The real effect of this curriculum is to help us develop habits to carve out time for God in our lives. Why is this important? As lifelong pilgrims, our walk with God serves a deep felt desire we all have to get back to His love and compassion. Our walk in the world, however, has a tendancy to pull us further away. This tension is a fact of life as a Christian.
Taking time for a holy pause so we can recenter ourselves gives us comfort, peace, and a chance to walk closer to God. Doing this once a week is essential, but doing it daily - even for a brief time - can give us a big payback as we allow time for God to speak to us and guide us.
Yesterday I wrote about the "why" we do this, so Today is about the "how."
For me, I prefer to get up at 5:00 (always have) and Kristen prefers I stay quiet at that hour, so that creates a natural space for me to do my quiet time with God. I use the Prayer Book and go through the Morning Devotions on p.137, supplementing that with appropriate canticles, creeds, prayers and the daily office Bible readings. Once we start the curriculum, I'll move from the Prayer Book to our curriculum for the next few months.
I also try and incorporate some different prayer and meditation practices. Sometimes I'll use the prayer beads, sometimes some meditation tracks on my iPod (with headphones, of course), and sometimes I try and just sit in silence (I have the hardest time with that). Journaling will be a brand new activity for me when I start that next week.
This is also a strength of our curriculum, during our class time we will try all sorts of prayer, meditation, and spiritual practices. This will hopefully encourage you to use some of them. Of course, some you may just find strange, others you may like and use, and others still you may use sometime in your future as you continue on your lifelong pilgrimage.
Taking time for a holy pause so we can recenter ourselves gives us comfort, peace, and a chance to walk closer to God. Doing this once a week is essential, but doing it daily - even for a brief time - can give us a big payback as we allow time for God to speak to us and guide us.
Yesterday I wrote about the "why" we do this, so Today is about the "how."
For me, I prefer to get up at 5:00 (always have) and Kristen prefers I stay quiet at that hour, so that creates a natural space for me to do my quiet time with God. I use the Prayer Book and go through the Morning Devotions on p.137, supplementing that with appropriate canticles, creeds, prayers and the daily office Bible readings. Once we start the curriculum, I'll move from the Prayer Book to our curriculum for the next few months.
I also try and incorporate some different prayer and meditation practices. Sometimes I'll use the prayer beads, sometimes some meditation tracks on my iPod (with headphones, of course), and sometimes I try and just sit in silence (I have the hardest time with that). Journaling will be a brand new activity for me when I start that next week.
This is also a strength of our curriculum, during our class time we will try all sorts of prayer, meditation, and spiritual practices. This will hopefully encourage you to use some of them. Of course, some you may just find strange, others you may like and use, and others still you may use sometime in your future as you continue on your lifelong pilgrimage.
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