some recent rusty footage

celebration of discipline

I have had this book sat on my bookshelf for several years, it is on that I inherited from my Dad when he cleared out some of his books. As the title of this blog it is called "Celebration of Discipline" by Richard Foster. I guess I have been drawn to it because of a personal desire to simply be a better at my job but owing to a pursuit of wanting to know a deepening of relationship with God. This is an extract from the opening chapter...

"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 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...We must not be led to believe that the spiritual disciplines are for spiritual giants and hence beyond our reach, or for contemplatives who devotes all there time to prayer and meditation. Far from it. God intends the Disciplines of the spiritual life to be for ordinary human beings: people who have jobs, who care for children, who must wash dishes and mow lawns. In fact, the Disciplines are best exercised in the midst of our normal daily activities, If they are to have any transforming effect, the effect must be found in the ordinary junctures of human life: in our relationships with our husband or wife, our brothers and sisters, our friends and neighbours." ( R. Foster, Celebration of Discipline, Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1984, pg 13-14)

 

This is really encouraging as I don't consider myself to be a spiritual giant nor a contemplative! I do know however that the transforming grace of Jesus must work out in our normal pattern and rythmn's of life and that is why I'm looking forward to the challenge of this book.