Spiritual Lessons from Yard Work

I've long stated that working in the yard is some of the best spiritual work that I do... really. ( And to be honest if you look at my yard in the last year or so, it has been neglected--but you can make your judgements)

You can look at a yard and tell if the owner cares for his lawn. I'm getting mine back in shape and the front looks pretty good. But the back is horrible!!! I'm probably going to have to go for a pretty good scalp on it here in a week or so to clean it up.

I walked out today and saw all of these lovely green milk thistle weeks and crab grass just waving at me in the West Texas wind. At first I was overwhelmed with all of them, then I started pulling them up one by one. The rain last night softened the ground where I could just pull them up by the stem. And then I reminded myself that I couldn't get it all done at once, so I worked a section at a time.

The spiritual lessons here are: Don't neglect your life and let the weeds grow--they take hold and choke out the spirit in your life; Let the word soak the tough soil and you'll be able to pluck up those weeds easily; don't try to fix it all at once--pick a section and work on it, you'll not be too overwhelmed and you won't give up.

So--how does your yard look?

GYM or VIM Spirituality

I have been listening to Cross Point Church Nashville’s pastor, Pete Wilson, in a series that they did last summer called SYNC. You can listen to it on their Podcast through I tunes.

Several times I have heard Pete allude to Dallas Willard’s acronymn for spiritual growth VIM (Vision, Intention, Methodology) where in each of these categories you work toward spiritual growth (Vision= what God created you to be, Intention=the passion and drive to move toward that goal, Methodoly=ordering your world around this vision)

As I went to the gym this morning, I was struck that many of us have GYM spirituality. Let me explain.

A local workout place is a lot like a local church. It’s a gathering point of like minded people, it usually has something going on to attract people, it has “life” seemingly in abundance, and there are a bunch of people who seem like they are making progress toward a goal. That may or may not be true.

Now if you take my analogy of GYM to spiritualilty, there are many times that we walk into the GYM (Local church) and are overwhelmed with all of the things that are suppose to help us grow and change (transform as Pete says it). You can go from activity to activity ( in the gym that would be machine after machine) and be really busy in the GYM (local church) and think that you are making progress--all the while you are doing nothing to make progress toward that vision God has given you for your life. You’re just busy!

If you go into the GYM (local church) without VIM, you’ll certainly be swallowed in a maze of things that are good. Don’t get me wrong, but are they the kind of things that move you towards your spiritual growth? I think we seriously have to stop and ask these questions of the GYM (local church).

Instead, we have to own our own spirituality (our spiritual health) and make a plan that helps move us along the path of growth. What I’m advocating here is a specified plan where you seek the Holy Spirit’s guidance in what your VIM should be. Then go and do that!

The most successful people in the local GYM are the ones who have a plan to grow. They stick to it with great passion and great devotion. They measure their life by it. They order their world around it. They become the VIM that they see in their life and what the Holy Spirit reveals to them.

What do you think? Maybe instead of the church offering GYM memberships, we could offer VIM memberships where Christ followers are challenged to own their own spirituality--and not leave it up to the local GYM to do it for them.

Why Do We Say That?

I guess I've become more aware lately of things said "in gossip" (and in Christian circles that can come in many forms--prayer concerns, spiritual concern, etc) about fellow believers.

It's going on all the time and I honestly think that it has become so much a part of who we are that we don't know that we're doing it.

Case in point: someone yesterday "supposed" to know something about someone that I love and know dearly. Their supposition about this person was completely false and in fact "GOSSIP". I really don't think they know they were doing it. If that fact has been shared about this person, then a sin has been committed.

Another case in point, I know believers now who are wounded because of words from"spiritual" people about the journey that these believers are on. Good and godly people have been injured by "supposition" about these situations (and I'm appalled at some of the things that have been said "in love" to these folks). We wouldn't dare treat the unbelieving world this way--why in heaven's name would we treat a fellow family member like this?

My thought - we don't know that we're doing it ( and sometimes we don't care that we're doing it).

I'm pointing the finger right back at me--my eyes have been opened to the way that we treat each other in the name of love.

God forgive us!