Recalibrating Practices: Wake Up and Root Down

Aligning Your Spiritual Posture

It’s not my mother’s fault. She told me to stand up straight. But after years slouching over my computer keyboard, I confess I am a “slumper.” A slumper who also is easily distracted and frets too much.

Because of that, I developed a recalibrating practice I call my “morning stand,” a way to engage my whole body to anchor my scattered soul as well as straighten my sagging posture.

As one “prone to wander” spiritually and emotionally, taking my morning stand has helped “bind my wandering heart” to God. For those, like me, who may be scattered or sagging, I offer this practice.

To recalibrate your soul and stretch your body, try this simple five-minute wake-up routine integrating Scripture, movement, and prayer.

First, while lying in bed, breathe deeply and remember who you are: This is your beloved son/daughter (and state your name). Pause and exhale: In whom you are well pleased. Luke 3:22 (Truth note: For all who are believers in Christ, this how God now sees us.)

Then, sit up and gently stretch your neck and shoulders and repeat three biblical truths:

• I am made in the image of God (and so is everyone I will interact with today) 

• I am part of the plan of God (therefore, what I do today has purpose and meaning).

• I am filled with his Holy Spirit.

Next, stand and plant the four corners of both feet on the floor, imagining tree roots growing down, life flowing up. Lengthen your spine, aligning and stretching from your toes through your neck and head.

 Pray from Ephesians 3:17-19 (adapted from The Message):

I ask You that with both my feet planted firmly and rooted deeply in love, I'll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love.

Roll your shoulders up and back and stretch your arms wide, thinking of the love of Christ shown on the Cross, and the vulnerability of being fully open, heart and body, to the world. Breathe slowly and deeply.

Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.

Then, lower your arms and place your palms down. Visualize gently dropping each of your deepest heart concerns and questions into the loving scarred hands of Jesus.

Pray, “I pour out all my worries and stress upon You and leave them there, for You always tenderly care for me.” (I Pet 5:7 TPT)

Turn your hands up in a receiving position. Picture God pouring his grace and mercy, power and love, wisdom and strength into your body and mind.

Pray, “You have not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and self-control.” (2 Tim 1:7)

Repeat the Lord's prayer slowly, stopping where you most need it this day (praising Him, seeking His kingdom, yielding to His will, laying out daily needs, asking/giving forgiveness, resisting temptation, overcoming evil). 

Finally, lift your head in a way which will balance a crown and remember the truth that He has crowned you with His steadfast love and mercy and remind yourself that you are the son or daughter of the King of Kings ready for this new day. (Ps. 103:4)

Note 1: For those of you who wake with a toddler’s finger poking in your eyeball, the alarm ringing in your ear after too little sleep, or late before you even leap from bed, don’t give up. To remember who you really are, what is true about you, and rooting deeply in the love of Christ can be done at any hour. The releasing of our deepest concerns and fears into Christ’s hands can be done on repeat (since I tend to reel mine back in after casting them onto the Lord). Just like we need to continue adjusting our physical posture, we can keep training our spiritual stance.

Note 2: When I’m tempted to uproot from love because of pain and doubt, I’m reminded of Henri Nouwen’s words.

“Do not hesitate to love and to love deeply. You might be afraid of the pain that deep love can cause. When those you love deeply reject you, leave you, or die, your heart will be broken. But that should not hold you back from loving deeply. The pain that comes from deep love makes your love even more fruitful. It is like a plow that breaks the ground to allow the seed to take root and grow into a strong plant. Every time you experience the pain of rejection, absence, or death, you are faced with a choice. You can become bitter and decide not to love again, or you can stand straight in your pain and let the soil on which you stand become richer and more able to give life to new seeds.”

How Will We Emerge? Guest Contributor Jim Branch

The third voice in this series of thoughtful people is Jim Branch, author of the Blue Book and other books, challenging us that this season may be teaching us less is more.

