Relaxation

Psalm 28: 7

The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped; therefore my heart exults, and with my song I shall thank Him.

This is a great model for showing us how to live with God’s active presence in our lives. We put our full trust in Him which allows Him to work in our lives. The result is that we are helped. The next thing that happens is that in our joy and gratefulness, we praise Him. Now that is how the Christian life is supposed to work.

Don’t spend all of your time crying and whining about your problems. Instead, take them to the Lord in full trust. Trust Him to be your strength and shield in every situation. Give the problem to Him fully. Then relax. When you do that, you give God room to work in your life. You have to let go in order for Him to be able to take over. But wait! Your job is not over when the solution comes. Your part of problem solving is praising the Lord who works on your behalf. Just spend your days praising and thanking him instead of in travail over all the challenges that meet you. Tell Yahweh that you know those problems to be His concern rather than yours and that you are going to praise Him all the days of your life. Trust Him. You are going to be amazed how much easier life can be.

Rest, Relax

Psalm 37: 7

Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him.

Here is faith and trust in action. Patience is not supposed to be a nail-biting period of endurance. It is supposed to be easy for us because of our faith in God. We should be able to rest during the time of patience rather than being in a barely contained frenzy. Patience is the product of absolute faith that God is well able to carry out all of his good promises. When you have that kind of trust in Him, you are able to relax. Rest and await His deliverance. Do not be anxious. He has your every need in mind and is already moving resources to their proper place so that at the appointed time, all will be in readiness. Rest. Relax. He has it all well in hand.

Hot Yoga

Psalm 46: 10                          KJV

Be still, and know that I am God.

Today’s Word of the Day is dedicated to my friend, Marco Gravino. This past weekend I attended my high school class reunion. Marco and I attended school together from middle school until high school graduation. I am happy to know and happy to say that Marco is a man of faith. What a joy it is to discover after so many years that people you knew and cared about all those years ago have grown up to have strong faith in God. It is nourishment for the soul.

Marco was, and still is, an athlete. As we talked, we realized that we both have participated in hot yoga. The revelation we gained in yoga is that power is not the answer. In many western societies, the adage, “If you can’t fix it, get a bigger hammer,” is symbolic of our response to problems. We tend to apply power to fix a problem and if that doesn’t resolve it, we apply more power. In yoga, the typical athletic approach of using more force, more muscle simply does not work. When I could not get into a pose, I would muster more strength out of my muscles and try to force my body into the correct position. As all of you who practice yoga know, that is completely counter-productive. Learning to relax into a pose challenged everything in my athletic mindset.

The use of breath is completely different as well. As we muster strength out of our muscles we tend to hold our breath for a big exhalation at the end of an exertion. Yoga, which comes from eastern thought, would have you breathe smoothly and freely. When a pose challenges, you concentrate on relaxing breaths rather than focusing on muscle strength. It is completely counter-intuitive and yet it works.

Marco and I talked about how this is a metaphor for life and Marco said it would make a good Word of the Day to which I heartily agreed. I have found that my life has been punctuated by this tendency to try harder, strive more, push harder. As I am learning to be still and let God be known, I find the secret is very much like yoga. I needed to learn to breathe and relax. This has been the single biggest revelation in my Christian life in the last fifteen years. It has been especially critical in my ability to hear God speak. The New American Standard Version of this verse reads, “Cease striving and know that I am God.” Well, “strive” was my middle name. My characteristic response to a challenge was to work more hours, work faster, work harder. In other words, apply more strength and more power. In my attempts to hear God’s voice, this straining and striving actually made it more difficult. I had to learn to be still. I cannot express what a challenge that was for me. First I would get my body still only to have my mind run rampant. Then I would try to quiet my mind. Before five minutes passed I was usually bouncing my leg or off thinking about all the things I needed to do.

The secret for me was in learning to breathe and even learning how to breathe. I found that in my striving mode, I tended to breath shallowly and from my chest. I learned, though, to breathe from my diaphragm and to breathe deeply and slowly. Now, with one deep breath and a full exhalation, I can instantly calm down my physiology and my mind. Sure, it took practice but I have finally discovered that when I am still and quiet, God can be God. There is room for Him in my mind and heart when I pause long enough to breathe. He is waiting to impart wisdom to me but I must be still so I can hear. When I calm my physicality, when I cease striving, then I give Him the space to act for me. He gets to be God instead of me.

Life is happening all around us every day. Life lessons are in the next breath. From learning how to relax into a yoga pose rather than trying to muscle into it, I learned a valuable spiritual principle and life skill. Relax, be still and let God show Himself. Thanks Marco for pointing out how God is teaching and leading us, giving us valuable life lessons in our everyday walk with Him. Be still, cease striving and let God ease you into your yoga pose and your new revelation with Him.