A Good Word: Our Souls Need to Catch Up

“The story is told of a South American tribe that went on a long march, day after day, when all of a sudden they would stop walking, sit down to rest for a while, and then make camp for a couple of days before going any farther. They explained that they needed the time of rest so that their souls could catch up with them.” (Wayne Muller. Sabbath: Finding Rest, Renewal, and Delight in our Busy Lives. New York: Bantam Books, `1999, p. 70.)

In what ways might your soul be running behind your pace of life these days? How might God be inviting you to stop, rest, and let your inner life catch up with your outer life?

Living More in Grace 2

(Continuing part one of these reflections)

I long for a church community where there is a culture of grace--where the ongoing need of grace would be the assumption, rather than the exception. In such a culture, the pressure to keep up appearances and look good to others would diminish. We would not be embarrassed to admit our specific need of grace because this would be an acknowledged and shared reality in all of our lives.

What good news I find in the two words “He lifts”! I’m grateful that God sees the needy and doesn’t despise or turn away from them. Instead, He reaches to them and lifts them. My realized needs can cause me to feel downcast or discouraged. God raises me up from lowly places and brings me to higher places.

The lowly places sometimes feel like “the ash heap.” Job was on the ash heap as a place of deep mourning, grieving and pain. The ash heap is the place where things come to their worst. An ash heap is a place of death—the fire has died, the logs have all burned away and all that is left is the waste and debris. Sitting there among the ashes, I can feel just as used up and burnt-out. Among the ashes may be dead dreams, dead hopes, and perhaps even dead works. The word of hope to me is that God is the One who takes us from ash heaps and seats us on thrones. What an unlikely, but God-honoring progression. Such honor and authority is much more obviously the work of God, rather than the outcome of my striving, conniving or manipulating. God raises the dead to places of real life. What grace!

The Leadership Institute

A Good Word: Learning to Live Our Questions

“There is something wrong with the questions that are supposed to be disposed of by answers…. They think that when you have answers you no longer have questions. And they want the greatest possible number of answers, the smallest number of questions. The ideal is to have no more questions. Then when you have no questions you have ‘peace.’ On the other hand the more you simply stand with questions all sticking in your throat at once, the more you unsettle the ‘peace’ of those who think they have swallowed all the answers. The questions cause one to be nauseated by answers. This is a healthy state, but not acceptable. Hence I am nauseated by answers and nauseated by optimism. There is an optimism which cheapens Christianity and makes it absurd, empties it. It is silly, petty optimism which consists in being secure because one knows the right answers.” (Thomas Merton. The Courage for Truth. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1993, p. 75)

Merton has some strong words, to say the least, about an orientation to life that only seek to answer questions rather than live the mystery of our deepest questions. For what questions have you been expecting answers from God when perhaps He has been inviting you to simply remain with Him in the midst of those questions?

The Leadership Institute

Living More in Grace 1

Often, my journaling takes me to places of reflecting on what it means to "live grace" along the way. Part of me has oddly expected that my need for grace would somehow diminish over time, that I would "get things together" more and more until my daily need for grace was a distant memory from my more "immature years" as a Christian. Maybe my reflections below will help you reflect on your own grace journey.

1 Samuel 2:6-8

“The LORD brings death and makes alive; 

he brings down to the grave and raises up. 

The LORD sends poverty and wealth; 

he humbles and he exalts. 

He raises the poor from the dust 

and lifts the needy from the ash heap; 

he seats them with princes 

and has them inherit a throne of honor. 

“For the foundations of the earth are the LORD’s; 

upon them he has set the world.

As I reflect on Hannah's humble prayer, I realize that there are some things God sends that I don't really like. For example, I only want God to send poverty to the "bad guys," but sometimes your faithful people have lived with little as well.

Paul shared with the Philippians that he had learned deep contentment right in the middle of unfulfilled needs, unmet hungers and unaddressed wants (Philippians 4:10-12). I find contentment easier when I am circumstantially satisfied. Who wouldn’t! It seems God allows a great variety of welcome and unwelcome places in my spiritual journey so that I learn that He alone is my Portion and Treasure.

Praying: “Father, You are also the One Who humbles and exalts each one as You wish. Recently, I was talking with a friend about the hunger for honor and recognition I find often rising up within me. I forget that true honor comes from You. Can I come to rest here? Enable me to recognize that You alone give true honor. May my honor come as my life, by Your grace, comes to honor You more and more.”

“He lifts the needy from the ash heap.” I don't like that phrase "the needy." I'm happy to have a random need here or there, but I surely don't want to think of myself as needy. I don't want to admit that I have many needs or deep needs. I'm slowly learning, though, that my needs are where I receive grace. Grace seeks places of brokenness, weakness and emptiness to touch, heal and fill. Can I learn to boast, with Paul, about my weaknesses, rather than always trying to show off what I think are my strengths (2 Corinthians 12:10)?

(I’ll share part two of these reflections in a couple of days)

A Good Word: Real Life is NOW

“Sabbath challenges the theology of progress by reminding us that we are already and always on sacred ground. The gifts of grace and delight are present and abundant; the time to live and love and give thanks and rest and delight is now, this moment, this day. Feel what heaven is like; have a taste of eternity. Rest in the arms of the divine. We do not have miles to go before we sleep. The time to sleep, to rest, is now. We are already home.” (Wayne Muller. Sabbath: Finding Rest, Renewal, and Delight in our Busy Lives. New York: Bantam Books, `1999, p. 79.)

What anxieties, fears, regrets or frustrations have tempted you to attempt the impossible—living in the past or in the future? How do you wish to be present to the God of grace NOW and enter more deeply into His generous presence?

The Leadership Institute

Moving My Blog to WordPress

Over the weekend, I began moving this "Notes from my Journey" blog from Blogger to WordPress. That migration is almost complete. I've been wanting to consolidate my personal ministry pages and my blog into one site.

Soon, if you point to either http://www.alanfadling.com/ or http://www.fadling.com/ , they will both point to my new blog site at:

http://alanfadling.wordpress.com/

If you have been subscribed by email to this blog, there will only be a few more posts coming from Blogger. Until the end of May, I am double posting to both blog sites. After that, this site will no longer have any posts to send out via email. All past posts have already been archived in the new blog site.

If you don't want to receive further email posts from this blog, you can simply do nothing and you will stop receiving email posts after the end of May.

If you'd like to continue receiving new posts by email, you will need to subscribe to the new WordPress blog via this link:

Subscribe to the new "Notes from my Journey" WordPress blog by Email

Remember, when you subscribe, you'll be sent a email with a link that you need to click to confirm your subscription request. This is a security measure to prevent anyone being added to unwanted lists.

I will send out another couple of reminders about this since by the end of June, in case some don't this first one.

I think you'll like the new site. Check it out when you have a moment. (Oh, and the header image is from a picture Gem shot at the San Juan Capistrano Mission. I really like it).