To Walk in Simplicity

For many of us the disparity between our daily lives and the call to simplicity of action is painful. I confess that when the pain arises for me, I often resist acknowledging the presence of any grace in my discomfort. In the end, though, I can neither dismiss the pain nor what it holds out to me. The pain reminds me that a life fractured by an overabundance of obligations is not the life for which any of us was created. It invites me to discern once again my few talents and how I may most effectively apply them. The pain grants me permission to say a clear “No” to anything that will dissipate my efforts. It offers license to yield myself joyfully to the few places that most need what I can bring.
-- Steve Doughty, To Walk in Integrity

The Attraction of Integrity

The attraction [of integrity] deepens as we learn how fully we can trust such persons. We may not always like what they say, but we know they will be straight with us. They will not talk about us behind our backs or say one thing to us and something else to others. Persons of integrity may not have the most sparkling personality in the room or offer the most engaging conversation, but they possess a genuineness we can absolutely count on.
--Steve Doughty, To Walk in Integrity

Building Up the Body

When persons of integrity speak, they desire not to dominate or humiliate but to aid and bring forth wholeness for everyone. Whether they must share honest words with just one other or with many at once, they act from an inner prayer that has already asked, “Loving One, may what I now share serve to build up all of us.”
--Steve Doughty, To Walk in Integrity

Life in the Spirit

If we are to grow rich in the life of the Spirit, we must first open to what God is actually doing among us. In this driven age, faith does not require that we pack still more items into a meeting agenda or stuff more activities into our already overcrowded days. Faith demands that we recover the good sense to stop, bow before beckoning wonders, and let the divine mystery breathe forth again in our midst.
--Steve Doughty, To Walk in Integrity

Bold Love

If I asked you, “What is your plan for increasing your capacity to give and receive love,” how would you answer? If love is the greatest, if love is what God wants more than anything else, and if the world needs more love—what is your workout plan to make it happen? What is your strategic plan to increase love in your life and church?

If my capacity for giving and receiving love is to increase, I have to regularly drink from the fountain of the love of God. Remember the passage that says, “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19)? That teaches that I am never going to increase my love capacity until I increase my capacity to receive love from God.
--Bill Hybels, Bold Love

Practice Sharing Faith

Practice sharing faith with the other members of your small group. Invite each small group or committee in the church to forgo their usual business for one meeting and ask each person take three minutes to answer the following questions:

• When did you first know that God loved you?

• What event has recently made you aware of God’s love?

• What has been your most significant spiritual experience?

• Have you ever tried to share your faith with another person?

-- Bill Kemp, Ezekiel’s Bones: Rekindling Your Congregation’s Spiritual Passion

Try it. It's easier than you think. - Ed