A New Beginning

I have found that my blogging is a lot like my walk of faith. I have great expectations but then I find that I can't fulfill those expectations so I fade back into my "muck and mire" of life and not move on. I find that instead of pressing in to God and my faith, I want to be lazy and do nothing, much like my desire to blog. That is why I am at a "New Beginning".

I have discovered that it isn't the expectations that God looks to meet me at but my willingness to be open to Him and to relate to Him. It is about me being what God has for me through Christ, not how I envision myself to be. When I can move that from my head to my heart, it will be an amazing relief of a weight from my shoulders.

I am not saying it doesn't take work, but when I understand that God is moving with me, the work seems lighter. That is why I don't understand Anne Rice's recent revelation that she is "quiting" Christianity. How do you quit a journey, a walk? Although I have not personally talked with Anne, but only heard interviews, it seems that Christianity isn't the "right fit" for her and she doesn't want to be "boxed" into a certain "religion".

I hear those words and I can relate because I have used that excuse as well when I have felt like staying in my mire and not changing. It sometimes easier to stay in the "crap" of life that we feel comfortable and secure in, instead of venturing out to freedom of life that we have no experience in at all. As Americans, we feel that if something is too hard or changes us too much, then we have the right to stop if we want. To stay in our comfort zone.

That is not what our journey with Christ is at all. As a "Modern Wondering Monk", I continue to look at the disciplines of the early Celtic monastics and see how it helped to develop them in Christ. The life and discipline that they accepted was not easy, but the gain was eternal. They did not ask if it was convenient but did it draw them closer to God. That is what I desire and try to work out each day.

That is what I am going to begin to blog about going forward. What are those disciplines that I believe are very relevant to a 21st century "monk" or person on their journey. It might sound weird, but I also believe that the church is also being called to be more "spiritually disciplined", possibly using some of the items that I will be blogging about in the future.

But for right now, I begin with myself. I am a sinner, on a journey with Christ. It is a journey that is hard, and difficult at points but I know it has eternal gain. I could never "quit" the journey, because it could cost me my life.