If I have learned anything in these last few months of quarantine and pandemic, it’s that more is not better.  It’s just not.  But, unfortunately, we live in a culture that says it is.  We live in a world that is addicted to more.  But my guess is that in the past few months, where more has not been an option, the value of less has kind of snuck up on us, surprised us, and maybe even delighted us.  In fact, in many ways we might have actually discovered that less is more.  Less work means more quality time to be with those who are nearest and dearest to us.  Less activity means more conversation, rest, and reflection.  Less frenzy and chaos and hurry means more peace and joy and contentment.

But what happens when things finally get back to normal?  Do we jump right back in to our “more is better” mentality?  Or do we take the lessons that less has taught us and weave them into the fabric of our lives?  Do we proceed in a different way and at a different pace and with a different perspective, or do we mindlessly plunge back in to the demands and busyness and hurry?

“It is for freedom that Christ has set you free,” Paul tells us in Galatians 5:1. “Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”  What if the last few months were about bringing freedom?  What if the last few months were an opportunity to experience a different way, so that each of us might choose to proceed differently?  What if God is trying to get our attention, as a people and as a culture, and say, “More is not better. See! Less is the better, deeper, and more live-giving way. Choose less. Don’t allow the desire for more to rule over you. Don’t allow it to make you its slave once again.  Because the constant pursuit of more will actually make you less; and doing less, will actually help you to become more.  Everything is topsy-turvy in the kingdom of God.”

The only question is, will we choose freedom, or will we choose bondage?  Whether we believe it or not, the choice really is up to us.

Jim Branch is an ordinary guy who longs to live a life of extraordinary depth and quality. He is a fellow journeyer and pilgrim, just trying his best to understand daily the depths of God's great love and affection. He has been in ministry for over thirty years, eighteen of those with Young Life, and loves seeing people of all ages come to know Jesus in the most intimate way possible. He is married to Carol and they have three incredible adult children: Tim, Michelle, and Hunter. You can sign up for his blog here.

How Will We Emerge? Guest Contributor Gisela Kreglinger

The second voice in this series of thoughtful people is dear friend Gisela Kreglinger, PhD, pondering on what’s being shaken and purified in this season:

The world has changed in a heartbeat—changed in ways that we could never have thought before. Sometimes I think of Mother Earth shaking us off her back because we have been handling her so poorly and now she is telling us to stop, become sensible, and listen.

This Covid-19 crisis has brought a lot to the surface: personally, in our families, in our societies, and the world at large. The lockdown itself, the self-isolation for those who do it, has forced us to befriend ourselves, our homes, and our families in new ways. 

It is challenging but also good. We are entering more deeply into the life that is nearest to us. We can't run away as easily as our culture of entertainment and distraction has offered to us in the past. We are now forced to find peace with those nearest to us: ourselves, our families, and neighbors.

This is what God has always called us to and I want to be receptive to what God wants to do in my life as I am tucked away at home. Rowan Williams writes in his book Silence and Honey Cakes (a book about the Christian desert fathers) that the monks’ calling is "to become fire." I believe this is what we are called to become: burning souls for God's presence and redemption in this world.

Right now He is purifying me from distraction so I can enter into His presence in more stillness to really listen to Him and what He is calling me to do. Listening to God has been a spiritual practice for all of my adult life but it seems that this season of Covid-19 is a time to be still and listen even more intensely. 

Let's listen together and, when the storm passes, God will rebuild His church.

Let us be ready to respond to God's call with a passion and joy to rebuild His purified church. It will be smaller and perhaps more marginalized but God's church has always been most faithful to the Gospel of Jesus Christ when it was marginal. Political power and Jesus power don't usually go together. Political power and forcing God's ways into society is never a good idea. Christ's way is that of a suffering servant who lowers Himself to lift up the brokenhearted. This is our work. Let us do it together and only in the spirit of Jesus Christ.

Gisela Kreglinger, grew up on a family-owned winery in Franconia, Germany where her family has been crafting wine for many generations. This unique experience has inspired her to write books (The Spirituality of Wine, The Soul of Wine) which explore the how the mystery and wonder of wine helps us embrace a full-bodied, joyful Christian life. She holds a PhD in historical theology from the University of St. Andrews and after traveling the world, lives in Birmingham, AL. She leads wine pilgrimages in Europe and trips to the British isles exploring Celtic spirituality.