When Life Is Irritating

Chapter 8 of Jan Johnson's book Enjoying the Presence of God is about finding God when we're irritated. Most of the examples she uses deal with people who aggravate us during our day; the people in our car pool, the person who cut us off in traffic etc. The example she does not give is the first time parent trying to survive the first month of parenting. We are into week three and I am typing this one handed while holding Evan so Karen can have five more minutes of sleep. Evan is at that stage when eating, messing diapers, and sleeping just aren't enough. He can't tell us what he wants/needs so he cries - and screams through much of the afternoon. It's not an all day thing, but it frays the nerves very quickly. We love him to death, but here lately those are the times we find ourselves looking to God for strength, peace, and most of all PATIENCE.

The encouraging thing about what Johnson writes is her reminder it is okay to go to God with our anger, and our frustration - with ourselves or with other people. We should certainly have a healthy fear of God, but that doesn't mean we, like Evan, cannot cry out to our heavenly Father in frustration. It is okay to get angry. The trouble comes when that anger causes us to sin. It is not a sin to confess that anger to God. YHWH already knows what you are mad about, but offering it up to God is a great way of starting to let that anger go instead of acting on that frustration in malice.

What is Right In Front of You?

About a year ago I was in a small group of guys working through the ScrewTape Letters by C.S. Lewis. In one of the letters there is a story about a man in a museum. The man is looking at the art while eating his turkey sandwhich. A demon, thinking he had the man well in hand was directing the mans thoughts from one painting to another and away from anything important. Then the man began to think about the other people in the room and about God. The demon immediately reacted to what it presumed was the presence of an angel speaking into the man's life on God's behalf. So the demon diverted the man's attention to the man's lunch, to the weather outside, and finally to a random story in the newspaper. All of these diversions were the demon's way of putting the man off thinking about God. In America we get so distracted by stuff, material possessions, or perhaps worse reality TV. I know. I've been guilty of it as well. Wouldn't it be nice to have a new car that doesn't break down? Wouldn't it be nice to have a new brush pen for inking? Wouldn't it be nice to have that latest translation of the Bible or the newest commentary. Stuff Stuff Stuff. We think about you too much.

Chapter seven of Jan Johnson's book Enjoying the Presence of God is about focusing on what's right in front of you, and I don't mean your computer. Who are those people right in front of us who could be helped by God's grace right now? Can't think of anyone? Who else is in the room, or your office, or your house? Try thinking about what they are going through and offering them a one line prayer. "Praying for whatever is in front of us includes praying while reading the newspaper or watching the news (Johnson 51)." When we hear gossip it is an opportunity to pray for the person who told us the gossip and to pray for those being gossiped about. When we stop thinking about the things we want and start focusing on what and who other people need it goes a long way toward bringing us closer to the presence of God.

Walk the Walk

St. Augustine once wrote, "Preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary use words." This quote plays very nicely with the sixth chapter of Jan Johnson's book Enjoying the Presence of God. This chapter details ways we can do Random Acts of Kindness for people we find it difficult to pray for, and to do those acts as if we were doing them for God. To put it another way; to offer service to others with our heart, mind, soul and might. I have tried to apply this line of thought to my school work, and sadly, on several occasions, have burned myself out in the process. For me it does not work well with school work. However, it does work well with Habitat Projects, serving others through the Mana ministry at church, or through Room In The Inn, or making breakfast at the Uptown Homeless Shelter. It's a terrific way to share the love of God without beating people over the head and shoulders with the gospel.

Weaving Prayer with activity...

...is the title to chapter five of Jan Johnson's book Enjoying the Presence of God. In many ways this is similar to the material in chapter four discussing, "Talking to You Means Praying for You." The difference is there is a larger element of the self in this chapter - but in a good way. It is all about giving praise and finding ways to include God in the day to day bus-y-ness of life. I try to understand Jan Johnson's point this way. If the purpose of reading Scripture is to discover what God has to say about Himself through the Word of God, then my daily life should be focused on sharing with the world what God is saying about Himself in my life. It is not about me. My life, and the way I interact with everything in it has to be about God. Some times the task is easier said than done. However, the goal is worthy so I continue to pick myself up and keep trying.

