Spiritual Grit. It's What's For Breakfast

It's okay to remind God that you're in the wilderness.

Salvator Rosa, 1615-1673.

Pray always. Never give up. Be persistent in what you ask for from God. 

Jesus himself reminded us to do this. (Luke 18:1-8)

Spiritual Grit doesn’t get a lot of press. Maybe because we live in an entitled society. We expect to “get” just because we show up. 

There is a humility embedded in persistence. And a tenacity. God likes both. 

The easy response to hardship is to give up or give in. To yield. 

Jacob did not yield. He wrestled with God and demanded his blessing.

Moses pursued God—pressing him to see his wonder. 

David wrote a gazillion poems crying out to God, emploring God, ranting, asking God to listen: “Can you hear me, God!? Here I am! Help me, for crying out loud!” 

Paul wrote from prison, facing death, and reminded the Church that the faith journey with God is like running the 100 meters in the Olympics—a race in which we throw off our clothes and run like the wind towards the medal podium. 

Just because you’re in a wilderness time doesn’t mean you can’t remind God of that fact.

“Hello!? God? Remember me? My bones are decaying in this valley. Send me the ravens! Break open the stones so I can drink. Part these waters! Or I’m gonna die.”

This morning, before dawn, I found myself struggling with an adversary—we wrestled by the brook. Blow for blow, we contended. My opponent was strong, but I knew a couple of moves, too. He hurt me a few times, but I did not relent. Finally, he nearly broke my leg, but not before I got what I was after. 

“Yes, Tim—I hear you. My blessing is …” 

And he whispered it to me in the dark hour of dawn, in the cold, as we panted, bloodied and beaten. And then he was gone. 

The spiritual life cannot be bottled in a sanitized worship service and sold online as a self-help course or book.

It is often lonely: midnights filled with bloody prayers, enduring betrayals, facing demons for days on end, all the while being ground to dust by temptations that sear your spirit. This was the Jesus way. And even he cried out for his ABBA to hear him.

I’m with you, friend. Preaching to myself here and praying for you as you wrestle in the darkness. 

Spiritual Grit. It’s what’s for breakfast. 

“I pray because I can't help myself. I pray because I'm helpless. I pray because the need flows out of me all the time, waking and sleeping. It doesn't change God. It changes me.”

—C.S. Lewis

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Announcements & Reminders

Calling all writers and creatives. Over the last several months, I’ve been hosting Zoom workshops called The Writer’s Workshop. Hosted one Saturday a month, The Writer’s Workshop gives writers the opportunity to ask questions about writing and the writing life as we explore various topics related to writing. February’s workshop is on Saturday the 24th. For more information or to get pre-registration pricing, click the button below.

Speaking & Teaching

In addition to my monthly online workshops, I’ll be speaking and teaching at various venues this year. In March, I’ll be teaching and sharing at the Foraged Beauty Art Workshop hosted by my dear friend Daune Pitman of Cottage in the Oaks. For more information on this workshop, click the button below.

For all you homeschool families and lifelong learners, I will also give a keynote address and a fireside chat at this year’s annual Charlotte Mason Institute National Conference, held at Asbury University. This year’s theme is “The Joy of Making.” For more information on attending, click the button below.

*If you are interested in me speaking at your event, you can contact me here.