the things I want to accomplish this month. If I need to develop a more specific discipline in a later month, I will.

I think the biggest challenge this month will be practicing genuine love. I have some specific ways I would like to reach out to others -- actions that I hope they will interpret as love -- but to know in my heart that I really love the people I am reaching out to is an entirely different thing. First Corinthians 13 keeps going through my head: "and though I give all my goods to feed the poor, but have not love, it profits me nothing."

prayer challenge update

I think I was about to be swallowed up in failure, but then one of my new blogreaders asked me, "How are you doing with your April challenge of prayer?" and "What are you doing to develop this discipline?" Nothing like a good dose of accountability to kick me in the butt and onto my knees again.

I've been trying to give God a chunk of my evenings because something about the early mornings is just too intimidating after a patchy night of sleep. Speaking of patchy: my evening prayer times are still patchy, but I'm hoping the prayerful patches will keep getting bigger and bigger until they cover up the blank, prayerless evenings. I'm making a mental note to pray for that to happen.

I decided to learn about what the Bible has to say about prayer while I'm trying my hand at it. I started in Habakkuk 3, which is primarily a prayer. It wasn't the prayer that inspired me, though. It was the last few verses -- Habakkuk's profession of faith in God -- which put me in the right spirit for prayer:

"Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation" (Habakkuk 3. 17,18).

In spite of the worst of circumstances, God is worthy of my praise and my attention... and my prayer times.

april challenge: prayer

I couldn't think of any other way to start. Without crying out to God, I don't know how to start this year of practicing spiritual disciplines. (See previous post if you don't know what I'm talking about.)

I chose the discipline of prayer because it's the only way I know to improve communication with God. It's the best way I know of to fully offer myself to God, to open my heart to what He has for me.

If the first month of this plan goes well, I hope to have developed a regular daily prayer time as well as become more instant (spontaneous) in prayer. I hope to become more familiar with what the Bible says about prayer and more earnest when I pray. And I hope God will teach me much more about prayer than I could have ever imagined.

(Again, I invite you to join me as I develop this spiritual discipline. I"d love to know if you're journeying with me, and if you're adopting my spiritual discipline choices or coming up with your own.)

journey to intimacy

Maybe it was Easter, maybe it was talking about the future and where we want to "end up"... but this weekend compelled me to know the Lord more deeply.

Sometimes I try to blame this stale spiritual valley on post-partum life changes, but I know that's no excuse for me to be distant from God.

It seems that there have been too many decisions lately that I try to pray about, but then I run out of time (or so I think). So, I make the best decision possible, crossing my fingers that that's what God would have had me do. Wow. What a testimony. Not.

My life needs revival. I need to get to know my Lord again. And I invite you to join me. From Easter 2007 until Easter 2008, I plan to implement one new spiritual discipline at a time, which may include growth areas such as:

Hospitality
Global outreach
Community outreach
Giving
Prayer
Bible study
Evangelism
Friendship
Exercising talents
Enjoying and honoring God’s creation
Solitude
Prioritizing/managing time
Scripture memorization
Controlling the tongue
Dedication to home, husband, and family
Denying self

And now for the plan. Too many times, I've implemented yearly plans (Write 1500 words every single day!) and petered out within a few weeks (or days?), feeling like a failure. My husband had some indispensable wisdom he borrowed from software project planning -- stuff he tries to implement at work.

He said a sure-fire way to miss a long-term goal is to have only a long-term plan. As you miss each consecutive deadline, you've dug yourself in so deep a hole you'll never catch up. Kyle recommends setting small, three-week milestones, taking time to review after each one.

I'm going to go for month-long milestones instead, just because it's easier that way. I won't decide on each month's spiritual decision until I'm almost ready to implement it. Only God knows what journey this year will take me through, so there's no need to pretend I know.

In spite of having small short-term goals, having one long-term goal is invaluable. I haven't had enough time to come up with a formal description of my long-term goal, but roughly, here it is:

To grow in intimacy with God; to know Him more deeply, to hear Him more clearly, to serve Him more passionately, to believe Him more actively, to love Him more radically.