New Year, new look

Listen, I'm like most everyone else:
I charge out of the gate all set to take control of most things in life and then somewhere along the way I get tripped up.

To be honest I have lots of potholes;
I pastor a church, I have a wife, we have two kids (three and five), we own two cars, we own a house.....the list goes on.

Yet in the midst of all this, first and foremost I am a follower of Christ and I believe (rightly so I contend) that how I see myself in him (and he in me), will effect everything else in my life.

We don't need a hall of mirrors to tell us what our false-self looks like.

We need the God-head to reveal to us our true and his desired nature.

The Bible says we are to do it this way...by doing a continual inventory of our lives:

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

Romans 12:1-2 The Message 

Great, been there, tried that, memorized the verse...

The problem is application, not what God is asking you to do. There are some folks who have nailed the application and it boiled it down to "

-->The Examen of Consciousness"

Here is how it goes:

...You must understand that you are helpless to change yourself. This is not a self-help tool but  rather a tool that will help yourself. It can be done anytime, anywhere but you must be in a place to still your inner voice for 10-15 minutes. Do not linger longer than this. That will turn into adoration or confession both of which are good for the soul but not the goal if the self-examen.

1.   Recall that you are in the presence of God.

2.   Spend a moment looking over your day with gratitude for this day's gifts. All of them, large and small.

3.   Ask God to send you His Holy Spirit to help you look at your actions and attitudes and motives with honesty and patience.

4.   Now review your day. This is the longest of the steps. Recall the events of your day; explore the context of your actions. Search for the internal movements of your heart and your interaction with what was before you. Ask what you were involved in and who you were with, and review your hopes and hesitations. Many situations will show that your heart was divided—wavering between helping and disregarding, scoffing and encouraging, listening and ignoring, rebuking and forgiving, speaking and silence, neglecting and thanking.

5.   The final step is our heart-to-heart talk with Jesus. Here you speak with Jesus about your day. You share your thoughts on your actions, attitudes, feelings and interactions. You might like to finish your time with the Lords Prayer.*

We do not need a house of mirrors.

Yes, I will indeed try and resolve to live a more ordered and structured life which I pray will spill into all aspects of my day-to-day living. But crave solid food, not milk. Go beyond external change, strive for deeper things. And always and everywhere never forget that you are loved with a never-stopping, always-and-forver-love by God. That is called grace.

Happiest of days beloved,
Bryan+

*for the full text I invite you to visit  http://norprov.org/spirituality/ignatianprayer.htm