Michelle Wegner

Come and Listen

Dr. Bob talked about the Spiritual Discipline of Solitude last night.  You can well imagine that there is not much quiet at our house at any given moment in the day.  When the moments come like any good parent,  I wonder what's wrong, where the girls are hiding, and what happened.  My girls are never, ever quiet.  When I am alone, I can think.  My head clears and I can talk to God. 

Before I had kids, I would walk for hours and pray.  Nothing got in my way.  I would pray until I was finished, then I would go on with the rest of my day.  Walking was my number one way of keeping my heart in line with God's.  Now our house is crawling with kids, dogs and whatever other creatures the girls bring in from outside morning and night.  Along with those obstacles to solitude, there is this crazy rheumatoid arthritis thing.  It has kept me from walking for a long time. 

Last night I felt like Dr. Bob drew a line in the sand.  Am I going to commit to this or not?  I went walking this morning.  I grabbed Maddie's ipod and listened to David Crowder's "Come and Listen" over and over again.  My heart and head were clear.  I was able to connect with God in a way I hadn't in a long time.  Solitude is a very good thing.  I'm hoping for a lot more of these moments this summer.

Rusty Tools

I'm starting a new small group tomorrow.  It has been born out of a desperation I have been feeling to draw nearer to God.  I have seen many of my friends floundering in their faith for a while as well to be quite honest.  It's time to step it up, take off the masks, and look at one another and to our God and see what He has for us.  Where does He want us to grow?  What does He want us to quit?  What does He have to say to us about prayer?  Do I pray enough?  Do I even know how to pray?  How much am I reading the Bible? 

God has given us so many tools that go unused, like the unused lawn and garden stuff we hang on the walls in our garage during the winter.  He wants us to use the tools of the Spiritual Disciplines year-round.  I feel like I pull these tools out when it's convenient for me, or when I feel a nudge, or a twang of guilt.

Maybe your "garden tools" are clean.  Maybe you've been working with them already .  Maybe they aren't rusty like mine.  I'm taking mine out tomorrow, looking them over with some friends, and seeing what we can learn on how to use them together.

I welcome you to join me.  The blog I have started for this group is called Further up, Further in.  My favorite books ever are the Chronicles of Narnia books.  I have read and re-read them ever since I was in 2nd grade.  The final book entitled "The Last Battle" is about the end of the Narnian world.  As the world was crumbling around them, they had to march "further up, and further in" to the land Aslan called them to.  The land crumbling around them was dying, and yet they looked ahead and saw Aslan's land, the "real" Narnia.  Where everything in Narnia was like a paper copy of what they saw ahead of them. 

Further up, and Further in is how I want to live.  I want to live every day walking closer to Heaven, seeing new things with my eyes.  Raising my eyes up to what is real.  Seeing Heaven for what it is.  Seeing earth as the paper copy of Heaven.

This new blog will be a reflection of what God is doing in my life and yours, if you choose to participate.   Feel free to be a lurker, or to be fully engaged in conversation.  I have even opened up this blog to some "guest bloggers", so the conversation will be more than just my own boring self.  I look forward to seeing you there!