Talking to Trees

Have you ever talked to trees? I did that again yesterday. Here is what I heard them say:

I heard God's creation reaching out as high as possible toward the sky. They were grounded, though, accomplishing the purposes for which they were created. Their shout was clearly a communal one saying, "We move together, intertwined! Each one of us affected by the other, we know it is best to draw on that blessing." I am humbled at their voice; they proclaim their creator every time.

Willing to risk sounding insane, I think everyone needs to talk to trees every now and then! Their message is captivating!

"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world." Psalm 19:1-4a

Streams of Water

Psalm 1:

"Blessed is the man

who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked

or stand in the way of sinners

or sit in the seat of mockers.

But his delight is in the law of the Lord,

and on his law he meditates day and night.

He is like a tree planted by streams of water

which yield its fruit in season

and whose leaf does not wither.

Whatever he does prospers.

Not so the wicked!

They are like chaff that the wind blows away.

Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,

nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,

but the way of the wicked will perish."

If there are any commitments I make for this year, it would be to explore the depths of this Psalm. Understanding this Psalm only goes as deep as you are willing to try it out.

I have been wanting to write a practical spiritual guide to help college students get through two semesters at school with all the ebbs and flows on a college campus. It is kindof like a devotional book for college students. The idea stems from Psalm 1.

All of us, however, need to spend time asking how are we like a tree planted by streams of water? From what are we drawing our nourishment? What is our delight?

Silence

Can I go a whole day not saying an audible word all day long? I am going to try tomorrow. Looking at my schedule, I think it will be possible especially since Tanya and the kids are in Dallas right now. Well, I guess I will speak when Tanya calls me tomorrow. That will be my only exception.

Well, let's say that I will speak only when necessity requires it tomorrow. Sometimes hard, fast rules don't accomplish what they intend. If, for example, as I was sitting outside my house tomorrow two cars crashed head-on, then breaking the rule to call 9-1-1 would be the wise and appropriate thing to do. So, a set rule to not talk tomorrow isn't appropriate upon further reflection. I'm curious to see what this exercise will produce.

May your Spirit, God, speak powerfully as I silence my own tongue. Let my ears be attentive. Father, if you desire, send someone who needs a listening ear tomorrow. I will not speak unless necessity requires it. Teach me your ways, Lord.

Fruit of the Spirit Suggestions

If you are going to produce a crop of apples, you don’t just go out and make them appear out of nowhere. No…you go and work the ground (till it up)…get the ground ready to receive the seeds…then you plant the seeds (which BTW look nothing like what comes out…i.e. you don’t plant an apple to get apples…you plant an apple seed)…then you water and give it appropriate sunlight…and God amazingly produces the fruit…in time…not immediately.

To produce the heart-level fruit of the Spirit, you will find a similar process with your heart. You work the ground, get it ready to receive the seeds, and you plant seeds that don’t look like what you will end up with (i.e. if you want patience you don’t plant patience...you plant something else). Then you cultivate the environment of your heart.

Constant cultivation of what is planted needs to happen…beware of the hard ground, the rocks, and the weeds that can creep in if we fail to pay attention. Are you cultivating your heart now so that God can produce in you the fruit that he desires of this world? Here are a few suggestions for cultivating the heart for later fruit of the spirit:

To cultivate joy,

• Ask God to show you how good he is
• Meditate on how beautiful his creation is
• Smell the flowers and thank God for them.
• Have a personal worship retreat.
• Sing songs of praise and thanksgiving.
• Pray the scripture, pausing to meditate when the Spirit leads

To cultivate faithfulness and peace in your marriage

• Pray together
  
• Thank each other regularly (write it down every day: record of rights)
  
• Hold each other closely without selfish agendas…just for the sake of affirming the other
  
• Don’t take things so personally (most of the time its not a big deal)
  
• Offer forgiveness
• Ask for forgiveness. Admit when you are wrong quickly.
  
