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Then it would stop. I would get sick, or someone in my family would get sick. Anything could throw me off this discipline, really: vacation, holidays, a late night out, kids, dogs, work, laziness. I feel disappointed in myself again. I just can’t do it. I’m not a good Christian.
There’s nothing wrong with practical tools; achievement isn’t inherently connected with the spiritual disciplines. When I get stuck in the repeating cycle of quiet time, chaotic day, oversleep, guilty day, and over and over again it goes, I don’t need a sticker chart. I need a soul at rest. I need the living God. This book is for people who are tired and weary of charts and checklists, or more specifically they’re tired of failing at all of that. They don’t want to add to their pile of partially-filled-out planners. This is for people who are ragged. This book is for the people who are tired of the guilt and have started to believe they don’t have the personality or aptitude to be who God expects them to be.
besides mumbling a guilty resolution: “I should probably do better.”
It’s our fault, or our family’s fault, or our job’s fault. Life becomes an endless stream of guilt and anger because of the dissonance in our lives—what we say is the most important to us doesn’t appear to be the same on a day-to-day basis.
We need to know that the question of “how much time with God is enough?” is completely the wrong question, and we need to discover the right questions.
Must you do all of these things? Let’s be honest, we don’t need any more things on our to-do lists. We need more God, not more clutter. Most of us don’t live the monastic life, but we do have vocations within God’s kingdom, and people who depend on us. I want to share with you many more ways God intends to work in your life without restricting your spiritual growth to 15 sacred minutes in the morning. God is working all the time and in various ways. When we recognize all the tools he has given us, and how he walks alongside us, the question is no longer “how much is enough?” Instead, we begin to recognize how holistic and practical “God-with-us” actually is. God is no longer a slot on our schedules, so we’re not being graded on the size of the slot. God often disrupts our schedules, interrupts our plans, and shows us the folly of our so-called quest for perfection so that we can learn once again that we are not performing for him. We are learning to depend on him, because that is where power and healing are. God will disrupt our striving towards our own ideal perfection as many times as he needs to in order to teach us to take our eyes off ourselves and look at him.
We fear that he is in control because it means we’re not. If we are totally honest, the idea that he is in control scares us.
We would like to grow in Christ, at our pace, keeping a close eye on our comfort levels. We know our limits, and we aren’t sure God does.
Spiritual disciplines do not call us to monastic life by ourselves. They call us to communal life. Life in Christ cannot be separated from being a part of the body.
Spiritual maturity isn’t pious independence from God, but a deeper dependence on him. The Christian life is to sink into his sufficiency, not prove we can do it on our own. When I realized how independently I was trying to live my life, I started seeing how much I had taken upon myself to prove to myself and others that I was holy. I started to spend a lot of time just sitting and reflecting on how incredibly needy I am. I became desperate to get more of God in my life … more of God’s word in my life.
AI Summary
Ragged by Gretchen Ronnevik and Elyse Fitzpatrick presents key insights from the Christian Mysticism tradition. The 10 passages above capture the essential teachings.
Core Themes:
- [To be expanded]
Key Passages: Highlights 1, 3, and 10 are particularly representative.
This entry was generated from Readwise highlights. Expand with additional context as appropriate.