Spiritual Practices - A Beginning

A few years ago, I read these words from Richard Foster:

God has given us the Disciplines of the spiritual life as a means of receiving his grace. The Disciplines allow us to place ourselves before God so that he can transform us...By themselves the Spiritual Disciplines can do nothing; they can only get us to the place where something can be done. They are God's means of grace.

- Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline, p. 7

I continued to read Celebration of Discipline with an immense hunger to put Foster's practices into place in my life and be transformed by God's grace. I started. And I failed. And I started again. And I failed again. And again. And again. And again.

Foster wrote so beautifully about meditation, solitude, fasting, service, prayer, submission, and confession. I wanted to engage in all of these disciplines. But I struggled and felt like I wasn't good enough. I couldn't hack it. Maybe I wasn't a Christian after all.

Since then, I have learned two valuable lessons about spiritual practices. The first is this: there are many, many ways to "get us to the place where something can be done." Certainly the "classical" practices - such as those described by Foster and many others - are not the only ways to deepen our relationship with God. Without a doubt, they are good ways, but not the only ways. And the second is this: don't be so hard on myself. Over the years, I have engaged in different spiritual practices. Some I actually stuck with for longer that 3 days! Others were, well, more difficult. And that's ok. I think one of the most valuable spiritual practices is seeking spiritual practices!

So, I am embarking on a series of writings here to discuss some of the spiritual practices I have adopted and strive to maintain. I also want to discuss a few I plan to begin and hope to continue. For my very small but dedicated group of blog readers (all four of you!), I hope you will be encouraged by these posts to seek your own practices. For me, these posts will be a type of accountability system - especially for the new practices I want to start. And, it has been obvious to me over these past months (especially this past week) that I need to cultivate some new ground in my heart for God to work. "Cultivate" may be too nice of a word. I need to rip out some weeds, turn the ground over, till it under, dump weed-killer all over it, and pray that God will seed some new life into me. I need that. Badly.

In one sense, this blog is a spiritual practice for me. As I sit down to write, I reflect on recent days in my life and times in which I sensed God. Writing is a way to stop, reflect, remember, and celebrate. It helps me to remain present to God and others in the ordinary moments of life.

I hope you will read along with me and comment on what you like, don't like, agree with, or disagree with. Let's walk together and "place ourselves before God so that he can transform us."