Discipline

That is the title of the chapter that I read this morning in The Breath of the Soul by John Chittister.  This little book has been part of my library for years and I decided to re read it for Lent this year.

The discipline that she writes of is the intentionality of putting God in the center of our lives.  Or another way of saying it - it is the discipline of daily prayer.  She writes:

The fact is that we become what we think about.  What we seed in our souls grows in us, becomes what drives us from moment to moment.

I told a friend recently that if I don't engage in morning prayer, my whole day reflects that.  It is in my time with God in the morning - usually with the "Pray as you go" app - that I am able to center myself on Gd's presence, God's love and God's call upon my life.  Otherwise, the news will take me down a path of despair or cynicism or I can fall into allowing resentment or anger to fester within me.

So today I hear that I am called to be HOLY - set apart in my behavior and my thoughts.  As I listen this morning I learn again that this WAY of following Jesus is a series of choices.  I choose to spend time with God, I choose to pray, I choose to allow God's word to seep into my soul.  I choose the path of compassion and love and service.  Again today.

This is what discipline looks like.  This is what it means to be a Disciple of Christ.

May God's HOLY LIGHT be with you, 

shedding God's radiance upon your everyday.

May you perceive your life in a new way, revealed in the light of God's love and desire for you.

May this God light up the hidden places of your life where visions and posssibilities dwell.

May those visions give birth to peace and justice in the world.

May God, HOLY LIGHT, be with you.

Amen