Spiritual Disciplines (Episode 85)

Brent and Janis continue their interview with Tracy Balzar, a former professor of spiritual formation and a spiritual director, about the role and impact of simple consistent practices in our daily life that can be life changing. 

Tracy Balzer is the author of Thin Places: An Evangelical Journey Into Celtic Christianity (Leafwood); A Listening Life (Pinyon); and Permission to Ponder: Contemplative Wisdom for the Spiritually Distracted (Leafwood). Her most recent book is A Journey of Sea and Stone: How Holy Places Guide and Renew Us (Broadleaf).

Transcript:

Welcome to Life and Love Nuggets, where licensed therapists Brent and Janice Sharpe share how you can thrive in your life, your love, and your relationships. Hello, friends. Welcome to Life and Love Nuggets. We're glad that you're back with us again. And if you were with us last episode, I know you were blessed because we had Tracy Balzer with us and she's gonna be with us again for this one. If you're just joining us in this episode, I wanna introduce her real quick. Tracy's the author of several books.

These are all really good, have unique different kind of expressions in them. The first one is Thin Places, an evangelical journey into Celtic Christianity. We talked about thin places in the last episode if you're wondering what in the world is a thin place.

A Listening Life. The next one is Permission to Ponder, which we're gonna be talking about a little bit more this episode on talking about spiritual disciplines and those kinds of things. And if the word discipline scares you, just hang in there. It's not a bad thing. It's spiritual habits. Yeah, Permission to Ponder, contemplative wisdom for the spiritually distracted, which all of us can so easily be distracted. The whole world's distracted right now.

And then her most recent book, A Journey of Sea and Stone, How Holy Places Guide and Renew Us. Her passion for Celtic and contemplative spirituality is shared in her writing, speaking, and her annual leadership of pilgrimages to the Isle of Iona, Scotland, which we talked about last episode where we had an opportunity to be with her.

It was amazing. It's a beloved, remote, and holy place that she's visited more than a dozen times. Tracy has a deep love in her heart for all things British, from the Cotswolds in England to St. Patrick's country in Northern Ireland, to the dramatic highlands and islands of Scotland. Tracy's ministry has been characterized by her calling to listen to God and listen to people. She worked in campus ministry and Christian higher education for 26 years and is enthusiastically involved in her local Anglican church. She is married to Kerry, a theology professor, and together they have two married daughters, three granddaughters, with another one on the way.

So welcome again. So glad to have you with us. Tracy. Thank you indeed. I'm happy to be here. Yay. So we talked last time about thin places and specifically we talked about Iona.

We want to switch gears a little bit and talk about some spiritual disciplines. You've been a spiritual director for some time and a campus minister. And so talk briefly about what are spiritual disciplines for people who may not be familiar with them. Sure. And a light we should not be scared of. Yes, because I like how you said the word discipline does have a negative connotation to us because we think of maybe correcting a child. Or discipline means like I'm going to the gym every day or something that's necessarily appealing to us, not to me anyway.

But another way of thinking about it would be a spiritual practice. And I like the word practice because everyone has to practice if there's something you want to grow in. I love how Dallas Willard would talk about spiritual disciplines or practices as it's about training, not trying. And I think a lot of us can get hung up on any kind of spiritual practice because it feels like I've got to work harder and be better to get God's approval somehow. And it's easy to fall into that trap because none of us are good enough, right? And you'll never be good enough. It's not about performance. But so instead of trying to be better or do better or please God, we're training.

Now, I am not an athlete in any sense of the word, but I have trained for other things. And so I know what it means to practice under the leadership of a coach or a teacher. And so Jesus is our teacher. He is showing us how to live, how to live abundantly, how to live well. And so we watch Him in His life. What are the things He did that helped Him connect to God, to His Father? Another writer, Fran Jan Johnson would say, you do, we do the connecting, God does the perfecting.

Yeah, so these different ways, it's training like a coach. You want to run a marathon? You need some help to do that. You can't just say a prayer and get out and go. You want to be a more loving person? You want to be a more forgiving person? You want to follow in the steps of Jesus as He asked us to do?

Then it's training. It's a lifelong pursuit. And so there are just ways that we gather from Scripture and from the life of Jesus Himself that we can practice and make ourselves, I also like the way Dallas says, like a discipline, a spiritual discipline or practice is something that puts us in the place where God can actually work with us. That's good. So, you know, so if I am, whatever the practice might be, and there are myriad ways of connecting with God in meaningful ways and transforming ways, whatever it might be, this idea that we are coming to God saying, I can't do this life on my own.

Would you teach me? Would you train me to be able to be more of the hands and feet of Jesus in this world? So good. So that's sort of a groundwork, sort of philosophical understanding of why we do, but then of course we can talk about it. Yeah, we talked about, you know, as a sports person, but we're all aware of all the different sports in culture. And if you look at each of these, the amount of practice that they do is way more than how much time they spend in the games. And the whole point of it is so that when you're in the game, it's just muscle memory.

