"Those who listen to the word but do not do what it says are like people who look at their faces in a mirror and, after looking at themselves, go away and immediately forget what they look like."
James 1:23-24
I often feel guilty about not keeping this blog up to date. The whole reason I entered the blogging world was to be more diligent in my attempt to be reflective about my life, my pursuit of Jesus and the things going on around me. I love reading the thoughts on other blogs but taking time to process your own is a more difficult task.
It makes me appreciate people who can come up with fresh thoughts 5-6 times per week for a blog. Some preachers have difficulty coming up with one fresh thought every week. Others seem to be a fountain of never-ending wisdom. These people display an ability that I wish a had in greater measure. The ability to reflect. I feel confident that it is a learned ability and therefore I am hopeful about developing this ability in my own life.
I think many of us do have passing thoughts but those thoughts never cause us to pause long enough for them to be anything more than just.....passing thoughts.
We have these thoughts about life, love, kids, jobs, church, ministry, sports, hobbies, our "to-do" lists but never stop long enough to allow ourselves to process them in an intentional way.
For me there is a great difference between these passing thoughts and reflection. The primary difference being that reflection causes a person to take whatever it is they are thinking about and question it, poke at it, analiyze it, and determine whether or not a change needs to take place.
Here are a few questions to consider:
What makes it hard to reflect?
What role does reflection play in shaping us?
What steps can we take to practice reflection?
Coming Soon......My End of the Year Reflection!
1 comment:
1. I don't so much find it hard to reflect as I find it hard to reflect when I actually have time to do the thinking and poking you mention. If the thought hits me when I don't have time to carry it further, I can't do anything about it, even if I want to.
2. It shapes us by soaking into who we are. When someone makes a statement that rings true to me, I find it easy to agree, however enthusiastically, but unless I spend time considering the statement, it will never become a part of me. I have to think on it to claim it as my own and allow it to hone my identity.
3. This may be hokey, but I need to take notes of my thoughts. I don't mean take note, I mean notes. Actual written words of the things that flit through my mind at any given time (moments before falling asleep is the worst), so that when I take time to think, I have the content waiting to be digested and, in the blogging realm, worded and posted.
Best of luck in your hopes to reflect more. Shaye is one of my best inspirations to reconsider "normal" aspects of life that I ignore on a daily basis, so you have a triple whammy of Muses.
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