I have always envisioned Sundays as being the end of a good week, but I like to shift my mentality and try to envision my new week beginning fresh and new on Sundays instead of coming to an end. My Sunday tradition is going to church in the morning, eating lunch with some of my closest friends, and celebrating life.
It is interesting because to end Foster's book review, A Celebration of Discipline, it ends with the last two corporate disciplines as being guidance and celebration. Let's allow today to position where we live for the rest of the week. As a teacher, my 3-week winter break (I know it is lengthy, and I have enjoyed every minute of it), is coming to an end, and I am beginning to feel that slump and restlessness, because I know hard work and early mornings are coming my way. I don't want to start off my week already in a slump and already restless when facing a week that is demanding but rewarding all at the same time. I don't think my negative attitude will serve me at all in the long run.
Choose to live in the comfort and power of these words: guidance and celebration.
Choose guidance in the sense that there is power and transformation in healthy community. Find a church or a group of friends that you can enjoy life with and grow. I am so grateful that my husband and I have a group of people that we can count on and grow with. Healthy community can truly guide your life to better choices and outcomes.
Foster claims that "Spiritual direction is first born out of natural, spontaneous human relationships, A hierarchical, or even organizational system, is not essential to its function and is often destructive to it. The ordinary kinds of caring and sharing that belong to the Christian community are the starting point for spiritual direction. Out of them will flow “kingdom authority” through mutual subordination and servanthood" (186). It is not about who is above who; it is about serving, "caring and sharing" with one another. I love that he emphasizes that relationships were never meant to be a hierarchy of power or popularity; simply, love and care for one another.
Choose celebration by simply enjoying life right where its at.
“Celebration brings joy into life, and joy makes us strong. Scripture tells us that the joy of the Lord is our strength (Neh. 8: 10). We cannot continue long in anything without it. Women endure childbirth because the joy of motherhood lies on the other side. Young married couples struggle through the first difficult years of adjustment because they value the insurance of a long life together...Celebration is central to all the Spiritual Disciplines. Without a joyful spirit of festivity the Disciplines become dull, death-breathing tools in the hands of modern Pharisees. Every Discipline should be characterized by carefree gaiety and a sense of thanksgiving.”
According to Foster, true joy comes from obedience and trust in God. I know we tend to wish that we can conjure up our own happiness and joy ourselves. I really believe that in the low and tough moments of life when we so badly want to compromise and give up, but we choose to override our discomfort by doing the best we can and trusting God, God blesses us in the form of joy - celebration.
I encourage you to celebrate life right where it is. Find what makes you laugh and enjoy being human!
I leave you with Foster's final words as he ends his book:
“We have come to the end of this study, but only to the beginning of our journey. We have seen how meditation heightens our spiritual sensitivity which, in turn, leads us into prayer. Very soon we discover that prayer involves fasting as an accompanying means. Informed by these three Disciplines, we can effectively move into study which gives us discernment about ourselves and the world in which we live.
Through simplicity we live with others in integrity. Solitude allows us to be genuinely present to people when we are with them. Through submission we live with others without manipulation, and through service we are a blessing to them. Confession frees us from ourselves and releases us to worship. Worship opens the door to guidance. All the Disciplines freely exercised bring forth the doxology of celebration.”
TAKE AWAY:
1. Choose guidance through committing to grow in a healthy community.
2. Choose celebration through doing the best you can to trust God and experience the fullness of joy.
MEDITATION:
“And do not be worried, for the joy of the Lord is your strength and your stronghold.”
DAILY CHALLENGE:
1. Get connected to a healthy community by getting involved in a church or a local small group that you can grow with.
2. Celebrate life by simply enjoying life right where it is at. Give yourself permission to laugh and love the life that you are living.