Dancing through Life to the Fullest!

I love to dance—always have.  I loved Swing since before I conned my high school friends to dance lessons in my living room for birthday/Christmas celebrations etc.  But the first two years of my move to Houston were pretty much devoid of dancing, so when a few friends (now roommates) from church expressed some interest in Swing in the spring of this year, I was thrilled!  We started out slowly, only going once a week or so, and before we knew it, we found ourselves regularly dancing three times a week!  It’s been a wonderful blessing in many ways, especially as we’ve deepened our friendships with each other and gained new ones as well! 

Not long ago, one of these new friends began to give us ballroom lessons and I have been blown away by how much we have been learning through them.  His style of teaching is not one that is widespread, which is a shame.  It depends on knowing the way that men and women carry themselves—their center of balance, their natural posture, their energy—in order to achieve the elegant movement we associate with ballroom dance.  What is generally taught now is a series of synchronized steps that mimic the effect that a naturally-moving couple performs without much effort.  It takes years to learn, and leads to all kinds of injuries because it requires both the lead and follow to make their bodies move in ways for which they were not designed.  And the worst part is that the dancers rarely feel the exhilaration of dancing with the wind in their faces; they are too worried about the angle of their feet or ribcage. 

But this is not the way we have been learning.  At first, I was a little skeptical of this new method, because I have always been taught to have a “frame”, to learn my steps, to interpret signals, but these are all things that actually end up getting in the way of true lead-follow communication.  If the follow maintains her own frame, the lead is no longer connected to the follow.  He is connected to one part of her body.  He cannot tap into the energy and grace that is a natural part of a follow’s body because he can only feel an arm or a hand or a back.  If, however, a follow rests on the lead’s frame, in her natural, 7 year-old posture, the lead can “play” with her whole body; the follow doesn’t need to know the steps at all in fact, because the lead directs her body and her body knows how to move and balance and catch itself much better than she ever could by micro-managing it. 

As can be imagined, we’ve spent a lot of time just processing this conceptually, then trying a dance and seeing how it works practically.   It’s pretty amazing what he can lead us to do when we are focused on relaxing into our lead and just letting our bodies take care of the details of how our feet or hips or torsos actually accomplish the movement.  He’s led us in technically advanced moves that we’ve (apparently) done very well, but would have taken us five years to even attempt with the current traditional approach.  And oh my goodness is it fun!!!!

At this point, the question, “so what?” might, legitimately, be asked. J

Taking these lessons with dear friends who are believers has amplified my enjoyment by untold amounts.  Often, we have spent the whole ride home discussing what we’ve learned, but also what that knowledge teaches us about God’s character and who He created us to be.  We’ve joked about writing a book to capture all these epiphanies—our working title is Sabbath with Suneth.  Rather than attempting to explain all of them here, I will try to address them in future posts, and will instead end this one with a thought that came to me last Shabbat as I was praying and listening in the quiet of the morning.

My thoughts had wandered to Thursday evening’s ballroom class at Rice University, where we have just joined the social dance society as “community members”.   It was the first class, so there had been a basic lesson, but the majority of it was a “free dance” time.  At one point, our friend/teacher, Suneth, led me in a complicated (according to the dance world) Samba move that involved me crossing in front of him, landing in the crook of one arm, then back across to the crook of his other arm.  After doing this a few times, it turned into a fast pivot turn in closed position (my left arm on his, his right arm/hand supporting my back).  It was incredible!  All I wanted to/could think about was the sensation of flying through the air, the wind we created blowing my hair.  I was completely out of control and yet completely secure.  When we stopped spinning I wasn’t even dizzy, in fact I think I laughed and said, “do it again!”  My students would be so proud. ;)

As I was thinking about this on Saturday, a verse kept coming into my head: John 10:10, “The thief comes to kill and destroy, but I have come that they might have life and have it to the full.”  Life to the full!  Experiencing the joy and goodness and delight that God created life to be before it was corrupted by sin, by worry, by striving, by pride and posturing.  That is why Jesus came to die for us; to deal with the sin that separates us from the perfect relationship to the Father that He desires and for which we hunger and search.  He did not create us to be constantly worrying.  In fact in Matthew 6:25-34, Jesus says specifically, “do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink or what you will wear… for the pagans run after these things and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first the Kingdom of Righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well…” In other words, do not try to micro-manage the things that will be taken care of without your strivings.  Instead, focus on building your relationship with God, the perfect lead, who, if we listen to and trust Him, will lead us through a life of fullness and satisfaction!  Just as the best dance happens when the follow relaxes into the posture and energy with which she was created and is thus closely enough connected to her lead that her body does what he asks without her micromanaging and getting in the way, Jesus said that his food, his sustenance, was to, “do the will of the One who sent me.”  May it be so!  That we would seek our sustenance from God by resting in Him, listening for Him, spending time with Him, and ceasing to strive for the things He has already promised to provide!

