Spiritually Asleep As You Live Your Life? How To Awaken

/ Lori Lawe / Leave a comment

And while we’re chatting, do you want another cookie and to join me in playing a game on my iPad, friend?

Man yawning widely with hands behind his head.

The sun peeked through the darkness.

city skyline under gray cloudy sky during daytime

The storm was lifting. Hope filled the air along with the fresh scent of life, stirring, awakening with the rain. It was a new season.

Today.

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I stretched, removed the covers from my bed and sat up, looking around me blankly. What would this new day, this new season bring, now that this storm was lifting, I wondered? I poured my coffee and asked these questions of God, and his whisperings startled me.

person holding white ceramic cup with hot coffee

There is so much in my life that He is longing to awaken. How about in yours?

Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new. It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it?

The Message

And how do we awaken, if we, like Sleeping Beauty, have been spiritually resting for a few years?

Try this: As the song below plays1 and as you sit with your morning coffee, pondering this new day or this new season, what stirrings in the dry soil of your heart, of seeds coming to life, do you sense?

Oh! And she sings of repentance in this song, but I wouldn’t recommend THAT or anything! In my humble opinion, there doesn’t seem to generally be any need to travel down any spiritual path as far as repentance would take us.

Please!

I definitely recommend turning back and hanging out with the rest of us who don’t want to walk THAT far! And anyway, the part of the song about repentance doesn’t apply to me, thankfully! (It may, however, apply to you, of course.)

True repentance [is] not merely . . . sorrow over sin, but . . . a “sweet sorrow” arising from a new, awakened delight in the beauty of God.2

John Piper – Desiring God

PS – I’m not sure exactly what John is talking about here, but it sounds deep, and it seems to fit, so I thought I would include it!

You’re welcome!

Good luck!

Thanks for liking me! I like you too! – Proven HERE, HERE, and HERE! Let’s journey together!

Photo Credits Me! (Except I Look Different) by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash, Is That Hope? by Etienne Boulanger on Unsplash, No! That’s NOT God Speaking! That’s Steam! by Clay Banks on Unsplash

1 She’s a little serious in this song. You’ll want to offer her a cookie and tell her, “Hey, Lady! Relax a bit!” (At least I do.) The point is that it’s good to wake up spiritually. She gets that part, so we can at least learn that bit from her!

2 And may you awake a little more with each poke repentance gives our sleeping form, friend.

Are You Led By A Nostril Ring To Death? Or By God To Life? One Way Is Better!

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Got time to remove the cultural hook in your nose, leading you, friend? You’ll feel better after!

a cow sitting on a hill with a cross in the background

I recently learned that the article below was one of my (relatively) more popular articles published around this time last year.

(Look! I don’t know why people read this stuff, either! But hopefully I figure out – or invent? – something useful to say to you one day, so keep reading, just in case a nugget of wisdom accidentally appears amidst the banality of life!)

You’re welcome!

Good luck!

I was an older teenager, finishing up a college degree and looking around me 360 degrees to figure out what direction to travel next.

I felt a spiritual pull to learn more and delve deeper into divine mysteries.

Click HERE to continue reading.

Join people in over fifty countries who read this to gain valuable life wisdom! (Or maybe they’re just laughing at me? . . . Whatever!)


Do You Hear The Birds? (Hack: How To Be Awakened Spiritually By Their Song)

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Got time to watch the movie going on right next to you, friend?

A bird is perched on a thin branch.

The bird flitters from branch to branch.

It’s a yellowish green. It has yellowish-green feathers and a little white circle around its eye – a flycatcher. This family of birds has built its nest here for at least a dozen of its little bird generations, for as long as we have visited this summer cabin.

We didn’t notice them for the first few years.

Join people in over fifty countries who read this to gain valuable life wisdom! (Or maybe they’re just laughing at me? . . . Whatever!)

We only heard them, the little “Whew-it!” sound, rising at the end, every two minutes or so. “Just another bird sound,” we thought, eating our food at the outside table and distracted by the food and by each other. But that sound sure was insistent.

Could there be more to this incessant sound than just another bird flitting around nearby somewhere?

“Can you pass the peanut butter?”

And we forgot about them again.

Until the baby bird fell out of the nest that summer and flapped pathetically on the floor right beside our table outside.

“Whew-it! Whew-it!” We heard that same sound now, but more intensely, more insistently, louder.

It was the Father bird calling, imploring the little bird to stretch its wings, give flying a go, insistent now.

