Up or down, in or out ...

Today’s thoughts are from Julia:

Of the devotionals Jason led, I was most impacted by the one where we put our hands face up or face down. I had done this sort of thing before, and had forgotten how quickly the Spirit moved in me to rid me of negative emotions and thoughts and fill me with positive ones. It was good to have a kind of refresher course on one of the practices I could have been using for years, but had simply forgotten about. Since that devotional I have used that method again and it has been very good for me.

I was also highly impacted by the quote he put on the page about being lost in pride or emptiness, depending upon whether one spends too much time with people or alone:

“Let him who cannot be alone beware of community…. Let him who is not in community beware of being alone….Each by itself has profound pitfalls and perils. One who wants fellowship without solitude plunges into the void of words and feelings, and one who seeks solitude without fellowship perishes in the abyss of vanity, self-infatuation, and despair.” - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

I feel like I have experienced these two extremes and the emptiness that comes with them. It is a fine line to walk, the line of being in community in a healthy way. But it is essential to our spiritual well-being. This, too, was a good reminder. I tend towards solitude, but, in excess, it does seem to lead directly to pride (and mental illness, really). So I thank God that He used Jason to remind me of these things.

Thanks again for your thoughts.

Jason