A Messianic Passover

There are many things I love about being connected to a Messianic synagogue: They dance in service (!) ; They raise their children, especially their boys, to walk in and be accountable to their faith from a young age; They really invest in community; but the thing I love best is the way their position, deeply rooted in Jewish practice and history, provides so much insight into the intricacies of the story God is, even now, enacting!

Take the Christian tradition of celebrating Easter:

--Palm Sunday (Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey foal and being cheered by the crowds)

--Maundy Thursday (last supper)

--Good Friday (crucifixion)

--Easter Sunday (resurrection)  

I have celebrated these things for years and never got the full significance of any of it!  What follows is a brief(ish) summary of what I have been learning about Passover and Easter and why I am more excited by this set of holidays than I’ve ever been before!

Palm Sunday:  They story we read in the Bible tells of Jesus sending his disciples to bring him a donkey foal, which he then rides into Jerusalem (thereby fulfilling messianic prophesy) amid crowds shouting “Hosanna in the Highest!  Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”  Is it not strange to think that these people were all assembled to greet Jesus, armed with palm branches?  How did they know he was coming?  Why would they have assembled?  I’ve thought about these questions before, but without any kind of urgency.  I just accepted that this was one of those things that Jesus did-- fairly interesting, certainly picturesque for children’s reenactments, but otherwise unconnected to anything else to do with Easter.  But the thing is, it really DOES have quite a lot to do with Easter!

See the backstory to this is that the high priest in Jerusalem went to pick his Passover lamb several days before it would be sacrificed.  It had to be a perfect, less than one year old lamb (either sheep or goat) and it had to be inspected three separate times to ensure that it was indeed without blemish.  Traditionally, when the priest went to choose his lamb (the temple herds were kept in Bethlehem--seeing any significance here?), the people would gather along the road into Jerusalem and when the priest returned to the city, the people would shout “Hosanna!” meaning “save us” and “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord” because the high priest was supposed to do just that.

When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the crowds started shouting--probably a few people just started the cheer, maybe one of Jesus’ followers, maybe someone who jumped the gun a bit, but it got passed along until the whole crowd was shouting, much to the chagrin, I’m sure, of those of the priesthood who knew that the high priest they were expecting was still a ways off.  Regardless though, what the people were witnessing was actually the entrance both of the true High Priest and the perfect sacrificial lamb entering the city to be slain for their salvation-- and they didn’t even know it!  It gives me chills to think of it!

Maundy Thursday/Good Friday:  This is the celebration of the last supper, which is traditionally believed to be the Passover meal where Jesus washed his disciples feet and ate a meal with them, explained his death and identified his betrayer, and proclaimed the new covenant.  

It is important to note here that while this was a significant meal, it was probably not actually the Passover meal.  In Luke 22, we have an account of Jesus sending His disciples to “make preparations for us to eat the Passover”, but it was traditional at the time to prepare for the Passover the day before.  We know that it is not the Passover because Jesus says 15  "I have really wanted so much to celebrate this Seder with you before I die! 16 For I tell you, it is certain that I will not celebrate it again until it is given its full meaning in the Kingdom of God." (Luke 22:15-16)  We have further proof in John 18 in that when Jesus was arrested and brought before the Roman governor, the priests would not go into the palace (remember this was AFTER the meal that Jesus ate with his disciples):   

28 Then the Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness they did not enter the palace, because they wanted to be able to eat the Passover. 29 So Pilate came out to them and asked, “What charges are you bringing against this man?”

This is significant because if Jesus was to be the ultimate passover lamb, it would make very little sense if his death did not coincide with the actual feast.  God does nothing unintentionally.  Rather when he was arrested, it was the beginning of the three examinations the passover lamb had to undergo before it was declared acceptable for sacrifice.  He was examined by the Pilate, Herod, and then Pilate again who declared him innocent/blameless.   