Our eyes had finally awakened to EXACTLY WHICH bird made that insistent sound, and was the nest far away? Directly above where the little bird was flapping, we finally noticed the obvious – a nest in the rafters just above us. The birds flitting above us as we ate our meals several times per day were the parents. They were doing their little bird jobs, telling the babies to wait a bit – they would bring more food once the scary demon humans had eaten their meals and finally cleared out. The birds were flitting and making noise above us as we were eating our meals.

A lot was going on that we didn’t have eyes to see until the unusual happened.

A baby bird flapped, and its Father called next to our feet as we ate our lunch that day.

And when we got up from the distractions of more food and of each other, and took a closer inspection at this bird, and then followed the clues to notice the bird’s nest above our heads, finally, we were awakened to a whole other world that had been going on right next to us for years.

And in precisely the same way, God wants us to open our eyes to see the realities of the spiritual dimension, happening right next to us every minute of our lives.

Sometimes we see something remarkable, something that makes us rub our eyes and say, “What now?” kind of like a baby bird flapping at our feet during breakfast.

Sometimes we hear a sound, repetitive and gentle, kind of like the “Whew-it!” sound of a flycatcher repeatedly calling to its young while we distractedly eat breakfast.

“What was that?” we wonder, but then all is quiet again, and maybe it’s just another bird in the trees doing who-knows-what, we think, returning to our breakfast cereal.

And so, how do we awaken to the physical and the spiritual unusual? We linger, we listen, we allow the questions of our soul to surface, and we watch a bit longer. We attach our ears, and we take off our blindfolds.

Then it’s a little easier for God to surprise us with the unusual.

The land you have given me is a pleasant land. What a wonderful inheritance!

Ancient Text

Got time to open the door, friend, have a cup of tea with Holy Spirit, and start an adventure?

Thanks for liking me! I like you too! – Proven HERE, HERE, and HERE! Let’s journey together!

Photo Credit – There’s A Whole Other World Out There by Vijayalakshmi Nidugondi on Unsplash

Hack: Discover Your Identity In One Simple Habit

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Come and sit by me, friend. There is someone who knows who you really are. (But it’s not me.)

Young woman looks at reflection in mirror outdoors

That time when I was discouraged, when I sensed God calling me into something new, something that made my knees quake, she said that when she prayed for me, she was reminded of something.

It was a picture of a dead plant.

The dead plant was me.

Well, there was a bit more as she explained it to me. The plant was in winter. All that could be seen were a few sticks for branches poking above the ground.

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A small bird's nest on a bare branch

Sounded like my life in that moment.

“But spring is coming,” she encouraged me.

I picked up my discouragement and continued walking on the ill-trodden path that God seemed to be leading me down, wondering if, sometime in the future, there would be life above the snow.

The word “establish” kept coming to my mind as I prayed. What needed to be established? Holy Spirit also seemed to be nudging me to write. Now, I had always written copiously in journals, but I would never think of sharing my written thoughts with others!

“Who would read such neurotic pretensions?” I asked myself. Certainly not me! I looked at my piles of completed journals, all of them unopened and unread, even by me.

Keep writing, God seemed to encourage me.

The first time I sat at my desk and tried to write something I intended to publish, it was like the seat of my office chair was on fire – It was so uncomfortable. I couldn’t sit there! Only a pompous, inflated prig would would presume she had something to say to another!

But it’s essential to fit in with others, so, of course, I pretended1 to be a pretentious know-it-all with an inflated ego so I would have something to write about!

And then I pressed publish.

The simple reality is that if you ever want to do anything significant for the Kingdom, you will have to overcome fear and internal resistance. If could be fear of the unknown, fear of what others will think2, fear of harm or injury3, fear of failure, fear that you’re not ready or equipped for the task. There is ALWAYS fear.

Craig Cooney In The Tension of Transition

And so, to return to the start of this article, “A winter season,” she had suggested that day.

“Establishing,” God had seemed to be whispering in my prayers. Establishing a habit of pressing “Publish” and letting my words be carried off on the wind. I was learning not to care what others thought about the things that deeply mattered to me.

I was learning to listen to His voice and to dance in joy with Him.

And when the amaryllis, the lilac, and the peony bloomed that spring after a decade or more of relative death, I looked back in awe at where He has been leading me.

And he reminds us that spring, the season of blooming and life, always follows winter, as we rest in Him.

