Messy Spirituality

"My life is a mess.
After forty-five years of trying to follow Jesus, I keep losing him in the crowded busyness of my life. I know Jesus is there, somewhere, but it's difficult to make him out in the haze of everyday life.
[...]
I want to be a good person. I don't want to fail. I want to learn from my mistakes, rid myself of distractions, and run into the arms of Jesus. Most of the time, however, I feel like I am running away from Jesus into the arms of my own clutteredness."

--Messy Spirituality, Chapter One, page 18

     From page one (or rather, page 18, where he begins to share after the foreword written by his wife, Karla), Michael Yaconelli is brutally honest about himself. And, to a point, about the reader.

     The premise of Messy Spirituality is based on the foundation that it is relatable. No matter what stage you are at in your faith, it can seem like not enough. You're not spiritual enough, not committed enough; you don't have enough faith, you don't love God enough, you don't share your faith enough, you don't pray enough, you don't read your Bible enough. Everyone tries to measure up to everyone else in a detrimental spiral of comparison and shame, and in the end there is no pay off, because faith is a personal thing. You cannot compare.

     Enough.

     Yaconelli suggests that maybe faith "begins with admitting we will never have our act completely together". He addresses spiritual perfectionism as a common struggle, and Messy Spirituality provides thoughts to help change those habits. The growth of your faith is something between you and God, and God sees everyone as they are: messy, imperfect, and absolutely beloved. Pastors, missionaries, worship leaders - they all struggle with the temptations and the doubts of everyday life as much as the next individual. Your position, your profession, your calling - does not determine the level of your faith.

     Yaconelli offers encouragement, to those of us who feel like we are not enough. He provides assurance and a sense of direction. He does not necessarily say that your faith doesn't need some work - that would be untrue for anyone, at any point in time - but he wants to remind anyone and everyone who have all somehow forgotten that faith and spirituality are not neat, clear, clean, or straight forward. Not always. Not for everyone. It is a constant, lifelong struggle; a work continually in progress.

     And that can be a very comforting thought.

--Elise--

For more information on Michael Yaconelli's book Messy Spirituality, visit us at our website here:
http://www.houseofjames.com/store/details/9780310277309

Becoming Myself

     Stasi Eldredge has the unique and cultivated perspective of a woman who is learning to give thanks and praise to God through her sufferings and pain. It is a simple thing to thank God when everything seems to be exactly as you want it - a simple thing to praise God for the good in your life, in smooth sailing. But when the storm hits, that thanks and that praise is all too easy to forget. We turn to anger.

     We turn to blame.

     It is a simple thing to blame God. He's in control of everything, isn't he? He knows what will happen before it does - he is outside of time.

     This is all true and good. But it does not mean that he thrusts suffering upon us. And this is only one of the many issues that Stasi Eldredge covers in her book, Becoming Myself. Letting go of the blame we have for God in times of trial is one of the crucial elements of drawing closer to him, and in that closeness it is only natural for us to be more of who we were meant to be.

     The art of becoming oneself is a longer, harder, much more arduous road than one might imagine. Why is there so much that gets in the way? Why do we have to fight so hard?

These are not baseless questions. And they don't have to go without answers.

Why are you struggling with the things you do? There is a reason. It is found in the life you have lived, the wounds you have received, what you have come to believe about yourself because of them, and not having a clue how to bear your sorrow. It is also because of who you are meant to be.
It is not too late. It is not too hard. You are not too much. God's mercies are new every morning. There is mercy in his eyes even now.

-- Chapter 1: does anyone ever really change? --

     Stasi's assurances are written powerfully. Simply. Truthfully. Her voice carries the gentle tone of understanding and caring that can be hard to find even with the closest of friends, without the feeling of the figurative pat on the head and the sound of the condescending tone that is sometimes too easy to hear. She draws you in, builds you up, and hands you the strategies to stay there on a pinnacle of confidence.

     That is not to say that you will stay there. That is not to say that the hard times won't be too hard any more. But taking the time to hear what she's saying, and taking her words to heart, does make it easier to come back from those hard times. Even if it's only by a little bit.

     It is worth it. You are worth it. And that, ultimately, is what she wants you to know.

--Elise--

For more information on Stasi Eldredge's Becoming Myself visit our website here:
http://www.houseofjames.com/store/details/9780781409957