3 Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers and the people, 14 and said to them, “You brought me this man as one who was inciting the people to rebellion. I have examined him in your presence and have found no basis for your charges against him. 15 Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us; as you can see, he has done nothing to deserve death.

By now, we are well into the day of what Christians call Good Friday.  The chief priests, after they handed Jesus over to the Romans, would have been busy with Passover preparations, namely, the slaughtering of the passover lambs which they did on a hill that would have been visible from Golgatha where Jesus was crucified.  The high priest slaughtered all the other lambs first, then before he killed his own, he would pause and say, “I thirst”.  Someone would hand him a drink and then he would say, “It is finished” and slaughter his own lamb.  

At this point, all the lambs would get put into the temple ovens, whole (remember, none of Jesus’ bones were broken), and roasted in preparation for the passover feasts.  The high priest would stay in his inner sanctum until night fell, indicating the beginning of Passover (Jewish days begin at sundown), while the rest of the priests would cross a bridge over the Kidron Valley and bind up the barley they would later harvest for the First Fruits offering.  They didn’t cut it down, they left it bound and alive until the feast of First Fruits which always falls on the first day of the week (Sunday) and in this year, occurred three days after the Passover.  (The number of days between Passover and First Fruits varies because as with most Jewish holidays, Passover’s date is based on a lunar cycle.  Only two are to be celebrated on the first day of the week: First Fruits and Pentacost.)  The priests would then cross back across the Kidron Valley and have the Passover meal.  

Jesus’ crucifixion follows this timeline perfectly.  As the high priest was about to sacrifice his lamb, the last lamb of passover, Jesus said, “I thirst” and when he had drunk from the sponge of vinegar, he said, “It is finished” and gave up His spirit as the high priest sacrificed his lamb.  Then in Matthew 27, we find that 

51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split 52 and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. 53 They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and^[e^] went into the holy city and appeared to many people.

These people who were dead and had been raised to life, were Jesus’ First Fruits offering to God.  They appeared in the Kidron Valley, a huge graveyard over which the priests would have walked as they marked their First Fruits offering, and stayed alive and in the city until Jesus’ resurrection on Easter Sunday when He ascended into Heaven, bringing to God the “harvested” First Fruits offering at the same time that the priests would have presented their harvested offering to God in the temple.  

Easter Sunday:  Many people in the Messianic community don’t celebrate Easter, which I found really strange at first-- they are, after all, Christians so why would they not celebrate a Christian holiday?  The answer to that lies in the fact that they celebrate Passover in light of Jesus’ fulfillment of it’s purpose-- to take away sin and provide a place for us to hide behind.  When the Israelites painted the door-frames of their houses with the blood of a lamb at the original passover in Egypt, they ended up painting the letter “hchai” which means life and they hid behind it when the spirit of death descended upon Egypt.  Jesus as the perfect sacrificial lamb went through the process of being examined and slaughtered, with his blood poured out to atone for the sins of the world.**  His resurrection had major purpose/significance because He was, at once, the sacrificial lamb and the high priest and He fulfilled his duties to both roles by dying for our sins and bringing to God the First Fruits of His labors and sacrifice! 

I can’t express how much this extra background has blessed me this season!  It grounds everything that happened during “Holy Week” in God’s plan and intention.  It explains WHY it had to happen the way it did!  And somehow it makes everything seem so much more real.  What an incredible God we have!  He provided us with all the clues we need to understand His purpose and intention and yet we miss so much of it because it’s been buried by holidays that man has instituted!  Now don’t get me wrong, I think God is pleased when we rejoice in Jesus’ resurrection on Easter Sunday.  Sure, the bunnies and eggs were part of a pagan fertility ritual, but that part has faded and now it is just a secular thing that happens to coincide with a christian holy day.  I celebrated a Passover Seder with CBM on Tuesday, and rejoiced with my church over a service, baptisms, and a festival on Sunday and I think God’s heart would have been glad over both events, but I think I was able to celebrate Easter Sunday all the better for the preparation of Tuesday’s Passover Seder!  Barux Hashem!  (Thank God!) for all His thoughtful provisions!

