Hey folks,
As I sit here planning my day, I know that running is something I want to include. Oh, I don’t like to run. I just run so I can do the things I do like to do—hiking, backpacking, and mountain climbing. I’ve learned not to ask myself, “Do I feel like running today?” I just do it. I guess it’s a kind of “deferred gratification.” Someone has defined maturity as “suffering short-term pain for long-term gain.”
That’s also true of spiritual disciplines like reading the Bible and praying. Much of the benefit comes from consistency. As the famous theologian Woody Allen said, “90% of success is just showing up.” (My quotes may not be exact, but you get the point.)
When it comes to prayer and Bible study, many days I would be hard-pressed to identify a new truth or ecstatic experience with God. But, I do it because I know God wants it and that He’s pleased. I also know that I benefit—maybe not immediately or consciously, but I benefit…if for no other reason than that I put myself in a place of quietness and solitude where I can hear from God.
I think it’s a trap and a lie that I am being inauthentic if I don’t feel something, get something. It’s long-term. Sometimes short-term too, but always long-term.
I learned a long time ago that freedom comes from discipline. Judson, our music director, has great freedom to play music. But, it came from long days and months and years of practice. I read recently that Leonardo da Vinci spent 10 years drawing ears, noses, elbows, hands, and other body parts until one day he painted what he saw, and we know the result.
As with human relationships, our quality time with God comes in the midst of quantity time. There will be quality times of insight and devotion and deeply felt love. Our job is to show up.
Woody
Thursday, January 21, 2010
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3 comments:
Wow. you really dont update this too much. haha. What you said has answered a few of my most recent questions. Thanks Woody.
Great thoughts. I remember a time when I thought that praying, reading the scriptures, and showing up for church was somehow a sacrifice on my part or in some way benefiting God or doing Him a favor. There was a particular evening that I was praying, or more accurately stated, putting in my time, when the Holy Spirit revealed to me that what I was doing wasn't sacrificial at all. I wasn't doing God a favor, in fact, those disciplines were given to ME as an act of grace by God. I can't survive without prayer, have no direction without the scriptures, and no accountability without the community. Somehow, the enemy deceives us into believing these things are such a chore, that the very things that nourish spiritual life are somehow tedious and tiresome. Still, knowing this hasn't decreased the struggle any, and in fact sometimes exaggerates it. Perhaps this is why Paul cried out about his self perceived wretchedness and often didn't do the things he ought to and so on. So to continue with your thought I find myself sounding a lot like a Nike commercial... I just do it. Sometimes with joy, other times with weeping and gnashing of teeth, but it is important to just do it.
Thank you Pastor Woody for this timely reminder... look forward to worshiping the Lord with the Blue ridge community today.
Blessings,
Jim
I liked this post a lot Woody. You should write more. (=
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