Is this an establishing season for you, friend? May your roots grow deep as you trust that “if you’re not done working, God, I’m not done waiting,” as the song below sings. As the song below also sings, “Though the winter is long, even richer, the harvest it brings,” after a moment of silent reflection and thanksgiving, consider asking God, “What new thing are you trying to water in this season, God, and how can I best be obedient to Your gentle nudge in a new direction?

Oh, and the question is not so much, “Where will you go?” or “What will you do?” but “Who will you become?”

And so, what is a simple habit to find our identity? We obey His promptings from our prayer times. Then we wait and trust that life sprouts.

Because spring always comes with new life.

Just as rain and snow descend from the skies and don’t go back until they’ve watered the earth, doing their work of making things grow and blossom, producing seed for farmers and food for the hungry, so will the words that come out of my mouth not come back empty-handed. They’ll do the work I sent them to do, they’ll complete the assignment I gave them.

The Message

That’s it.

Thanks for liking me! I like you too! – Proven HERE, HERE, and HERE! Let’s journey together!

Photo Credit: Who Are You, Anyway? (God Knows) by Alexander Mass on Unsplash, Self-Portrait (In That Season) by Stacy on Unsplash

1 Yes! I have been PRETENDING! Of course! What did you think I was doing?!

2 I would never fear that!

3 I definitely fear that, but thankfully, I am pretty safe at home writing on my computer in my safe little town in Canada with all the doors and windows locked! (Just in case.)

3 Common Mistakes That Immediately Make Your Spiritual Map Blurry

/ Lori Lawe / Leave a comment

Sit by me, friend! Even if I forget to say something useful, we can have a great chat!

a person sitting on a bench in front of a painting

I looked out my window that day and saw something surprising in our overgrown “flower” patch.

This flower was so entangled in the weeds that I had to cut back the surrounding greenery to snap a photo.

I knew God was speaking through this flower and will explain why soon. But I also wondered, “What are You saying?” I felt confused, which is usually how I feel when Holy Spirit seems to be nudging.

Click HERE to continue reading.

Join people in over fifty countries who read this to gain valuable life wisdom! (Or maybe they’re just laughing at me? . . . Whatever!)

Suddenly, An Unremarkable Event Instructs Us In Hope (Need Some?)

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Sit by me, friend! I found some hope to share today!

purple and white flower in close up photography

I was startled when I saw it.

It was a mundane circumstance for those without eyes to appreciate it.

But my heart quickened many beats. God seemed to be whispering in the ordinary, calling me to see something more profound than this mundane object. Would I have ears to hear? Did I have time to listen? Was I too busy to notice?

Here’s what happened.

Click HERE to continue reading.

Join people in over fifty countries who read this to gain valuable life wisdom! (Or maybe they’re just laughing at me? . . . Whatever!)

Advice: One Unknown Truth To Make Your Plant (Life!) Thrive

/ Lori Lawe / Leave a comment

Sit by me, friend, and live a ridiculous life!

a person holding a plant in their hands

With desperation, I can ALMOST (!) hear you, then, asking me, “What is this one unknown truth that makes my plant (I.e., life!) flourish?”

Great question! I’m glad you asked (me!)!

It’s the following truth:

Join people in over fifty countries who read this to gain valuable life wisdom! (Or maybe they’re just laughing at me? . . . Whatever!)

God has terrible math skills!

And so, in today’s article, we will:

  1. Prove that God (sometimes!) has terrible math skills.
  2. Explain how God’s bad math skills will help you to soar in your life!

You’re welcome!

Good luck!

Part 1

“How can I have the MOST productive, important life?” I asked God over and over.

Not that I am neurotic or anything, but I obviously asked this only so I could best help others thrive!

Well, that part came a bit later (it’s still coming a bit), but the point is that we ALL want to be IMPORTANT and AMAZING, if we push past the clutter of our words that we try to make ourselves believe when people are listening to us.

When I had my first child, I was almost immediately asked by a helpful (?) family member what everyone else was thinking: “Can you earn more money if you get someone else to take care for your baby, versus if you do it?” (I.e., He was basically asking me something like, “Do you have more earning potential than an unskilled nine-year old?”) Yes!

I did!

“Then you’ll put your kid in daycare,” his brain automatically assumed. He was talking without thinking. Makes sense!

The math adds up!

But then it seemed God was asking me to care for and then homeschool our two1 kids for twenty years.

That kind of math does NOT make sense.

God doesn’t seem to care much about math, because there was a LOT of other stuff I could have done during that time. God is not as PRACTICAL as the rest of us. This complaint is actually one of the (many) complaints I have had about God over the years.

