Practice

We have all heard the saying "practice makes perfect." While none of us could ever really reach perfection, we sure can find peace and happiness while we give it a shot. Practice is not a word that we hear often when it comes to spirituality, especially if you have grown up Christian. We hear words like backslide, succes, failure and measure ourselves by these words to find out if we have "made it" to the level of Christian. We have lost much of the idea that our Christianity, our spirituality, is actually a practice. It is much like when I played college football. I practiced it everyday for those four years, over and over and over and over. I hated practice! However there was no other way for me to get better and play on the team. I was not going to be able to walk in as a freshman and say "well I am here I have been given a scholarship and I have the right to start." The upper classman who have been practicing for all those years would have just laughed at me. It took practice for me to gain the skills to play at that level. It took repetition so that it became natural for my body and mind to work at the level it needed to so I could play college football.
Our spirituality is not something that we gain one day and no longer need to put thought into on a daily basis. Most people get "saved" (get their scholarship) and then go about their lives as if God was not involved and they have arrived - no need to practice. They live their lives as if they have reached the goal and what happens after that really does not matter. However, we get "saved" for a reason, to impact others, to raise the awareness of others about whose they are and they are loved. Jesus said in Matthew 5:13-15:

"Let me tell you why you are here. You're here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You've lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.
"Here's another way to put it: You're here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We're going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don't think I'm going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I'm putting you on a light stand. Now that I've put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you'll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven."

So what is our salt and our light? I believe it is the love that we have been given by the Creator. However, since we just do not practice our spirituality on a moment by moment basis, we have a hard time showing love. Rather we spend much of our time thinking about how we have been wronged and looking for opportunities to be offended. When I am doing this I know that I am not shedding any God colors or God flavors into this world. I think that love is something that must be cultivated, grown in our hearts, and practiced.

Practicing love means we must first look at ourselves and ask ourselves, do we know that God loves us? Do we accept that the Creator of the entire, vast universe loves us? Do we understand GRACE? There is nothing we can do to make God love us more and there is nothing we can do to make God love us less! We must accept this love and love ourselves like that. This takes practice. We must practice examining our thoughts, moment by moment by sitting in silence to take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (2 Cor. 10:5) Once we can do this for ourselves, we can begin to give it to others. Jesus said to us

"You don't get wormy apples off a healthy tree, nor good apples off a diseased tree. The health of the apple tells the health of the tree. You must begin with your own life-giving lives. It's who you are, not what you say and do, that counts. Your true being brims over into true words and deeds. "Why are you so polite with me, always saying 'Yes, sir,' and 'That's right, sir,' but never doing a thing I tell you? These words I speak to you are not mere additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundation words, words to build a life on." Luke 6:44-46

It is after we change our life that we can then have patience for the person who is taking longer in the line than we would live them to, or the coworker who does not work like we think they should, and the family member who does not seem to appreciate what we have done for them. We give them the GRACE we have received. When we practice daily and this kind of love becomes more and more automatic the truth of scripture in our daily lives come alive!!

Jesus said, "'Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.' This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: 'Love others as well as you love yourself.' These two commands are pegs; everything in God's Law and the Prophets hangs from them." Matthew 22:38-40

What I'm getting at, friends, is that you should simply keep on doing what you've done from the beginning. When I was living among you, you lived in responsive obedience. Now that I'm separated from you, keep it up. Better yet, redouble your efforts. Be energetic in your life of salvation, reverent and sensitive before God. That energy is God's energy, an energy deep within you, God himself willing and working at what will give him the most pleasure.

Philippians 2:12-13

Love yourself today, practice silence for a few minutes, allow this practice to grow in you daily until your are full of so much salt and light that people only feel love in your presence.

Namaste'