You Are Invited To Be Courageous. Say Yes!

     I am taking a class called "Formation Mentoring".  It's really more like a group.  In this weeks lesson we are invited to look at our "dispositions"(traits or characteristics).  Our "dispositions enable us to share our inner self to the world around us."  We are asked to list about five dispositions that we would like to have in our lives and then we are invited to do something that requires courage.  We are invited to ask people who are close to us to share with us "traits" that they see in us.
      I decided to be courageous and ask my husband my son, and my daughter.  Why?  Because it is an opportunity for me to grow. Sure I can have the attitude that says, "It doesn't matter what anyone thinks or sees in me."  But that's not true.  It does matter.  Some unknown person once said, "A person's perception is their reality."  So I sent them all a text. I suppose I didn't want to hear what their reality was when we interacted.    The words that I received were eye opening.  All three said that I was "loving" and  two said I was"helpful" And then there were the ouch words, one said I was "demanding & and another one said that I was "judgmental".
    All four words became my invitation.   You might wonder why would "loving" and "helpful" be an invitation?  Sometimes as a wife and a mother I have times when I feel like I am doing a crappy job.  To know that my husband, daughter and son, all see me as loving and helpful will remind me that my perception of who they think I am is not my reality.  It was an invitation to say no to the pity party when I feel like I am doing a poor job as a wife and mother.  My family sees me as a loving and helpful  wife and mother.  Even when I think I am not doing such a good job.
     Then I had to look at the words "demanding" and "judgemental".  Those words come with a punch.  But what a blessing!  They are as much a blessing to me as "loving" and "helpful".  I don't want to be demanding and judgemental and I don't want to be perceived as demanding and judgemental so I have decided to accept the invitation to embrace being loving and helpful without being demanding and judgemental.  I know that with the power of the Holy Trinity that I will be able to do just that.
     What an amazing gift it was to be invited to be courageous enough to ask those who spend the most time with me,  "What is your experience with me when we are together?"
     So my friend, since you are reading this blog. could God be inviting you to do the same thing?  Ask your husband, wife, children, mother, father, sisters, brothers, closest friends, etc., that question, "What is your experience with me when we are together?"  It's an invitation worth saying yes to.

You are cordially invited to find out what other people see in you.

You Are Cordially Invited to Open Up!

In July 2012 I had the privilege of traveling to Pennsylvania to serve on a retreat team through a ministry called Equipping Lydia (EL).  The wonderful thing about serving on one of EL's retreat teams is that you have the opportunity to minister alongside women who are listening for the invitations from God.  On this particular retreat one of the women, who is an artist,  drew a picture of a passion flower and believed that it represented an experience that I had while serving on the retreat team.   God had not fully revealed to me the meaning of that drawing until I started this blog.   

The passion flower she drew was God's invitation for me to be open to His will for my life.  I believe this invitation to openness is what has been the driving force behind my desire to learn about Spiritual Formation.   It has also been an invitation for me to learn and practice other spiritual disciplines such as  solitude and silence.   Spiritual Formation isn't something I learned about in Sunday school or in the church where I had been a member.  So I had to be willing to forsake focusing on what other people might think and just say yes to what God was inviting me to do.    

    

The passion flower is an amazing picture of transformation.   It starts out closed and begins to open in the morning and stays open all day and into the night.  I looked at a Youtube Video of a passion flower opening up and it took almost eight hours for it to open.  Isn't that like us?  As we  become more aware of His presence throughout the day we become more open to His invitations? 

What a beautiful picture of how we are to be formed into the image of God?  In the morning we should spread our hearts open wide in prayer, the reading of His Word and/or other spiritual disciplines.  That's our RSVP to His invitation to transform us.  Then the Son of God will shine his light on us, in us and around us for the world to see the beauty of who He is through our attitudes and actions.  

You are cordially invited....

To be open to practice the discipline of solitude and silence.

You Are Cordially Invited...

 

One aspect of Spiritual Formation is being aware of God's invitations throughout the day to exhibit attitudes and actions that are beyond our natural inclinations.  When I wake up each morning He is saying, "Joycelyn you are cordially invited to spend some time with me.  Can you read My Word and spend some time in prayer with me?"  When I am interacting with my husband, my daughter and my son, He is saying, "You are cordially invited to be patient, compassionate and loving."  In traffic He is saying, "You are cordially invited to restrain yourself from road rage when a driver cuts you off."  When I am discouraged, or fearful He is saying, "You are cordially invited to memorize a passage out of my Word that will give you strength during this difficult time. "  Unfortunately, I don't always recognize His invitations immediately.  But even in my lack of awareness of the invitation, it then becomes an invitation to be more aware of His invitations.  In essence an invitation from God is about having an awareness of His presence and being in tuned to how He wants to reflect Himself through us as we go about our day.  How is God inviting you to conform to His image today?