You have so practiced those skills that it's just a natural expression of what is deeply set in us. And so. Yes, yes. A natural expression that we would do another, Dallas Willard is just so good on all these things. He said, let's see if I can remember it, is that spiritual disciplines help me do and live the way Jesus would do and live if he were me. Is that? Yeah. So it is muscle memory.

And yeah, I'm not naturally a forgiving person. I'm not naturally a patient person. And yeah, your example of the, I was thinking basketball when you were mentioning that. Yeah, training these guys go through. And I have trained as a calligrapher. Okay, so when you learn lettering, I mean, the number of times you do the same thing over and over and over, so that when it comes time to actually write a word, it's muscle memory. Your hands just do what they're meant to do.

And of course we would all love to, those of us are people of faith. But it's a good way of connecting with God and letting him work through us. Yeah, yeah, and so we say as counselors, we say healthy people have good healthy habits. Healthy marriages have good healthy habits. They're just things that we consistently do. We don't wait on the feeling for it. We don't wait on the emotion for it.

We don't wait on the inspiration for it. We don't wait till we have time to do it. We don't wait until we have necessarily the energy to do it. These are just practices that we do consistently so that we can actually thrive as individuals and marriages and so forth. And so that's how we, I so appreciate what you're saying there about the purpose of this. And it's like the fruit of the spirit, we all would like to display the fruit of the spirit, but those are all fruits. They come from healthy trees that have been watered and fertilized and so forth. Yes. Yeah. So let's talk about a few of the spiritual disciplines, maybe your favorites, because there are, there are a number of spiritual disciplines or practices.

So what would you say are your favorites or is there anything that you feel like God is nudging you more towards now than other times? Yes. I would commend to your audience if you really just want a broad sweep of what some of the classical history proven, time proven spiritual disciplines are. Back when I was in college, Richard Foster wrote his amazing work, Celebration of Discipline. That's just a great place to start. So there's a whole selection to kind of explore. For me, I have found in my, probably for the last 10 years, the most valuable practice has been the practice of Lectio Divina, which is Latin for sacred reading. Yes. And I'll explain briefly what that is, but let me just tell you why, first of all, is that I think growing up when all of us did, we did feel a lot, I'm speaking for myself, but I'm assuming that you would resonate, felt a lot of pressure to do a lot of Bible study, which is really great.

But we would get a lot of information, but not really transformation. Robert Mulholland was one of my husband's seminary professors at Asbury Seminary, and he wrote a wonderful book about, oh, I should have the title, a journey, you know, about a journey of faith. And he really makes that distinction. So how do we come to Scripture? Are we coming for information? Are we coming for transformation? It doesn't have to be either or, but we certainly don't want it just to be for information. Yes. So this ancient practice of Lectio Divina is a benedictine practice, like benedictine monks.

Ages and ages ago, we start with verse one and end with verse 30. Again, there's nothing wrong with that, but for this, it's a small amount, a small, a story of Jesus from the Gospels, perhaps a psalm, a single psalm, probably preferably a short one. And to not be in a hurry, to have time, you know, between 10 and 15 minutes, 15 minutes even, to read that passage slowly one time and then read it again, let it soak in a little bit and see if there's something that is getting your attention. Often there is some small bit lights up for you and then slowly read it again and ask God, what is it that I'm to do about this?

Is there something you're calling me to? Is there something I need to think differently about? And then the fourth time is resting in the love of God. So we think about how different that is than we tend to read our Scriptures because we do kind of make it a little bit of a race. We've got a big Bible.

Yes, we do. And so you're like, you know, it's important to get through it. Or even in our church services, often the reading of the day is done quite rapidly. Now we don't get a chance to just soak in it. What we're talking about here is Christian meditation. And people will sometimes, understandably, chafe at that word meditation because it's been co-opted by Eastern religions or other even non-monotheistic religions. It's a Christian word.

It is a people of Israel word. Psalm 1 talks from the very beginning about meditating on the law of God day and night. So this is a way to do that and have that Scripture really come into our souls in a way that is transforming. To me, it's just like eating a delicious meal. And so that has been really, really important to me. And I have enjoyed teaching students and other people about that because just like, wow, I've never known I could come to the Bible in that way. So that's definitely one. That's sweet.

I know it's good to know a number of them. One of the things, this is a tangent, but one of the things when we teach people good habits in marriage, sometimes they'll pick one and that's the only one they want to do because it's the most comfortable. And we're like, you have to expand and do a number of things to build your relationship. We can just get into autopilot and it doesn't mean as much anymore. And so it's really looking at what's right for me right now, or maybe this has been really good for me, but I think I want to add something else to this. I think I want to find another practice to just connect more with God. So what else would you suggest?

