CBG: #16

April 5, 2020 — 1 Comment

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.

2 Corinthians 3:17 – 4:2

Our weekly rhythm of sabbath — to see all we have done and learned and to remember all we have engaged with, because who you are today is not the same as who you were last week. If we are honest, if we can be even a little bit open to the work of God, if we had ventured even a foot into vulnerability and faith, who we are today is closer to we were created to be. The process of sanctification seems unkind until you stop to see what it’s trying to teach you. You are a champ. You are a warrior. You’re in the work. Please give yourself a hug, a kiss, a tap for being brave, creative and generous.

  1. What moment(s) did you feel God’s presence, close and kind?
  2. What moment(s) did you actively push God away?
  3. What emotion has been your friend this week?
  4. Where was joy?
  5. Where was heartbreak?
  6. What is one thing you can bring to next week to step more into your power?

Love to hear your thoughts! xo

CBG: #15

April 4, 2020 — 1 Comment

The next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray. And he became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance and saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending being let down by its four corners upon the earth. In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. And there came a voice to him, “Rise, Peter, kill and eat.” But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eating anything that is common or unclean.” And the voice came to him again a second time, “What God has made clean, do not call common.” This happened three times, and the thing was taken up at once to heaven.

Acts 10:9-16

Vegetarians and vegans, bye! And the rest of us, please do not eat bats! Okay, I’m kidding, and if you can’t handle some Bible humor, please take a breath and maybe start because the Bible is kind of hilarious. No, I don’t think the heart of this passage is about literally what we eat. However, it’s a great analogy because all of humanity understands this need.

Nor is this passage about throwing away former customs and cultures to fulfill whatever present need. It’s not about a blaise way of living that fits how you’re feeling in the moment. It’s about looking for patterns and affirmations from God, which requires asking and listening. The heart of the message happened three times. Did God really say that, again and again? It’s a reflection on what cultures and ideas we’ve held to for identity. Why have we held onto these ideas? Are they good? Are they necessary? Were they once good and necessary, and now no longer? It’s about adapting our way of living through an increased intimacy with God. It’s not changing God to fit our life; it’s understanding deeper the goodness and kindness and compassion and wideness of God, in order to live a fuller and freer life. Our lives should reflect inclusivity and flexibility, in all times, so that it points back to a God who has truly created us for such a moment as now to be of service and of calling.

Prayer: God show me the areas I can loosen up and receive more.

Creative: Listen to music that celebrates who you are.

Brave: Where have you not allowed yourself to celebrate? Celebrate!

Generous: Can you give an hour of your time to someone?

CBG: #14

April 3, 2020 — 1 Comment

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understood that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

Hebrews 11:1-3

I hear this a lot. Trust your gut. What does that mean? What does my gut feel like? Gut. It feels like something around my tummy, so around my center. The gut feels rooted deep into purpose. Tummies. They digest and break down food…The gut takes in information and breaks it down…? The gut examines and looks for patterns. Acid breaks down food, killing the germs and leaving the nutrients. (Side: Did you know you can shrink or make the stomach physically smaller and that makes your appetites and desire smaller as well? Oh to make my desires and appetites smaller)…Trust your gut. It processes information so that we eliminate the things that harm us and distribute the things that nourish us. What do things that harm us feel and look like? What do things that nourish and sustain us feel and look like? Trust your gut. Can those in your community reflect back the things and times when you aren’t in health and living in a cycle of harm? Can people also reflect those things and times when you feel excitement, possibility and faith? What’s the wisest, kindest and bravest message your gut is telling you?

Prayer: God, help me to push aside all the distractions and doubts, and exist only in your sanctuary. Please reveal to me, what life and decisions look like if I didn’t have worry, fear or a need for comfort and security. Please reveal to me what a wise, kind and brave living looks like for me.

Creative: Read one of these hope poems and write your own in response.

Brave: Where can you do less today by asking someone for help?

Generous: Who needs your reminder of hope today? Maybe even share that poem…?

