UMC20220116 Deepening Faith

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UMC20220116 - Deepening Faith¶

This week Dom started working at Reddam House Ballito (the same school as me!). We have both been knocked over sideways with the busy school day, new procedures, endless to-do lists, planning lessons, collaborating with other teachers and printing booklets. As one of the other teachers mentioned this week, we are not “teaching fit”. But interestingly through all this chaos, we are not experiencing the normal anxiety that we have felt with the start of a new school year.

Dom and I have made a concerted effort since mid-December to prioritise centering prayer as the first thing we do each morning. We haven't been able to maintain anything close to a 100% streak but we have begun to notice a spiritual space in our days. A distance between what we are doing and the emotions and thoughts that come with it. We are fighting less, appreciating our pets more, enjoying cooking, and seeing this busy new start at school as a blessed opportunity of shaping the minds of our future's most valuable resource. 

I know that this habit may not last forever, as I have made this resolution many times in the past, but I hope that I will never stop trying to “make space for eternity” each day as author John Eldridge puts it. When we spend time with God, God works in our spirits, we slowly become changed people and slowly grow to appreciate a heavenly perspective.

It was so wonderful having the bishop speak so passionately last week at the induction service of our new minister Mark about the deepening of our faith (the service is on YouTube if you missed it!). For Dom and I it is centering prayer, what is the practice that brings you closer to God? Where do you find God changing you from the inside? In walking? In gardening? In resting? May this be a year of deepening your faith.

Love Cliff