**There is some thought that when the earthquake happened, the Arc of the Covenant was exposed and that Jesus’ blood fell onto the “Mercy Seat” a section of the Arc where the blood of sacrifice was supposed to be poured out--rather than on the ground which was only for blood of sacrifices that were found to have a blemish at the last minute.  See by that time, the Arc of the Covenant had been lost.  Legend has it that when the first temple, which was situated on Golgatha, was invaded and then destroyed, the high priest at the time commanded that the Arc be lowered beneath the temple rather than removed when the invading armies approached.  When the temple was destroyed, the Arc was buried.  So when the earthquake came that cleaved boulders in two, it is entirely possible that the blood that poured from Jesus’ pierced side actually made its way to the Mercy Seat.-- how cool is that?!

   

Pride of Place

This morning I was reading Matthew, which I haven’t read in quite a while.  So I actually took my time and went through it more thoroughly than I sometimes do for stories I’ve read before.  I was chapter four, when Jesus is in the desert being tempted by Satan after He’s just been baptized, that really caught my attention.

8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

 10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’[a]”

 11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

He’s already been tempted with food to eat after fasting for weeks, and with showing off His immense favor with God: that He could jump off a cliff and never even damage a foot.  Then in verse 8, Satan tempts Him with what looks like ultimate earthly glory.  When I’ve read this passage before, I never really thought that this was a very tough temptation, especially in relation to the other two.  Satiating a physical hunger doesn’t even seem like a bad thing except that it was against God’s will at the time.  And showing Satan that God is more powerful regardless of his rebellion, that is definitely something that would tempt me!  But Jesus was sustained by His great connection to God and knew both that God would provide everything He needed to survive, and the kind of actions/thoughts that would bring Him joy... rubbing the devil’s face in it probably isn’t one of those things, I’d wager.  

Jesus had come from heaven where He knew true glory so the glories of earthly accomplishment hardly seemed like much of a temptation to my mind.  But if it hadn’t tempted Him, Satan wouldn’t have tried it.  He was “one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.” Heb. 4:15.  It occurred to me that Jesus humbled Himself to come down to earth where He was a “nobody”.  So maybe what was tempting Him was not the possession of earthly kingdoms, but the pride of being held up as an important person again rather than being passed by as the son of a carpenter whose birth was a little scandalous.  

If this past year and a half has taught me anything, it is that I struggle with pride.  If I’m honest with myself, I would have to admit that I didn’t think terribly highly of pre-school teachers before I became one, so I really can’t blame anyone else for holding the same impressions.  But it is so hard to hear people’s reactions to what I do, and see the associated implications of my drive or intellect form on their faces.  The funny part is, a lot of it is probably imagined and the rest made to loom before my eyes by Satan.  It is certainly not of God.  

Unlike me, Jesus didn’t entertain the devil’s notions. He was tempted, and I find some reassurance in the fact that it did tempt Him, but He tells Satan to get away.  The power He relies on to enforce this is the conviction of truth in vs. 10:  “Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.”  Worship God, not your pride.  Serve God, not your short-sighted or selfish desires.  If God has called someone to a work or a path, then there is enough to be righteously proud of in it and much good beyond the obvious to be found in it.  

C.S. Lewis once wrote, “It seems that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased." Instead of desiring and seeking all the immeasurable good God has for me in a particular place/time/situation, in my pride, I seek something that I think I can control or arrange and thus something that is bound to leave me wanting.  I pray that God would strengthen my desires and make me see the mud pies I would make in relation to His holiday at the sea, and that He would break me (gently!) of my pride and give me instead a stronger foundation on which to stand!

Protecting the Wellspring of the Heart:

This has been one of those lovely weekends without many distinct plans and preceding a week of lessons planned far enough in advance as to require very little pre-Monday attention.  The combination of which, gave me the chance to go to both Congregation Beth Messiah (the Messianic Jewish synagogue I’ve been attending since August) and Ecclesia (the non-denominational church I began attending soon after moving to Houston last year) in the same weekend.  Often times, when I get the chance to make both of these services I find very different topics preached, but this week was different.  They seemed to dovetail perfectly and connect to some things I’ve been reading and thinking about a lot recently, namely the struggle that goes on between the good I recognize and want to do, and the less than perfect execution of that good that seems only possible in heaven.

I think the first time I really got excited about heaven was when I went through Revelation with my small group last year:  a place so filled with God’s presence that we will have no need of a sun as we get to work alongside God in perfect relationship and unity just as Jesus is one with the Father?  yes please!  A place where every broken thing will be made whole and strong; a place where creativity flows naturally and no motive need ever be questioned-- goodness, there are days where I look around and just long for it!  Every once in a while, a glimpse of beauty or pure goodness comes and I “drink it in” thirstily as Anne would say.  They are sips of promise and of hope that there is something better than that to which we have grown accustomed here.  They are beautiful and energizing and so refreshing!  They seem to go straight to the wellspring of my soul and clean/purify it.  

