This book continues to rock my world! I want to look at two chapters today. The first chapter is "Discover the Rhythms of the Daily Office and Sabbath - Stopping to Breathe the Air of Eternity." In this chapter, Scazzero relates life to a blizzard - our lives fall somewhere between full and overflowing. We find ourselves overwhelmed and overworked and our ways of dealing with this are not helping. So Scazzero presents the Daily Office and the Sabbath as revolutionary disciplines for Christians today to bind us to the living God.
The Daily Office is simply taking time to stop during the day and focus on God. It is very similar to Brother Lawrence's act of practicing the presence of God. Scazzero suggest four elements to be included in our Daily Office: (1) Stopping - Stopping our activity to pause and be with the living God (2) Centering - This allows us to let go of our tensions, distractions to focus on God (3) Silence - Being silent so we can actually listen to God's quiet voice and (4) Scripture - Allowing God to speak to you through His word. Scazzero says that "the purpose of the Daily Office is to remember God and commune with Him through our days" (pg. 162). I have been trying to do this in my life for a while now. Unfortunately, I have not been that successful at it yet. I am determined to take time throughout my day to practice the Daily Office. I KNOW that there will be incredible blessings and benefits if I do.
The second discipline that Scazzero presents is practicing the Sabbath. "Sabbath" simply means "to cease, to stop working." Scazzero says that when we observe the Sabbath "we affirm 'God is the center and source of our lives. He is the beginning, the middle, and the end of our existence.' We trust God to provide and care for us" (pg. 165). Scazzero is careful to point out that the day of the week is not important BUT the fact that we do it is what matters. He shares four principles for keeping a Sabbath in our lives: (1) Stop - Sabbath is first and foremost a day of "stopping." (2) Rest - Once we stop, we need to rest (3) Delight - We need to delight in what we have been given. We are called to enjoy and delight in creation and its gifts, to delight in people and to delight in healthy play and (4) Contemplate - We need to take time to ponder the love of God and to worship Him. Since I have come back from my medical leave I have been taking a Sabbath each week. I know that I need to improve what I am doing on this day (or not doing on this day) but I have experienced the blessing of setting a day aside.
The second chapter that I read was "Grow Into an Emotionally Mature Adult - Learning New Skills to Love Well." Loving well is the goal of the Christian life but as Scazzero reminds us "this is easier in our dreams than in practice. It requires that we grow into emotional adulthood in Christ, the rewards of which are rich beyond measure" (pg. 175). This chapter has so much richness in it and I know that I am not going to do it justice by just writing a synopsis. So, I am just going to share the truths that stood out to me the most. Scazzero states: "We learn many skills to be competent in our careers and at school. We don't learn, however, the skills necessary to grow into an emotionally mature adult who loves well . . . Part of growing into an emotionally mature Christian is learning how to apply practically and effectively the truths we believe" (pg. 177). I think all of us can agree with that. One of those truths is that hit home to me is that we are to be peacemakers but we end up being false peacemakers. A false peacemaker is simply someone who ignores conflict and seeks to appease people. I have lived most of my life being a false peacemaker. Out of a fear of conflict and hurting the other person I have spent most of my life appeasing people instead of actually dealing with the conflict. Scazzero states: "True peacemakers love God, others, and themselves enough to disrupt false peace. Jesus models this for us" (pg. 185.
Scazzero goes on to give some skills that we can learn to be true peacemakers. They are: (1) Speaking and listening - Taking the time to actually listen to what the other person is saying and also being able to speak about your own thoughts and feelings (2) Checking out assumptions - Scazzero says that "every time I make an assumption about someone who has hurt or disappointed me without confirming it, I believe a lie about this person in my head" (pg. 189). Ouch! How many times do we assume things that are not true? I would say MOST if not ALL of the time. We need to talk about our assumptions with the other person. (3) Expectations - Unmet and unclear expectations create havoc in our places of employment, friendships, marriages, families and churches. We expect other people to know what we want before we say it. But as Scazzero points out "expectations are only valid when they have been mutually agreed upon" (pg. 191). (4) Allergies and triggers - Here Scazzero talks about emotional allergies and triggers. He says that an emotional allergy is "an intense reaction to something in the present that reminds us, consciously or unconciously, of an event from our history" (pg. 192). I know that I have these and I will have to spend some time thinking though what they are. Scazzero gives a good exercise to do that.
Scazzero ends this chapter by saying "One of the greatest gifts we can give our world is to be a community of emotionally healthy adults who love well. This will take the power of God and a commitment to learn, grow, and break with unhealthy, destructive patterns that go back generations in our families and cultures . . ." (pg. 193). I am seeing the beginnings of this gift in my life and in my marriage and I look forward to continuing to grow into an emotionally healthy adult!
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