CBG: #13

April 2, 2020 — Leave a comment

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

a time to be born, and a time to die;

a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;

a time to kill, and a time to heal;

a time to break down, and a time to build up;

a time to weep, and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

a time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together;

a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

a time to seek, and a time to lose;

a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

a time to tear, and a time to sew;

a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

a time to love, and a time to hate;

a time for war, and a time for peace.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

Everyone is in a season of “refraining from the embrace.” However outside of that, no one can tell you or judge you for the season you’re in. What season(s) are you in? Knowing what season you’re in can replace frustration and anger with patience, doubt with stillness and distrust with potential. Knowing what season you’re in realigns expectation, or even better, helps you release any expectations. When you know what season you’re in, you’ll understand why some characters are starring in your life, while others should just be an extra. It’s okay. It shifts. Tomorrow, the next hour, the next minute could be a new “episode of life.” And each minute is the same length and has equal value. Each minute can matter when your focus is on eternity.

Prayer: What time is it?

Creative: What season do you want to be in? Imagine it. Create something as if you’re in that season.

Brave: Call someone in today.

Generous: Tell a mentor or someone who’s really shaped you in a former season, how much it meant and what you learned from that season.

CBG: #12

April 1, 2020 — 1 Comment

Can the world say, GOTCHA, this was a joke HAPPY APRIL FOOL’S…let’s go back to…? Back to what…? Back to all the things we took for granted like going to the store without anxiety of invisible virus attackers in the air? Back to daydreaming in a coffee shop and building relationship currency with the barista? Back to hugs and physical closeness and to a time when you didn’t know physical touch was on your top 5 love languages? Joe Biden always talks about going back to when….? To when…? When only some of us were aware of the rampant racism bubbling under the surface ready to launch at anyone who isn’t alike on the outside? When most of us let the leaders do the “organizing” and we sat back? When the lucky few of us thought this world isn’t too bad?

There’s no going back. We are changed. We may not have the words or know what the change means for our future decisions, however, things have and will continue to shift.

  • What has shifted because circumstances have shifted? This is the stripping of all those YOLO decisions.
  • What has rooted deeper because what is unshakeable glows brighter? This is the building of all those YOLO intentions.

Prayer/Meditation: For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith — that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3: 14-21

Creative: It’s national poetry month! Write a poem.

Brave: Where have you been living in scarcity? How can you shift that?

Generous: What was a service that you loved? How can you honor the person who gave that to you?

CBG: #11

March 31, 2020 — Leave a comment

Give me an eagerness for your laws rather than a love for money! Turn my eyes from worthless things, and give me life through your word. Reassure me of your promise, made to those who fear you. Help me abandon my shameful ways; for your regulations are good. I long to obey your commandments! Renew my life with your goodness.

Psalm 119: 36-40

Prayer: God give me an eagerness for you even when so many things are trying to pull my focus away. Make you feel relevant because sometimes you don’t seem too close. Help me to trust that the silence and alone-ness still holds your presence. You are very near. You are close, even when I don’t feel it and even when quieting scares me. Turn my eyes from the worthless things of fear and scarcity. Turn my eyes from the worthless things of building security in this world in things that will wash away again. Remove the need to be okay. Reassure me of your promises that you complete your work. Restore the joy of having a purpose beyond the circumstances of today.

Where are your thoughts? Where is your focus? Where are we sheltering in for comfort and security, and do you feel safe and hopeful there? Are you outward focused on others and their actions that impact you? Are you looking in at your hurt, scared, cradled heart? Are you too tired or reluctant to turn to God?

When was the last time God beckoned you back? What was whispered into your soul? What was felt in your body? What did you recall?

What were you once so sure about because you had God, and now feels unsteady or blurred? What drew you in at the beginning? What would you need for that first attraction to come full bloom right now?

Creative: Share your heart.

Brave: Come back to your body. Enjoy your body.

Generous: What non-profit needs a sprinkle of your heart?

CBG: #10

March 30, 2020 — Leave a comment

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.

Hebrews 12:1-3

It’s not the beginning nor close to the finish line that this race called life is hard. It’s when the high of doing something new weans. It’s when you external encouragement and cheering fades. It’s when it’s so quiet and you feel alone in a task that you once felt so sure was right, yet now you’re not so sure. You’re tired. You doubt how each step is actually leading you towards the finish. Was there a finish? Shoot… You’re potentially angry you even started this journey yet there’s guilt for not finishing. This is the part that is hard because all the reasons for getting you out of bed don’t seem enough now. The motivation seems mute. So what? Stop running?

