The Shape of Faith
UpReach / InReach / OutReachArchive for Spiritual Formation
5 Moments
In his book, Peaceful living in a Stressful World, Ron Hutchcraft describes five moments scattered throughout our day. Some are exciting. Some are restful. Some are stressful while others are rather dull. But all of them present us with a choice. Who will rule that moment?
Five moments:
Psalm 119:18 — “When I awake, I am still with you.”
Proverbs 3:6 — “In all you ways acknowledge him.”
Ecclesiastes 9:12 — “Men are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them.”
Matthew 14:23 — “He went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone.”
Psalm 63:6 — “On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night.”
And right now … I am “fading” — Goodnight.
Time Management
A good thought from Anthony Bloom:
There is absolutely no need to run after time to catch it. it does not run away from us, it runs towards us. Whether you are intent on the next minute coming your way, or whether you are completely unaware of it, it will come your way. The future, whatever you do about it, will become the present, and so there is no need to try to jump out of the present into the future. … the mistake we often make with our inner life is to imagine that if we hurry we will be in our future sooner … Yet that is what prevents us from being completely in the present moment, which I dare say is the only moment in which we can be, because even if we imagine that we are ahead of time or ahead of ourselves, we are not. The only thing is that we are in a hurry.
— Beginning to Pray (page 82)
“It will come your way.”
Psalm 90:12 says, “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” Numbering my days requires pacing, building boundaries, fully utilizing, learning to say “no” to good things so I can say “yes” to better things. And all of this requires careful thought, which slows me down, which helps me to see and hear, which makes me much more capable and ready, which takes me closer to that much needed “heart of wisdom.”
