Spiritual Disciplines

As I mentioned before, I've been reading a bunch of stuff on Spiritual Disciplines including Celebration of the Disciplines and Spirit of the Disciplines. Dallas Willard defines Spiritual disciplines as "any activity within our power that we engage in to enable us to do what we cannot do by direct effort" or "doing things that help us do the things we can't do". At it's simplest level, it's like the spiritual version of saying a phone number out loud to help you remember it. And just like anything good in life, we rarely just accidentally stumble into greatness.

If I'm going to be a marathon runner, I should probably get off the couch and practice running, read magazines about how to run, think about running and talk to others that run. Seems like common sense, right? When it came to my golf game it wasn't. I wanted to become a decent golfer, so I decided to go out and play a lot more. The problem was, I sucked, and the more I played and sucked, the less I like golf and the less I wanted to play. I would get out on the course and shank the ball just about every time.
Did I practice my putting, driving or irons? Nope.
Did I take lessons or study the techniques of the pros? Nope.
Did I work on perfecting my swing? Nope.

I just expected to go out and play and actually become a golfer without practicing any of the disciplines of a golfer. I wanted to play like Tiger Woods without putting the time and effort that Tiger Woods invests.

The reality is that I do the same thing in my spiritual life. I expect to be able be the kind of person that Jesus describes his followers being without investing myself in the things he expected his followers to invest themselves into. Like my golf-game, there are all sorts of game-time scenarios where I expect to be able to perform, like loving my neighbor or turning the other cheek when I'm not working on the disciplines that make me the kind of person that will perform in those scenarios.

Don't get me wrong on this: God doesn't love us more because we do this stuff. This stuff doesn't change what Jesus did for us on the cross. You can't earn your way into heaven. In my life, too often I've translated that into meaning that I really have to do nothing to become the kind of person Jesus wants me to become. In hindsight, I guess that's kind of silly.

In one of the books I read, the author talks about this path we walk in our spiritual lives with a steep drop-off on each side. On one side you have the cliff of doing nothing at all. On the other side you have the cliff of doing lots of things for the wrong reasons.

I've been trying to apply these disciplines to my life and I've seen some unbelievable results. Results that I've just kind of stumbled upon. I've been memorizing bible verses, studying, journaling, fasting, silence, solitude, simplifying and serving amongst other things. I can remember no other time in my life where I've seen such change in my life. I guess the bigger question is whether or not others see it in terms of the way I love, serve and treat other people.

Anyways, this whole post started because I wanted to talk about the latest disciplines I'm focusing on, which are probably two of the toughest for me: Solitude and Silence. If I look at my life, about the only time where I don't have a cell phone, iPod, radio or computer going is in the shower and during my quiet time in the morning. Even during my quiet time, for most of that I'm either reading or journaling. Very rarely do I just sit with my thoughts and nothing else. I'm trying to figure out how to create more space in my life to think, reflect and listen.

When I drive in my car, I'm either talking on my cellphone, listening to my iPod, listening to the radio, or checking e-mail and texting (Yes, I know this is not safe). For the next couple of weeks, I'm going to keep my radio and iPod off, my cell phone holstered (unless my wife calls) and just be quiet - and of course I'll continue to drive my car. To some of you, this probably sounds very easy. To me, it drives me nuts and I get antsy. I start thinking of all the things I could be doing to make better use of this time, the people I need to call, etc. I'll see how this whole thing works out. Should be interesting.