Monday, January 23, 2006

The Nature of the Spiral

A spiral staircase ascends in a circular line, so you come around to the same view of the room you left downstairs over and over, but from a slightly different perspective each time.

I am coming round to the anniversary of this blog, and I have realized that, just as I could have predicted, I am learning similar things to last year, but in a slightly different way, maybe at a deeper level. I started this endeavor after a weekend away with my church worship team. The annual prayer summit on which we go is a spiritual highlight of the year for most of us. We have time to spend in prayer and worship, and in talking with each other about the things of God.

It might be surprising, but most Christians don't spend that much time focused on the Divine because we are living here in this world and trying to do our jobs, care for our families, pay for our toys, and generally get along like everyone else. Sure, we try to spend time with God every day, we pray, we read our Bibles. But spending hours steeping in the presence of the Spirit? Listening for the Voice, learning to hear it better? There is nothing like a weekend away for that purpose to recharge one's soul, and to help one to re-learn how to hear, how to see, how to pray with the mind of Christ.

Of course, being a Christian isn't about how many hours we spend praying in our rooms, or about how many times we do our "read through the Bible in a year" plan. These things are the foundation for a life that is worthy of the call of the Creator of all.

At the end of the day, I know my God loves me. But I want to be able to say at the end of each day that I did all I could to stay true to Him whose name I bear and to bring honor to the One who purchased my soul.

Monday, January 16, 2006

The Spiral is Fluid and Connected

All that we learn comes together in the arts. We use it all - kinetic, aesthetic, mathematic, literary, all the subjects we ever learn - when it is connected in the arts.

Why is it that some think the arts less important than other disciplines?

I will never understand that.