Well, the other thing that really helps us, and this will be unfamiliar to maybe many of your listeners, but the church year, the traditional church year, we have seasons. And so seasons like Advent leading up to Christmas or Lent tend to be the word penitential, where we really examine ourselves. And that is a practice that unravels roots, even if they might not be from our particular Christian tradition. But the practice of examine is a simple thing, but we have to be brave to do it. And that would be at the end of every day, just ask ourselves some questions. Where did I see God today? Where was I away from Him?

Is there anything I need to release into His care? Those kinds of self-examination questions, it just closes out the day in the presence of God and recognizing our need for Him. So that's a simple thing. But the harder things, like sometimes when a big decision needs to be made, and I will confess, I don't do this, fasting. But there are different ways of fasting. And again, in these penitential, especially Lent, even the secular world might talk about, well, what am I going to give up for Lent? Well, there's a purpose in this.

And so we fast, we let go of some of the things that might have more control over us so that we can allow God's control better in our lives. And I don't, yeah, so I have trouble fasting from food, not because I love food that much, I just have some health issues. But boy, who among us could not use a good fast from social media? You know, we take away some things that are distracting, and so, to better be present to God. When we were talking about going to Iona on pilgrimage, that itself is a spiritual discipline, but we're going to, you know, almost to receive. Fasting is letting go so that God can have greater Lordship in our lives. And I would say one more, the one that I just really love and have benefited so much from myself is the practice of silence.

And that is not, that is a very foreign practice to our world today. We live in a very noisy world that goes without saying. But even just how quick we are to fill in silence with noise. So, I have challenged students before, like, you don't need to go whole hog on this first. You will only be disappointed in yourself and want to quit. Let's just try something like, next time you get in your car, no music. Just quiet.

Next time you go for a run. I know how wonderful it is to, I like that, you know, listening to a podcast, listening to a book on tape, or a recorded book, or audio book, or music. You know, those are wonderful things. But maybe fast from that. That's a bit of fasting. And be attentive in case God might want to have something to say to you. But there are more formal ways of practicing silence for an afternoon or a whole day.

And I really commend, like, if you can't go to Iona, there are wonderful monasteries around the country who will welcome you gladly. That's one of the benedictine values, is the value of hospitality. And you can go for a retreat and be absolutely silent and just let God speak. Train your ears, train your ears to hear. It's very frustrating, just like it is any training. It hurts at first. Your muscles aren't ready for it.

Like, gradually, gradually. And of course, we always think of the 1 Kings 19, the picture of Elijah thinking he's going to hear God in the big things, but actually, when he hears the voice of God, it's a still, small voice. And we need to be trained to learn how to hear that. You know, our day of silence on Iona was my favorite day. I felt like I connected with God in so many ways more. I mean, obviously, the whole trip was wonderful, but that day was just, it's a precious memory that will always be with me. And just the presence of God was so real and was so good.

You know, we talk with our clients a lot about things that form us. And so as you're talking about social media, you know, it's not like, oh, that's so evil. But the things that we focus our mind on, the things that we're attentional to, or intentional and attentional, whatever, those really do form us. And having time in, like Deo Divina, and having time in just solitude before God, it really forms us in a different way. And it really helps cleanse us from some of the, not saying the world is evil, but from some of the practices in the world that are disordered affections, things that draw us away from God. These are ways that we are drawn back to God and our priorities are ordered, our life is ordered in a different way because we're receiving from God. And that's really our true reality.

That's truly where we are at our depth if we open to Him. Trevor Burrus And I appreciate you said that this just recognizing, helping people recognize this is going to be hard. I think this is one of the most difficult things for us to do is to get quiet. We just didn't, again, I know for some people listening, it's unimaginable to think that there was a time without cell phones. But there was.

Deo Divina Watch an old movie. Trevor Burrus There was a time without cell phones. And these little things that we carry around in our pocket or our purse, they just have so much that grabs our focus, that grabs our attention. And again, I'm glad when my kids started driving for the first time, I'm glad they held cell phones. I mean, there's just a blessing in them. And Mr. Google, we can ask anything. But this is going to take some intentionality.

This is going to have to, it's going to take some, this is important. I'm going to have to work at this. We aren't going to wait probably for inspiration to do this, you know, because there's something else I could read or look at or that would grab my attention. Deo Divina Did I miss something in the news? I better pick up my phone quickly to make sure I didn't miss something. Trevor Burrus John Eldridge's ministry has put out an app, a free app called the One Minute Pause. And or you can just, he has different meditations and kind of quiet music and somebody may be reading a scripture, but literally you can just turn it on for one minute and just be quiet.

