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| In the Hebrew language there is no word for spiritual. If you would have said to Jesus, "Jesus, how is your spiritual life?" [He would have said,] "What? What do you mean?" Because to label one area as spiritual is to label others areas not spiritual. It's absolutely foreign to the world of the Scriptures. It's absolutely foreign to the worldview of Jesus. The assumption is that you are a fusion of two realms. And a human being occupies a totally unique place in the entire universe. Everything we do, we do as an integrated being—one hundred percent physical, one hundred percent spiritual. The first Christians latched on to this right away: "Whatever you do in word or in deed, do it in the name of Jesus Christ." Every act is a spiritual act (Colossians 3:17).
hey blogger friends,
i had to post this Zondervan daily thought. i receive this daily email but i don't always read it, even more often hit delete. it is usually not this insightful.
this suggests (and i agree) that spirituality doesn't exist. we are spirituality, it isn't a part of our life it IS who we are. i am so guilty of asking, how is your "spiritual" life? or "where are you right now spiritually?"
yesterday i gave myself a free day, ever done that? not all day -just the last part. i found myself in Wal-Mart with the kids without a list and very little money. i was frazzled, short on change and patience and no direction in an intersection of carts, there were about five of us all looking for the other one to go first...
sadie kept crawling under the cart and gates and riley were like little gnats that giggled about everything. after three PHONE calls, (i miss the cell-less days) i finally decided i had enough and got in line, only to remember i still didn't have one thing for supper. i then ran into my nemesis Jeanne Foust (you know i love you girl) who was to her credit looking at hamburger helper.
getting past the realization i should go to bed and start my day over i went to the back and got my hot, fresh?, cheapish little supper of bbq chicken. i paid over $3 for a tub of mac and cheese that would have cost me .74 to make. gates kept saying "that's not going to be enough chicken..." i got back in line knowing he was right but saying "if there's any left you are going to eat it even if it makes you sick..." (by the way, we did need it)
finally, 14 hours later i am home unpacking the three bags. hmm. and wishing i hadn't checked my "spirituality" at the door. today i wanted to wake up saturated in that undeniable kind of way but what i met was decisions to be good. decisions to bite my tongue and decisions to put that smile in my step as i got the kids out the door.
so what i came up with is that yes, Jesus didn't have a spiritual life. He was spirituality. And spirituality is a decision He always without fail got right. i fail but to all of our credit going in the right direction is what He wants. pray i keep going in that general direction. thanks for all of you that had pity on me and gave me comments. i feel the love.
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3 comments:
It's so hard to make the paradigm shift from being in the here and now, surrounded by the material, with the world in our faces, to realizing we're spiritual beings with a temporary physical life.
I think that's what Paul meant when he said "offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship". There's not a certain part of our life that's spiritual; there's not just a certain part of our week that we worship. It's all the time. It's something we need to be mindful of constantly. Not a small part of our lives we can tuck away in a corner and go on with the rest...
Gena, you ought to write a book. You have a good way of saying things (Jim does, too--he and Krista could write some killer books, too).
I am working on the anger issue--it is such a matter of choice to be angry. I start out every day so hopeful, and then the second son will wake up and it's WWIII around here. I need to remember that my spirituality is me, all the time, and not to try to shrug it off, hoping that God will not notice if I yell at the boys.
the beauty to me of what God has created is that when there are days that you check your spirituality at the door, (and they are there for EVERYONE - just read Mother Teresa's memoirs), God allows us to get down on our knees and pour it out to Him, and be cleaned.
When you have poured off the old, the dirty, the wrong, the darkness - you get to stand up new...cleansed and shining all over again.
There is nothing else in the world like that. The beauty of renewal.
God made that for days like yours at Walmart, and everything in between. Wow!
thanks for sharing your truth, for being honest. your stories give others the courage when they fall down...even if it's in hamburger helper line at walmart. God is good everywhere!
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