Just this Saturday, at CBM, I had such an experience.  They always call the children to the front before they release them to Shabbat-school and the men of the congregation encircle them, hands on each other’s shoulders, prayer shawls spread wide, and the rabbi leads a prayer for them.  The men range significantly in age and position within the synagogue.  Some have children or grandchildren present, some do not, but they gather to bless the children, to be warriors for them, combatting any evil thing that might try to harm them, forming a bastion of spiritual protection around them by standing firm around them!  Beautiful enough as this picture is, add to it the sight of the oldest man in the community, stooped and frail, unable to walk by himself, being supported by another man as he walks through the crowd of children, stopping at each one as he blesses them individually with a touch and a word.  I tear every time I see it!  And this week was no exception.  Something had ruffled me earlier in the morning and I had been trying to let it go, and then I saw this beautiful glimpse of heavenly purity and the things that had been gnawing on me somewhere in the vicinity of my stomach just ceased.  I still remembered what had happened, but the truth I had been speaking to myself, but not really accepting, just sank in and I was peaceful.  It was effortless.  

Proverbs 4 tells us to guard our hearts as the wellsprings of our lives.  Just as a city anticipating attack would guard their water source from an enemy that would corrupt it with debris that would poison everything downstream, we must guard our hearts from the the debris that would poison everything flowing from us.  When I let anger or pride or selfishness into my heart, nothing pure and good flows from me.  Sometimes I can hide it, pretend that it isn’t affecting things, but the classroom is my litmus test.  Give me three minutes with my students and I know if my wellspring has been corrupted!  That being said, guarding against attack is exhausting and frustrating and very often serves merely to show what a rotten soldier I would make, which would be disheartening if I knew I had to do it on my own.  But I don’t, thank God!  

I’ve been reading through Samuel the last few weeks and hit the story of David and Goliath on Friday.  I was so encouraged to have that in mind when Rabbi Ron started talking about mounting guard over our hearts.  David is well known for the incredible defeat of an enemy whose sword probably weighed more than David’s whole body.  He was not strong.  He was a boy too young to be allowed in the army.  When he was dressed in the king’s armor, he could barely move, so he went to battle without it.  The only thing David had going for him was the fact that God was with him.  And that was the only thing he needed.  It’s the only thing we need too.  

Pastor Leroy, a big black man with a deep gravely voice and an ability to draw “amen!”s from even the whitest of parishioners, spoke this morning about heaven, about having a heavenly mindset.  As he said, never ask a black man if he can preach on heaven... the answer is ALWAYS yes.  ; )  He talked about the effects of having a heavenly mindset, how important it is for earth that people have heavenly mindsets because living in a heavenly mindset allows you to suffer, to serve, and to worship well.  In effect, it changes your reactions to the crap the world throws at you, the temptations that plague you through the flesh, and the insidious lies that are the devil’s bread and butter.  

Constantly guarding the wellspring of your heart against the world, the flesh, and the devil is, as I said before, exhausting if not completely impossible in our current state, but it occurred to me this morning that if we, instead of focusing on mounting guard, put our efforts toward gaining/refocusing on a heavenly perspective, we stand a better chance of success.  If we are constantly filling our hearts with truth and purity and goodness, then even if the enemy’s poison occasionally hits its target, it will be counteracted immediately by the antidote that is already present in the water.  

So I leave off with a caution, an encouragement, and a challenge:

“Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.  Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.  And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. ” (1Pet. 5: 8-10)

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” (Philippians 4:8)

The Joy of Discipline

I love Christmas cards.  Perhaps that is silly, but I get a real thrill out of seeing how families have grown or changed and reading through their musings on all the year has brought and taught.  I’m starting to get them from friends my own age now... and that was a bit unnerving at first, but getting to read all about the wonderful things they are doing and experiencing has been a great joy and blessing.  One I got after the new year  from a sister living in LA and she ended it with a link to a sermon from the church I attended regularly in my last year at SC called Reality LA and it addressed the topic of spiritual disciplines.  When I finally got around to listening to it (two weeks after I pulled it up--feel free to note the irony here), I got an incredible gift.  Several, in fact, that I want to share :D.