• Smile and laugh at each other.
• Don’t get historical. Remember the time you chose to forget how you've been wronged.
  
• Watch the sun go down together. Just enjoy the beauty of God.
• Tell others that you won't (not "can't") do something because you want to spend good time with your spouse.

To cultivate kindness and goodness at work,

• Ask them what you can pray for (actually pray for them there)
  
• Ask God to show you their strengths
  
• Begin thanking them for things they’ve done (“I overheard your conversation with so-and-so and that really encouraged me”)
  
• Free attention give-away: seriously listen attentively; don’t talk about you
  
• Spend 30 full minutes imagining yourself as another person with whom it is difficult to be kind or good (God will hopefully open your heart toward her or him)

To cultivate gentleness and patience,

• Indirection – stand in longest line at the grocery store
  
• Indirection – go the speed limit (tell yourself…I’m cultivating my heart)
  
• Work with children
  
• Initiate a conversation with someone who doesn’t speak English well
  
• Put yourself in situations where you can cultivate a selfless heart (trust that in time, God will produce his fruit in you)
  
• Confess regularly your own faults (who of us is perfect?)

To cultivate self-control,

• Ask God to teach you to say no to yourself in small things
  
• Indirection – practice fasting (learn to say no to your own body in eating [a basic need], and you will begin to see self-control in other temptations)
  
• Inconvenience yourself regularly, and take it not as an inconvenience but an wonderful opportunity to learn self-control that you weren’t expecting (act of service)
  
• When someone does something horrible to you, don’t tell anyone about it…ever!!
• When you do something good, don’t tell anyone about it…ever!!
• Limit your speaking for a day...see what you learn about others and yourself
• Don't eat your normal snack or dessert or whatever for a day

To cultivate love,

• Spend time with God just listening…ask him to show you his love
  
• Spend personal time worshipping God in song.
• Read about how God loves horrible people
  
• His love is something hard to understand
  
• No conditions…on his love?
  
• Begin to experiment with how you can practice this love too
  
• Do all these things
  

Remember that all these suggestions are only ways to cultivate your heart. And this is not even close to an exhaustive list. Please feel free to add your own in a comment to this post.

Word of Caution: You could easily turn these suggestions into rules and regulations to be performed, but that again doesn’t work on the heart. You would be doing the very thing that you are trying to avoid. Richard Foster: “The Disciplines of the spiritual life are a means not an end. The end is ‘to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever.’ The end is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom 14:17).” (Foster, Streams of Living Water, 55)

Weather Wares

It is starting to feel like winter here...at least for a little while. The temperatures are dropping. Today the wind is blowing really hard. It kindof reminds me of Abilene. I like the change. I can't wait for the leaves to start changing colors.

Seasons come and seasons go. It is a relief that the whole year is not the same season. Makes me think of the value of the seasons of our spiritual life. It is a relief that there is a season for what might look like spiritual death, but we know that new life will come in due season. Praise the Lord for the insight he has brought my way today.

Keep me close, Lord, as I experience the seasons.

Holiday Break

Oh...I can smell it now...turkey, stuffing, deviled eggs (do these smell?), ham, football, Cowboys, laughter. [I know you can't smell some of those, but work with me here.] Thanksgiving break is huge at our family. Maybe even bigger than Christmas...I'm not sure. All I know is that I get excited thinking about it!

A when the break finally comes, nice times. I don't typically think about anything except being with family...I go on break! [There was one year that I had to do an assignment during the Cowboy game, but I was on drugs that year. That doesn't count.] Last year was the same.

But, there is a danger lurking there that I don't want to come around this Thanksgiving break. It is called the devil's playground or "spiritual warfare break." I am amazed at how these "breaks" bring Satan out of the closet full force. He loves it I know! He knows that we have mentally checked out and most of the time we have spiritually checked out too. His voice whispers, "We just need to indulge and give in every now and then! Everything will get back to normal...after your 'break.'"

