Richard Foster, a contemporary author, has written perhaps the
most widely used book on the topic of spiritual disciplines as they relate to
deepening the spiritual life, Celebration of
Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth. In this
book he groups spiritual disciplines into three categories: the inward
disciplines (meditation, prayer, fasting, study), the outward disciplines
(simplicity, solitude, submission, service), and the corporate disciplines
(confession, worship, guidance, celebration).
These three categories he refers to as three “movements
of the Spirit.” In other words, the disciplines within each movement are tools
that provide opportunity for us to experience the divine Spirit flowing with
greater ease and power through our lives. These spiritual tools have been used
by people to grow bigger hearts, to develop greater compassion in us and a
deeper centeredness in the midst of life’s commotion and busyness. When we are
willing to make these kinds of disciplines a part of our daily lives, when we
are willing to shape the rhythm of our lives around these spiritual activities,
we are empowered to shed our superficial habits and “bring the abundance of God
into our lives.”
Another profound book that opens up the world of
spiritual disciplines is John Ortberg’s The Life You’ve Always Wanted. He adds
to the list by talking about the practice of “slowing” (learning how to live an
unhurried life), the practice of servanthood (learning the art of appropriate
smallness in our egos), the practice of confession (living a life beyond regrets),
the practice of secrecy (launching ourselves into a life of freedom from self-centeredness
and worrying about what everybody thinks of us), and the experience of suffering
(learning a life of endurance in spite of obstacles).
Ortberg describes these spiritual tools as offering
a road map for true transformation, compelling because it starts not with
simply ourselves but with the object of our journey, God. The whole purpose is
to etch into our inner and outer lives the character of the divine life. So it’s
not about trying harder, it’s about training smarter, availing ourselves of time-tested
tools to spiritual discovery and growth.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning, the famous 19th
century English poet, wrote: “Earth’s crammed with Heaven, And every common
bush afire with God, But only he who sees takes off his shoes. The rest sit
round it and pluck blackberries.”
Only those who truly see God wherever they look
and wherever they are and whatever they’re doing are the ones who experience
God. Thankfully, we aren’t left to our own devices about how to encounter God
more meaningfully and completely. We aren’t left alone to simply work harder at
something we end up finding impossible. We have tools to grow bigger hearts,
tools to widen the river of our lives, tools that empower us to embrace all
things whether salty or sweet. Why not use them?
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