Last night, we kicked off the next step in our journey at The Practice. So many of us have felt the ache for a deeper or more meaningful life. There is a gap between the life we long for and the life we are living. When we explore this ache with God, we find our most fundamental longing is for the life we were created to live, a life of wholeness and integrity, a life where everything is as it was created to be, a life of Shalom. This is the life we find when we make our home in God (John 15:1-8).
This year at The Practice we are going to do the work of making our home in God. We will be learning how to intentionally arrange our lives to keep company with Jesus and become the kind of people who can live a life of Shalom. We will do this together by crafting personal rhythms of life.
A rhythm of life is a description of the life we long for and the disciplines we will practice to open ourselves to the transforming work of the Holy Spirit to close the gap between the life we long for and the life we are living. We are going to base our descriptions of the life we desire on four relationships. What do we long for in our relationship with God, our relationship with ourselves, our relationship with others, and our relationship with the world?
Have a listen to last night’s podcast here.
Our practice for the evening was to start our exploration of our desires in these four relationships. (You can see the questions we used at the bottom of the page.) Our kingdom practice this week is to soak in these desires. Continue to explore them with God. How can you intentionally arrange your week to reflect on these desires with God? Let’s begin our work this year with a compelling vision for the life our deepest desires point us toward.
Additional Resources:
[amazon text=Sacred Rhythms&asin=0830833331] by Ruth Barton casts a beautiful vision for a rhythm of life.
[amazon text=Crafting a Rule of Life&asin=0830835644][amazon text=Spiritual Disciplines Handbook&asin=0830846050] by Stephen Macchia is a practical resource for building a rhythm of life.
Being Disciples is a short read (and FREE!) about the role of the spiritual disciplines on this journey.
[amazon text=Spiritual Disciplines Handbook&asin=0830846050] by Adele Calhoun is the best and most comprehensive resource for individual disciplines around.
Describe the relationship you desire to have with God.
What does it look like in times of pain and struggle?
What does it look like in times of joy and celebration?
What do you want from God? What do you need from God?
Describe the relationship you desire to have with yourself.
How do you want to speak to yourself?
How do you want to respond to guilt, shame, and sin in your life?
What does this look like when you feel the pull to act like someone you are not?
How do you want to see and care for your body?
How do you want to use the resources you have been given?
Describe the relationship you desire to have with others.
What kind of person you want to be toward the people in your life and what you want from them?
How do you want to represent the love and grace of God to others? How do you want to receive the love and grace of God from others?
What does this look like in your family?
What does this look like with your friends?
Describe the relationship you desire to have with the world.
How you would like strangers you interact with throughout the day to experience your presence?
What do you long to be true about the way you live in your current job?
Describe how you want your gifts and passions to lead you to partner with God in his kingdom work intentionally?