Now he also has a five minute one and a ten minute one. But I tell people, just start with one and just see what happens, you know, see what happens, what comes alive in you, again, that Spirit of God coming alive in you that will encourage you to want to do more of this. So it's just going to, it's going to take some work, but. Deo Divina And also it's that I think what we're after here is not just so we can be better people. I mean, that is, we do want to be lights in the world.

That's what we're called. But it increases our longing for God so that we ultimately find that He is the only place where we find our satisfaction, so that only in Him can we be truly satisfied. And that's when we really do start noticing, this is what the world is telling me I should be satisfied with. But God is my strength and my salvation, you know. And so it just helps change our orientation, looking to Him more for all that we need and all that we are. So, you know, I think that is also where we kind of add another layer to that training versus trying, because even the training can give the impression that the goal is to get better, but part of that training is to train our hearts to long for what God really has intended us to long for. So it's all part of what we call spiritual formation, right?

You said that the things that we think in are what forms us, and we want to be formed by the Spirit of God. Absolutely. Yeah. So many are stressed.

So many are anxious. So many are fearful right now in our world. And it's because we're eating and consuming, I always say it's salt water. It'll look like it will quench your thirst, but it just makes you thirstier. It really is the things of God that fully satisfy our hearts. And so I think that's what you're speaking to is we've got to look for, if we find ourselves dissatisfied with life, which most people have some sense of that, what are we allowing ourselves to experience, what are we consuming? And so it's a, and it's also a trusting that God is ultimately good.

You talked about the idea of exam, and I think that scares people sometimes because it's like I want to open myself up to a God that I've disappointed, you know? That's what really challenges our sense of Him. And we just, every minute we can, we encourage people to realize that you are His beloved.

He loves you deeply. None of these disciplines are about trying to please Him more, to become better and trying to get a little brownie points, you know, so that He likes us better. It's all about being formed more into His likeness, that He wants us to be released and to be able to thrive into what He's called us to be in the world. And this is how we experience that to the fullest and know that He deeply, deeply loves you and cares for you. I think one of the things dealing with the exam and just the whole idea of being loved by God that's been so wonderfully helpful for me is our precious grandkids, our six precious grandkids. And, you know, I know that they're kids and so they're going to mess up and they're going to do things wrong. And so it's like, honey, it's okay.

I love you. It's okay if that happens. And it helped me reflect on God and His love for us. Yes, we see Him as a parent, but I think for me, seeing my grandchildren helped me see how much He loves me for who I am. And He knows that I am but dust. He knows that I'm a child doing the best I can. And so it's like, it's okay, honey. I love you.

Let's just do something different next time. But I love you and you're forgiven and you can rest in me. That when you said, but just I was thinking of that Psalm 103, exactly. And I love the way it says, as a father has compassion on his children. That's even a deeper place. I love you because you're mine, but I love you because I also know. I can, I understand.

It's an understanding love. And that's wonderful. As a father has compassion on his children, so God has compassion on us. Yes. Therefore, we should be compassionate. Therefore we should be compassionate towards ourselves, right? Because He's compassionate towards us.

And so oftentimes we're harder on ourselves than anybody. And so we have to receive His compassion and then allow ourselves to be compassionate towards ourselves. And others. And others. Yes. Yes. Sure. And there's one other thing that I would just share personally, recently, is just recognizing that our imagination is the gift from God, and it can be a sanctified imagination, as Miss Lewis talked about, the baptized imagination, and the Ignatian practice of entering into a story and really imagining that you're there with Jesus, that's been profound for me.

Even to the point that now, when I say the Lord's Prayer, I am the disciple who has asked Him to teach me how to pray. Wow. That's beautiful. And I just imagine Him, I just imagine Him holding my hands and we're praying it together. He is my teacher. That's beautiful. So that imagination, again, that I receive so much compassion from Him at that moment because He's real.

He's not an angry God somewhere, but He is teaching me and He's right here with me. So that's another simple thing to do is just enter into stories as if you were there. And accept His goodness. His goodness and His grace. That's great. Well, again, we could just keep going. We so appreciate you being with us and taking this time to do this and what you've gifted us with your thoughts and ideas and your life.

And so today we're going to need to wrap up and- We'll have her back again. Yes, yes. And we'll come up with something, other thing we can talk about. So hopefully for those of you that are listening, again, just take the next step, just the next step. Sometimes we hear things about, oh, yeah, I could do that and I should be doing that and I should be doing that. It's just don't receive it that way. Just take about what maybe lit something in you that I could do that.

Just take the next step and just see what God does in you. So for today, I'm going peace, blessings as you go. The Life & Love Nuggets podcast is a 501c3 nonprofit and is supported by gifts from people like you. To donate, go to lifeandlovenuggets.com slash donate. This podcast is produced by Clayton Creative in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The content should not be considered or used for counseling, but for educational purposes only. The Life & Love Nuggets podcast is produced by Clayton Creative in Tulsa, Oklahoma.