Peace and Stillness

Today's devotion from Jan Johnson's book Enjoying the Presence of God focuses on weaving prayer into every day activities. For instance, I could say a short prayer for any person I am talking to in my head during the conversation. My first reaction was to think she's crazy. I am a motor mouth and a guy. More often than not I'm throwing words out there until I figure out what it is I'm trying to say. My filter can barely keep up with what I say and now I'm supposed to pray for people while we're talking! Then it dawned on me just how helpful this could be. A down fall of talking too much is I tend to interrupt when an idea comes into my head. Sometimes I feel like I'll burst if I don't get these ideas out. It really annoys my wife when she is interrupted. This is why praying while talking to other people is so important. I have to refocus my thoughts on God instead of whatever I thought was important in the moment. Saying a prayer for God puts God first instead of focusing on my thought. I have made more time to listen when I taught Disciple I and it was really neat. However, it's been too easy to slip back into just running my mouth. There is a stillness and focus that comes from this practice. I would very much like to have that focus again.

I know my son has nothing to do with this devotion, but I couldn't resist posting another picture of him.

Breath Prayers

I was never a huge Seinfeld fan, but chapter three of Jan Johnson's book  Enjoying the Presence of God reminds me a little bit of the Serenity Now episode. Evidently George Castanza's father has had a problem dealing with stress. So his doctor told him to use the mantra, Serenity Now. You are welcome watch the clip to see how it worked out on the show.

Jan Johnson is suggesting something similar as a way to stay in God's presence. She recommends breath prayers. As opposed to Serenity Now, breath prayers are a way to get our focus off of ourselves. This is quite a novel concept in American society. Johnson recommends picking a scripture or summing up a verse in 9-10 syllables. When you are worried about surgery, or in my case a paper or test you could just say, "Into Thy Hands." This is not something to screamed, or for the rest of the world to see. This is about trying to redirect yourself towards God. Another way to approach breath prayers is to just ask or say one sentence to God when something out of the ordinary happens. Johnson offers these examples. "Turn this person's heart towards you." "Do I need to change?" Teach me through this negative behavior." Praying for other people in the moment is a great way to shift the focus away from the character trait, or physical appearance that may be bothering you and to put the focus back on God.

As I write this there are a number of people with whom I can practice this, and some very good times. When I am up in the middle of the night bouncing my son and trying to get him to go back to sleep after his feeding - that's a good time to ask, "God, please fill his heart with joy for You."

Wonderful News!!! Busy. Busy! Busy!!

I've been MIA for a while, but for good reasons. On October 10, 2010 my wife gave birth to our first child, Evan. He's wonderful, and persnickety, and fills me with awe and wonder at God's design. Plus how cool is it to have a 10/10/10 birthday? I took a week off of classes to help my wife, and spend time with Evan before the seminary work load came crashing back down. It was great! The late night feedings didn't phase me and I some how managed to still function with the goofy smile of a first time Dad.

Then Monday came, and Wow! Do I have a lot of homework? I'm digging out, and trying to get caught up on a few things. One of them is journaling/blogging. I am supposed to be keeping a blog for one of my classes, and I finally got the book just before Evan was born. So for the next couple of weeks most of these devotions will deal with stuff from Enjoying the Presence of God by Jan Johnson.

I read chapter one yesterday and didn't have a chance to blog about it so we're starting with chapter 2 "Practicing the Presence of God." The goal of the book is to get to a place where the reader is in constant prayer/communication with God. The emphasis is this isn't a knowledge thing, or something we can make a to do list to cover in our quiet time. I confess I've tried that and felt really spiritually dry afterwards. In the end it just felt like one more thing I had to do. The chapter reminded me that being close to God isn't about a warm fuzzy feeling. God is with us whether we feel Him or not. He isn't up there looking down on us. God is right here sitting next to you at your computer. The trick is becoming more aware of His presence. How you ask? Prayer. Try thinking of times when you are board - like standing in line at the grocery store. Then instead of looking at the candy on display or perusing the tabloids say a little prayer for one of the other people in line. It's a terrific way of opening yourself up to what God has to say, and you might make a new friend in line.