You can’t sweetheart. Because the moment you stop running, it will be really, really, really hard to keep going. You walk. You keep your legs and forgive yourself for the the amount of speed you can give, but you must keep giving. Look around! There’s that outlier runner who’s having a grand time speeding along, but most of us, are struggling and want to give up too. But if we all pivot and let go of any guilt of only being able to give 50% or 20% or even 1%, we’ll get through. As you are moving in this way, staying in the race, doing what you can in this moment, doubts, judgments, scarcity will pop in. They whisper. They taunt. They laugh. They judge. LAY OUT YOUR EXPLETIVES. SAY LA LA LA LA. Say “I release and destroy my need to look good.” “I release and destroy my need to prove I’m doing enough.” Be in the moment. Breathe. The only way to fight the weight of the beginning and the pressure of the end is to be present right now.

Prayer: Sit and listen.

Creative: Write 10 things you love about yourself!

Brave: Have integrity with every thing you say and when you don’t, be ready to own up and apologize.

Generous: How can I choose to hear someone’s words from a place of kindness instead of taking things personally?

CBG: #9

March 29, 2020 — 1 Comment

Indeed, in this case, what once had glory had come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it. For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory. Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

2 Corinthians 3:10-18

Let’s have this weekly rhythm of an unveiling, a reflection, an inventory of ourselves. In the presence of God, we can be exposed without judgment. The sin in the garden was the hiding due to shame. We do not need to hide. We can cast away shame. Doing this reflection consistently, does not only reveal how you are shifting from glory to glory, but the catapult to shifting. You are in the process of sanctification you champion! This kind of heart work is creative, brave & generous.

  1. What question(s) were you attempting to answer?
  2. What emotion(s) were most present?
  3. When did you feel the presence of God’s peace & calm? Who were you with? What were you doing?
  4. What brought you joy?
  5. What revealed your heartbreak?
  6. What is one change you can make this week to create more safety, unity and kindness for yourself and others?

Drop an answer in the comment. We are in this journey together!

CBG: #8

March 28, 2020 — Leave a comment

How long, Lord? Because no one really knows how long this will take…weeks? months? Will you forget me forever? Literally feel alone How long will you hide your face from me? I get this is supposed to “bring us closer to you” and “reveal our humanity” and “you’re in control, and you’re good so, like, rest in that” but DUDE, can’t you just for once show up in a fireworks show so I know it’s you?! How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? Because I’m having some nasty AF thoughts and I’m jumping through all the emotions in a much quicker cycle than I normally do. How long will my enemy triumph over me? Like covid, and the damn president, and the irritating harmful ways people around me are trying to “fix” me and “give me solutions” because they don’t know how to wrestle with their inability to change and make me feel better Look on me and answer, Lord my God. Waiting. Literally not busy and available for your answer. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death, and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” and my foes will rejoice when I fall. I don’t know. I’m not trying to win. I just really need your kindness and love and your overt intimacy to be here. I miss those days when I KNEW you were right next to me and speaking to me. I miss being in an environment witnessing firsthand your presence. But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. What else can I do? What else do I have? I will sing the Lord’s praise, for he has been good to me. I’m alive. I’m breathing. I know it will work out. Eventually.

Psalm 13 (WITH MY LIZARD BRAIN WAY OF PRAYING)

Creative: Be kind to yourself.

Brave: Be kind to yourself.

Generous: Be kind to yourself.

CBG COVID Challenge: #7

March 27, 2020 — Leave a comment

And the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.

Zechariah 7:8-10

Even if it’s permissible, is it kind?

Even if you’re hurt, can you show mercy?

Even if you’re overwhelmed, can you see another’s pain?

When you have nothing, can you show kindness and mercy to another?

Kindness is one of the most underrated traits. Yet it is the one thing that will set you apart in times of impatience, of self-preservation, of irritation, of uncertainty. It breaks though the boundaries we’ve unconsciously and consciously created for safety and survival so, we can see each other, see the deep needs to understand how to care well. And the only way to survive is to take care of one another. (Grace Lee Boggs)

Prayer: Kindness — What is in the way of this, for others and for yourself?

Creative: Sit still and daydream. And/or go watch Paddington Bear 2.

Brave: Where have you gotten a no? Revisit that ask.

Generous: Encourage someone today who you “think doesn’t need it.”