I have already been battling this battle. Since Tanya and Kayla left, I have kindof been on "break." I need to wake up to Satan's lie. Lord, keep me strong throughout this break. It is this break that I need to draw from your strength, not Satan's. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Your name be praised throughout our break. Marana tha. Amen!

Giving to God

A thought occurred to me today. Why do we always seem to ask, "How much do I have to give to God?" It is as if we need some reason to not give a little something so we can keep that little something for ourselves. Oh how selfish my motivations can be!

I am struck this morning by Jesus' statement to the Pharisees in Matthew 22:15ff. Though there are definitely political overtones to them asking whether they should pay taxes to Caesar or not, they were worried about maintaining their own well-being as the religious leaders of the time. Jesus saw right through their duplicity.

He also struck at the heart of their objection...keeping a little something for themselves. They wanted to have the best, the honor of the people, the respect of the people, the appearance of true righteousness. In all, they wanted God out of the picture because they were busy showing off themselves.

When Jesus says, "Give to Caesar's what is Caesar's, and to God's what is God's" he made a spiritual challenge to a political challenge. The Pharisee's challenged his political allegiances to the government. In response Jesus called them on their spiritual commitment to God. In essence, Jesus told them to decide what is best to give knowing that they were holding their political allegiances high. From the perspective of the crowd, the Pharisee's already told were their allegiances lay...

The following chapter confirms some of Jesus' thoughts in this regard. The pronounces "woes" to the Pharisees and teachers of the law. Their own hypocrisy condemns them as they miss the true point of what it means to give to God.

Bread of Life 3

It occurred to me that we cannot live without food (duh!). If we do not eat, we die. Jesus talks in a spiritual manner saying that if we do not eat of the spiritual food of Jesus, who comes from the Father, then we will die spiritually. There is part of me that already knew this, but I guess my growing desire to commune with God intimately throughout the day has made this 'eating of the bread of life' more real. The life I have in Christ is only made possible because of the ever-growing relationship I have with him. How could I not eat from the bread of life and still live?

Standing Under Temptation

A sign of spiritual progress is the ability to resist temptations when they come. In fact, that you are continually being tempted more and more shows that you really are making spiritual progress.

Temptations will also keep you humble. There is no woman or man alive today that can say..."I am not tempted by anything." Paul spoke of a thorn in his flesh that kept him from thinking too highly of himself. He even pleaded three times that it be taken from him. The Lord refused and merely said, "my grace is sufficient for you." When things have been going well in regard to the temptation department, I might think I somehow have surpassed others in my spirituality. Thus, I need temptations to keep me humble.

So many, myself included at times, might think that temptation in itself is bad. "I don't want to tell people that I was tempted to look at pornography because they might think I actually did look at it or that I am weak somehow." No way! This is not true and I am weak. Just think...Jesus was tempted in every way, just as we are, yet was without sin (Hebrews 4:15). His ministry began with being led into the desert to be tempted. Temptation is not bad...

...rather, temptation is a great opportunity to make progress in our relationship with God and in our spiritual life. Amen.

Temptation

Thomas a Kempis offered this comment in The Imitation of Christ in his discussions about temptation and overcoming faults: "If every year we uprooted a single fault, we should soon become perfect."

While I doubt very seriously that he really considered perfection attainable within this lifetime, he makes a great observation that I can take home. We, as Christians, simple try to tackle too many things at once. We try to make too much progress at once. What would happen if I struggled to overcome over-indulgence for a whole year? What would that do to my spiritual life? What would happen if I spend 365 days gradually developing my prayer life and leave other disciplines for the following years?

I am going to try this out, but I will do it with others who want to do it with me. I think requiring this of Student Center interns is a must in spiritual progress. Other students might be interested, so I will open it to anyone willing to take that step.

I ask, Lord, that you bless our efforts toward more commitment to you.