Something happened today. It started as an ordinary day but took an interesting turn somewhere in the middle. God has recently put a new friend in my life. She has become a wonderful friend to me and we share a lot about our lives - our health and our faith... Today, we were chatting and she, like she always does, was supporting me and encouraging me forward. I was trying to understand why I have been having some struggles lately.... Wondering if I had a mental block or something that I needed to work through. I knew one thing that probably needed some attention was my faith. I had been thinking for a little while that I needed to start a devotional of some sort. Our previous pastor spoke in a sermon about reaching for the bible instead of reaching for your phone.... That struck me and for a while I've thought I need to start each morning with a devotional instead of mindless videos and Facebook this-and-that. So that was my first thought.
Then as I turned my head the other direction I saw a book sitting on my chair: Christ Walk: A 40-Day Spiritual Fitness Program. I've had this book in my possession for about a month but haven't opened it yet. When I saw that book today my head said, "Yep. There it is."
So, I think God spoke to me today.
Today is the start of something new for me and I've tried to decide if this is something I wanted to share or not. I've gotten a little flack for sharing EVERYTHING that happens in my life on Facebook. So I pondered this for a little while and decided that I was going to, of course, share this as well. Not because I want the attention or praise for this. The bulk of this journey will be in my head and not on these pages. I'm sharing because I want another avenue to keep me dedicated to this journey. Something else to hold me accountable. So, here it is.
Today was Day One of my Christ Walk and I already know this is going to change my life. I opened the book, read the intro and was immediately struck by several things. *Forgive me if I'm not citing and putting this information down in the proper format... Maybe I'll do a little research again on citing and sources and do this the proper way.*
This was my major takeaway from the intro...
"When I have the most internal conflict over my life, it is invariably because I am paying too much attention to the self, rather than what God is telling me. We are not put on this earth to focus on the SELF, rather what the self can do for God."
Wow. That alone says it all. That explains the days when I don't want to do this or that and I find myself avoiding it by opening the cabinets and the refrigerator. It explains the days when I decide to just sit down and lose myself in my phone instead of addressing the to-do list that I have for myself.
On Day One of Christ Walk you pick a journey. This is a biblical route that you choose to walk, run, pray, whatever (the distance of) during the next forty days. I have decided to take The Jerusalem Challenge. Roughly 2.2 miles per day, this takes you on Jesus' final days through Jerusalem - preaching, his last meal, his arrest, trial, Peter's denial and then his crucifixion. The book writes, "Can you walk forty days in Jesus' shoes?" "What a powerful image to walk the distance of Christ's ultimate sacrifice for us each day."
I decided to start by walking to get the mail. I stepped out of the garage and as I closed my door behind me I stopped and thought - this is it. This is the new life I'm looking for. Closing that door on who I have been and starting new right here. I looked down at my Garmin to see how many steps I was at so far. 3316. I looked again. 3316. 3:16. John 3:16. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
Well. Maybe that's another sign.
I walked to get the mail. The sound of the gravel under my feet was awesome. The wind was blowing, the clouds were beautiful, the bean field was waving all around me. I felt more in touch with nature in that 5 minutes than I have in a long time.
After I walked to get the mail, I decided to head down to where we eventually will build a lake. It's a big, dry, empty dirt field right now. I made laps around it and couldn't believe how much I enjoyed the sound of the dirt under my feet. The loose dirt, the hard dirt, the softer dirt where water runs out of the hill, the crunchy dirt where the clay has dried up.... Whoever would have thunk that there were so many exciting sounds made by dirt...... Hah. Who am I?
I walked and thought about Jesus' many journeys and those of his disciples.... And how in the world did anyone know where they were going?! What would it be like to not know when you were going to eat again...? Or have another drink of water...?
I spoke out loud to God. One thing that stuck with me during this time was when I wondered, why haven't I ever been able to stick with my success...? Why do I always lose my balance and control and fall back to who I was...? I heard my answer today. I haven't included God on my journey. This time, he's leading my journey.
At one point in my laps I saw two yellow butterflies. I decided to stop and look at them. I know... I sound so crunchy, granola right now.... I came upon two yellow butterflies, I befriended them while they were fluttering among the weeds. I was sad to see them go, but happy for the time we spent together. I know... I hear it, too.... The butterflies. I see butterflies randomly but don't pay much attention to them really, so I watched these for just a little bit. Later, I decided to Google yellow butterflies and also realized that they were a little sign for me. "Yellow butterflies symbolize 'new life', a transformation, rebirth."
Sold. Even more reassurance that this whole day is much bigger than I can ever build on my own.
I'm looking so forward to Day Two of my Christ Walk. I'm not sure if I'll blog each day about this or not... but stay tuned. It's just the beginning.
My physical goal for Christ Walk:
-To be more active and respectful of my body.
My spiritual goal for Christ Walk:
-To connect with God each day. Go there first.
My mental goal for Christ Walk:
-To speak to myself in a positive way. Don't be hard. Don't give up. Be the sunshine.
No comments:
Post a Comment