Growing Deep

(Six Minute Read)

Naomi Lorenzin

Here it is, 2022, a clean slate. A new start to a new you with new goals, new dreams and aspirations, new excitement and anticipation for the things ahead! Yes, I LOVE January! My sails are filled with gusty wind and my heart with gutsy goals. I feel so ready to tackle whatever comes my way!

I’m full of excitement yet also aware of the reality that soon February will come and go, the wind will die down and my gutsy goals start to feel like they’re slipping away.

By April I’m back in the old routine of doing ‘what works’ dealing with the overwhelm of life. I wonder, how can I sustain this energy that is so life-giving and comes with January? How can I get closer to being that person living that life I so deeply desire? 

Last year, I re-read Celebration of Discipline by Richard J. Foster. I read it in hopes of grounding myself again and starting afresh while recovering from burnout and a very difficult transition. There is so much wisdom to be gleaned and learned from this incredible piece of work. I think we find a big part of the answer of how to keep going with the January excitement and energy.

This book is not so much about doing something to achieve something, but about living a life that is deeply connected to God. It presents an opportunity for us to be changed by experiencing the presence of God. You cannot be in His presence and not be changed! It is moving from a life of bitterness and offense, anger and rage, trauma, hurt and insecurity, into a life full of love and hope, joy and excitement, healing, forgiveness and security in who we were uniquely created to be. 

“Joy is the keynote of all the disciplines,” Foster writes. “The purpose of the disciplines is liberation from the stifling slavery to self-interest and fear.  When the inner sprit is liberated from all that weighs it down, it can hardly be described as dull drudgery.  Singing, dancing, even shouting characterize the disciplines of the spiritual life.”

Foster gives us three different groupings for the disciplined life, the Inward, Outward and the Corporate disciplines. As we practice these disciplines, we position ourselves to become deeply blessed people, growing in our understanding and experience of who God is, what his expectations really are of us and more importantly experiencing more of what it feels like to be a child of God.  

Foster writes,

“Superficiality is the curse of our age. The doctrine of instant satisfaction is a primary spiritual problem. The desperate need today is not for a greater number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but for deep people. The classical Disciplines of the spiritual life call us to move beyond surface living into the depths. They invite us to explore the inner caverns of the spiritual realm. They urge us to be the answer to a hollow world. John Woolman counsels, ‘It is good for thee to dwell deep, that thou mayest feel and understand the spirits of people.’”

We want to dwell deep with the Spirit so we can go deep with the people in our lives, be those in our ministries or those in our families and lives outside of church. Human beings are spiritual beings, we need to have moments of deep connection with each other. Our spiritual lives, the disciplines, “are best lived out in relationship to one another, with our spouse, siblings, friends and neighbours”. Relationships offer us opportunity to grow deeper, to ponder the things of the Spirit that are more than just the obvious or surface level truths. The spiritual disciplines help us become deep people.

Cultivating change

I love this picture Foster shares helping us to understand the balance between grace and works; “It is grace because it is free, it is disciplined, because there is something for us to do.”

“Picture a long narrow ridge with a sheer drop-off on either side. The chasm to the right is the way of moral bankruptcy through human strivings for righteousness. Historically this has been called the heresy of moralism [right behaviour is most important]. The chasm to the left is moral bankruptcy through the absence of human strivings. This has been called the heresy of antinomianism [grace alone saves, no need for right behaviour]. On the ridge there is a path, the disciplines of the spiritual life.  This path leads to the inner transformation and healing for which we seek. We must never veer off to the right or the left, but stay on the path. The path is fraught with severe difficulties, but also with incredible joys. As we travel on this path, the blessing of God will come upon us and reconstruct us into the image of Jesus Christ. We must always remember that the path does not produce the change; it only places us where the change can occur. This is the path of disciplined grace.” (italics mine)

God does the reconstructing work; we plant the seed positioned to receive enough sunlight – that somehow reaches through all that dark dirty soil of our lives. We water it and then we wait. It takes time and patience, but the work done in the ground goes deep first and then soon rises up breaking through the soil. Small at first, then grows taller and more beautiful until it blossoms with incredible colour and vigour.

The growth happened not because we made it happen, but because we placed the seed where it needed to be. We can walk the path, sticking to the middle with God’s help, and when we come to the other side we can look back and see the brilliant beauty that now covers that once rocky and bare path behind us.

Position yourself for liberation

I’m inviting you to position yourself for liberation with me on this path in an ongoing discussion of Foster’s book in the coming months. I would love for us to experience the depth of abundant life that Christ offers us, not only for our own benefit but also for the benefit of those we lead and love. We could take our kids on this journey teaching them what it means to truly be a disciple of Christ  Not because it looks good, but because it changes lives, starting with our own. 

Let’s change ourselves, forge a new path, not just for children’s ministry, but for the actual kids! A path where kids, and families, are able to follow in becoming deep people, not just smart people.  The importance of knowing not just what, but who the right answer is.

“Our world is hungry for genuinely changed people,” writes Foster. “Leo Tolstoy observes, ‘Everybody thinks of changing humanity and nobody thinks of changing himself’. Let us be among those who believe that the inner transformation of our lives is a goal worthy of our best effort.”