Jesus is very practical in his teaching. Like, with worry, for example, he doesn't admonish us not to do it because it's wrong, faithless or unspiritual. The main thing he says about it is that it's pointless. It's unhelpful, and we have better things to think about.
Faith can be very practical as well. It can be a belief in what works and helps. Sometimes we get the idea that faith is something ethereal and not of this world, that it's about what creed you subscribe to, what doctrines you believe to be true.
I was thinking about this issue because there's something in my life at the moment that relates to faith but it's not really spiritual as such, although spirituality is part of it.
I'm referring to my faith in the power of my daily goals. My top goal - my first priority every day - is to spend time with God by reading the Bible, writing my insights and praying, so there is a spiritual element to it, but pretty much all my other goals are not directly related to spirituality. They're goals that I would recommend to anyone who wants to have a good life - things like, exercise, eating healthily, working, doing creative things, etc.
Just lately, as I've been learning and changing to be more active and engaged and ruminating/ withdrawing less, I've seen the power of my goals, when I actually do them, to change my life and to bring about healing and recovery. I'm working through a particular issue and it's very challenging. It's painful and difficult and I have a lot of fear. Changing to be more active is essential for me in working through this issue.
It's been life changing and it gives me hope. But when I have a bad day, it's easy for me to lose that hope - to lose that faith. Rumination is the opposite of my daily goals. It's what stops me from being active and engaged. For a long time it has done that. I've added a few goals lately but most of my daily goals have been there for years, even decades, and it's rumination that has always gotten in the way of achieving them. But lately I've really been learning, firstly about my need to change, and then the reality that I have to change. So, I've been doing a lot more lately and ruminating less.
But then I have a hard day and it's easy for me to fall back into thinking I can't do it. I can't do my goals. It's too hard. The good thing is though, that that way of living is losing it's grip on me. Even while I'm feeling incapacitated, I'm thinking, OK, yes, it's hard, but just try. I ask myself, what's the next goal on my list? Then I say to myself, take your time, and when you're ready, do it. What else is there on my list that I can get myself to do? What little steps can I take in the right direction? How can I scale my goals down if necessary to make them achievable? So, it's a start and then tomorrow and in the days to come, I can build on it and do more.
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