The first came in the form of a warning against replacing a focus on Jesus with a focus on community.  I had never really thought about that being a pitfall before and then Tim continued: “someone asks you to look at your spiritual life and you think, ‘i’m ok, I go to church, I go to small group, I have a bunch of Christian friends...’ but when you are alone, you don’t read, you don’t pray, you don’t commune with God... your faith is corporate, not personal.”  

Well that got me thinking.  There are beautiful and important things that come from a Christian community, but the problem with it is that it is meant to encourage an individual faith and if that individual faith is being neglected, community can become an idol instead of a support.  On the other hand, distancing oneself from community has its own list of pitfalls, chief among them being the reorientation on self rather than Jesus.  

The thing that really struck me in all this was list of “don’ts” that indicated a lack of personal faith.  Being on break and out of the normal pattern of life had been restful, but I had to face the fact that reading, praying, and especially communing had all taken a pretty significant back seat for me since December.  And the fruit of that was evident.  I was grouchy and antsy and impatient.  I reverted to the avoidance practice I perfected last year, getting lost in a TV show--seriously, Netflix instant play is dangerous for me.  God felt distant, I had no perspective... I didn’t realize how much or what was affecting me until I saw the contrast.  “What you invest in, there will your heart follow.”  I didn’t like where my heart was following.  

The next gift was better :) --a gem of efficiency and practicality: If you have a goal, you fix your eyes on it and attend to the things necessary to achieve your goal:

Goal=focus on Jesus

-train yourself for godliness (1Tim 4:7)

Here followed four private spiritual disciplines which, while not new, were still really good reminders:

1. Study: devoting time and attention to something to gain knowledge.  When I study the Word-- really study, not just check the ‘I read today’ box-- I am simultaneously filled with peace and with energy because it nourishes my soul!  Ps 1:1-3  God is the creator and source of life.  We were created to share intimacy with Him and we faint for lack of proper nourishment when we shun access to Him through His Word.
2. Prayer: to be in communion with God-- pouring out our hearts to God and listening to His voice.  Praying is hard when I’m not really steeped in God.  The second I enter into the presence of God, everything is laid bare and there is usually something I don’t want God to see... as Tim said, “the masks come off (whether you want them to or not) so you might as well confess it and claim the forgiveness that God has already provided.”  Praying with openness and honesty is refreshing (and so much easier!).
3. Solitude: allows you to fine-tune your hearing from God by removing distraction.  This  means more than just getting away from people.  For me it means getting away from devices as well.  My ipod died this summer and I’ve really seen a lot of good come from my separation from the constant stream of noise (some of it very lovely noise!) it provided.  The key here is distancing from distractions of all kinds.  Jeez we have a lot of them!
4. Service: acts that benefit others, but that no one will see or reward.  

And now, the all important question, for which I am famous (or infamous) at school, why?  Why do we practice spiritual disciplines?

Three reasons:

1. To enjoy God!  These disciplines provide a framework within which to revel in God’s presence, to understand more of His character and His plans, to get refreshed with something wholly good and pure!  It’s not about earning favor, but about enjoying the favor He has already given us!
2. To improve spiritual health.  If we are filled with good, holy, honest, and true things, we no longer exude jealousy or envy or bitterness, but joy and peace and love because we are no longer rotting from the inside...we’re connected to our life source!
3. To be a sweet fragrance of Christ to others.  Nothing is more inviting than meeting someone who is completely secure in and energized by God.  I’ve been blessed to live with several such girls and can speak from experience that it is the most authentic witness available to experience.  

When they are all laid out like this, it is hard for me to deny how worth-while it is to pursue study and prayer and solitude and service.  If it were easy, though, Jesus wouldn’t have to tell us to do them.  We are all trained by our sinful natures from childhood, but we are called to re-train ourselves in the likeness of Christ.  Just as the first bread of the first passover had leaven in it that was not allowed to rise, we are called to keep our proclivity towards sin from rising.  It doesn’t seem to get any easier as time goes on, but it does seem more and more worth it!

I’ll leave you with something I just read today, Dallas Willard quoting C.S. Lewis: “ Our faith is not a matter of our hearing what Christ said long ago and trying to carry it out.  Rather, the real Son of God is at your side.  He is beginning to turn you into the same kind of thing as Himself.  He is beginning, so to speak, to inject His kind of life and thought... into you; beginning to turn the tin soldier into a live man.  The part of you that does not like it is the part that is still tin.”  :)