Dr. Robertson McQuilkin, a prominent author, educator, and former president of Columbia Bible College and Seminary, famously resigned from his prestigious position in 1990 to become the full-time caregiver for his wife, Muriel, who was suffering from early-onset Alzheimer’s disease.

Source: Focus on the Family: Love In The Midst Of Alzheimer’s

Part 2

And so, how do God’s bad math skills help you to soar in your life?

For one, you can write online (if God is calling you to do this2). And then, you can write online with confidence! And if only ONE person (your mom?) reads your stuff, then you can still trust that your life is amazing!

I can trust that my small life, in the palm of His hand, is stewarded well as I do my best, falling as I go, to walk along the path He chooses for me because God carries the responsibility for what exactly a life well lived consists of!

[God] rewards those who earnestly seek Him.

Ancient Text

So you can relax and follow God, and not care so much about what everyone else thinks of you or about boring stuff like whether your life is a good use of time, as valued by something as dumb as math skills! And that is freeing (once you can become socially adjusted enough not to care what others think of you, which took me twenty years3). But the IDEA is freeing once I can finally trust that my life has value as I trust Him to lead me!

And one day, I sensed in the depths of my heart God comforting me by whispering something along the lines of:

I won’t waste your life4.

So keep having a life that makes no sense, friend!

(We know better, regardless of what the math says.)

Thanks for liking me! I like you too! – Proven HERE, HERE, and HERE! Let’s journey together!

Photo Credit: Me (N U) In God’s Hands by Jennifer Delmarre on Unsplash, Me (N U) Soaring by Alfonso Betancourt on Unsplash

1 No! That’s not eight or twelve!

2 If you are a Christian who believes EXACTLY the same stuff as me, then You should be writing online, too! At least that’s what I think: We need more people to spout off and to say things just like I would, and to be exactly like me, is basically what I believe, though I would say that in a more nuanced way, if I were ever to mention that above a whisper.

3 And I’m not there yet!

4 Would I believe Him? Well, that’s for next time. But know that I did (!) start writing online! And then, my Mom even read what I wrote once! And now, even YOU read it! (More on why or if that matters another time.)

How To Remember You’re Lost So You Can Find The One Thing You Actually Need

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Do you have time to figure out that you’ve been found, friend?

woman sitting on land

Last time, we talked about offering to God those hints of angst that have no words.

For example, while floating in the hot springs pool and minding my own business, I randomly asked God the meaning of life.

Click HERE to continue reading.

Join people in over fifty countries who read this to gain valuable life wisdom! (Or maybe they’re just laughing at me? . . . Whatever!)

How To Find Heart Healing (Say What Can’t Be Said)

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Shhh. . . Can you hear your heart speak what can’t be said, friend?

floating woman on body of water

I have some permanent lines on my face as I’ve gotten (a bit!) older. I like the horizontal “smile lines” on the edges of my face. I also have vertical lines between my eyebrows.

I got those because I have been confused most of my life.

It’s NOT that I ever get angry! I’m mad that you think that! Anyway, the article below shows one of the ways I felt (a bit!) confused at times.

And oh!

This article is one of the crowd favorites, so I’m sure there MUST BE some wisdom in the confusion! May you gain more insight as you read, even if you feel a bit more confused at first, too! I hope this helps you!

You’re welcome!

Good luck!

Click HERE to continue reading.

Join people in over fifty countries who read this to gain valuable life wisdom! (Or maybe they’re just laughing at me? . . . Whatever!)

Two More Funny Things They Said About Nature And Growth That Will Make You Laugh (NOT at ME!)

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WHO exactly ARE you laughing at?

Two autistic friends sitting outside using stim toys and laughing at their phones

As mentioned last time, I may not write QUITE as many new articles in the next while because I have to get my youngest kid ready to move out.1

Please “enjoy” reading about and laughing (at THEM, not ME!) in this previously published article.

You weren’t paying enough attention last time anyway, so you might as well reread it!

My family, it seems, is seeking some sort of revenge because of the embarrassing things I wrote about them and posted on the internet this week. But I don’t think that kind of attitude is a very Christian response! We are supposed to forgive those who wrong us! Wait – Let me find the right Bible passage to support my cause.

Click HERE to continue reading.

Join people in over fifty countries who read this to gain valuable life wisdom! (Or maybe they’re just laughing at me? . . . Whatever!)