Author: Cindy Lee

“Some people believe that devotion [faith] will slip away from them if they relax a little.  Recreation is good for the soul.  We will be stronger when we return to prayer.  Do not spend all your time in one method of prayer.  You may have found an excellent method of prayer that you really enjoy.  Maybe you need a kind of Sunday.  I mean a time of rest from your spiritual labor.  

You think you would lose something if you stop working at prayer.  My view is that your loss would be gain. Try to imagine yourself in the presence of Christ.  Talk with him.  Delight in him.  There is no need to weary yourself by composing speeches to him.  

There is a time for one thing and a time for another.  The soul can become weary of eating the same food over and over again. There is a great variety of food that is wholesome and nutritious. If your spiritual palate becomes familiar with their various tastes, they will sustain the life of your soul, bringing many benefits.” (Teresa of Avila).

I like this quote for two reasons: First, she rightly describes how the spiritual perfectionist is trapped in what I call a faith formula.  If I do (x) and then do (y) that will equal a holy life. For them, spiritual disciplines are the end and not the means to the end. For them, being holy is checking boxes. Sabbath is a foreign concept because to break from box checking means they haven’t performed or done what is needed to be holy.  Yet, holiness is not something done or checked but stems from living with Christ.  Sure, we might do something but what is done flows out of what one already is. I don’t do something to make me holy, I’m holy because God deems so and I live out of that relationship.

Second, mix up your spiritual disciplines.Try something different. Not because it is another box to check but because it might produce a different experience.  If your main disciplines are study and prayer, then redirect that time in service. Volunteer in a ministry.  Attend different styles of worship. Try fasting. “If your spiritual palate becomes familiar with their various tastes, they will sustain the life of your soul, bringing many benefits.”

This week’s reading:

• Monday – Revelation 18
• Tuesday – Revelation 19
• Wednesday – Revelation 20
• Thursday – Revelation 21
• Friday – Revelation 22

Please Pray for:

• Shane, John and everyone traveling with them on the Israel trip. Safe travels, there and back home.
• Our families, homes, workplace, church, and community.
• The United Methodist Church.
• ​Our nation and our leaders.
• Those suffering due to catastrophic natural disasters. 
• ​Ongoing Building Renovations, Modifications, and Phase 3: Completion of New Youth Building and rear parking.

Care for self restores one to a steady heartbeat that is a must for being human.  When one turns inward—self-compassion—one is better equipped to turn outward in love for another.  Healthy self-love creates healthy love for someone else.  We can only give to another that which we already have or possess.

Lately I’ve been thinking about Jesus’ teaching in Matthew’s Gospel (7:3-5): 

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?  How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?  You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”

Traditionally speaking, when we think about of these verses we associate it with judging others of their faults without any concern for our own.  Jesus illustrated to be in touch with your own sense of self before you move on to someone else.  In other words, don’t be a hypocrite. 

At the same time, I think there is something deeper in his teaching that is equally valuable.  When we are agitated, reactive, and depleted, our soul cries out of attention.  Ignoring the cries can be caustic.  Even when we press to cultivate compassion for another at the expense of our own suffering might not achieve what we ultimately desire.  Similar to co-dependency, to focus on others without tending to your needs dismisses the suffering cry from your own soul. 

It is no different than ‘screaming yourself into silence, straining your way into relaxation, or fighting your way to inner peace.’  Perhaps, one should take time to tend to his/her own soul before they try to help another.   This is not selfishness!  You can’t give to another what you don’t already have.  Out of your own sense of wholeness you love others.  Jesus would later say, “Love your neighbor has yourself.”  Here, you actually love two persons:  Your neighbor and yourself.  Tending to your soul’s needs is loving yourself.  

This Week’s Reading:

• Monday – Revelation 8
• Tuesday – Revelation 9
• Wednesday – Revelation 10
• Thursday – Revelation 11
• Friday – Revelation 12

Please Pray for:

• The United Methodist Church
• Our families, homes, workplace, church, and community.
• ​Our nation and our leaders.
• Those suffering due to catastrophic natural disasters.
• ​Ongoing Building Renovations, Modifications, and Phase 3: Completion of New Youth Building and rear parking.

“Once upon a time there was a woman, and she was wicked as wicked could be, and she died. And not one good deed was left behind her. The devil took her and threw her into the lake of fire. And her guardian angel stood thinking: what good deed of hers can I remember to tell God? Then he remembered and said to God, ‘Once, she pulled up an onion and gave it to a beggar woman.’ And God answered, ‘Take now that same onion, hold it out to her in the lake, let her take hold of it and pull, and if you pull her out of the lake, she can go to paradise.’ The angel ran to the woman and held out the onion to her, saying, ‘Here, woman he said, take hold of it and I’ll pull.’ And he began pulling carefully, and had almost pulled her all the way out, when other sinners in the lake saw her being pulled out and all began holding on to her so as to be pulled out with her. But the woman was wicked as wicked could be, and she began to kick them with her feet. She yelled, ‘It’s me who’s getting pulled out, not you; it’s my onion, not yours.’ No sooner did she say it than the onion broke. And the woman fell back into the lake and is burning there to this day. And the angel wept and went away.” – (From The Brothers Karamazov).

We are all receivers of grace and mercy. Therefore, be merciful. Blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy.

      This Week’s Reading:

• Monday – Revelation 3
• Tuesday – Revelation 4
• Wednesday – Revelation 5
• Thursday – Revelation 6
• Friday – Revelation 7

  Please Pray for:

• The United Methodist Church
• Our families, homes, workplace, church, and community.
• ​Our nation and our leaders.
• Those suffering due to catastrophic natural disasters.
• ​Ongoing Building Renovations, Modifications, and Phase 3: Completion of New Youth Building and rear parking.

Final words of advice from Francis De Sales, The Devout Life:

“The truly patient person neither whines nor seeks pity. If that person must speak of [his/her] sufferings [he/she] will use a normal tone of voice and not exaggerate. If that person is extended pity for something [he/she] does not suffer, [he/she] will not accept it. This way [he/she] keeps peace between truth and patience.”

The first line fascinates me: The truly patient person neither whines nor seeks pity. Try something this week—each day, recite that phrase. Meditate upon it. Pray to be a patient person. If you find yourself whining or seeking pity, meditate on it again. Allow God to use your reflection for inward change.

This week’s reading:

• Monday – 1 John 5

• Tuesday – 2 John

• Wednesday – 3 John

• Thursday – Revelation 1

• Friday – Revelation 2

  Please Pray for:

• The United Methodist Church

• Our families, homes, workplace, church, and community.

• ​Our nation and our leaders.

• Those suffering due to catastrophic natural disasters.

• ​Ongoing Building Renovations, Modifications, and Phase 3: Completion of New Youth Building and rear parking.

This week’s reading:

• Monday – John 21
• Tuesday – 1 John 1
• Wednesday – 1 John 2
• Thursday – 1 John 3
• Friday – ​1 John 4

• The New Year 2019 and all those who will grow in Christ this year
• St Paul’s upcoming Marriage Retreat
• Our Nation and Leaders