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The Body Bag: Part 3 of 4

1/30/2012

Now that I've explained that it takes living life with awareness to live it abundantly, it only makes sense that I teach you how to attain awareness.

It will help you to know that you've already attained it, on several occasions. Anytime you are fully in the moment, you are living with awareness. Very stimulating experiences will sometimes capture our complete attention, whether they are positive or negative. If you have ever witnessed the birth of a baby, for instance, you probably were not lost in thought at the moment that that new life entered the world. It is enthralling. Take your memory of any significant event in your life, and you will be able to see it in your mind's eye and recall it's vivid nature. But even insignificant events can be experienced in this way. It's only a matter of practicing awareness, and you will be able to call yourself back to the now at will.

My husband is fond of saying, "There are two inscriptions on the temple of Delphi: 'Know Thyself' and 'Nothing in Excess'." (What's ironic is that he quotes it so often that he is doing it in excess!) And there's a good reason he likes those inscriptions: a wellspring of wisdom is found in those two simple lines. Before you become familiar with what it means to be aware, know yourself. No one is capable of living in the now and never getting lost in thought. So, be easy on yourself. Your mind is not the enemy. It's part of your life just as much as any other member of your body or moment in your journey. Yet, it can have a tendency to want to take over. And that's where "Nothing in Excess" comes in. If there is anything our mind wants to do in excess, it's think. Not that I have anything against thinking. It is most definitely what our minds should be doing. But life is not only about thinking.

There are many options here. Some people find they come into focus by exercising. Some by thinking through a challenging problem. Some by prayer, or meditation. Some by adrenaline rush. They may not realize that their experience has a name--awareness--but they are addicted to the activity that brings it to them. When they do it, they feel more alive.

Below is a Christian meditation I have put together to help you become more aware. Note that meditation has always been a spiritual discipline of the Christian church. Meditating on scripture or being still and resting in God are both valid forms of Christian prayer. If you practice the following, it will help you become familiar with what it feels like to have a calm, quiet mind. Then, whenever you think of it, come back to that calmness and allow yourself to be immersed in your present experience of life.

The Bliss Meditation
(Listen to this as a podcast)

Find a calm spot to sit, where you will not be disturbed.
Sit up comfortably and relax you hands into your lap.
Close your eyes. Listen.
Focus on your breath. Inhale through the nose deeply. Fill up your belly completely before filling up your rib cage. Then exhale from both evenly. Let each breath grow long and steady. This will signal to your body that it is time to relax.
Thoughts may try to invade. Do not resist them, but rather think of them as clouds floating by. They belong there, but they don't need your attention. If one happens to grab hold of you for a moment, do not fret. Instead, calmly return to the breath and let the thought pass you by.
Think about your body. Does any part of it have something to say to you? Is there discomfort? Hunger? Thirst? Are you sleepy? Let your body express itself to you, and observe it. If there is discomfort, imagine sending the breath to that part of the body as you inhale and exhale.
What emotions did you bring to this space? Think on them now. Observe whether or not you are happy, sad, angry, frustrated, or maybe feeling something you cannot name. Pretend your emotions are a captivating storyteller and you are the enraptured audience. Let them fully express themselves to you. Not in concrete thoughts nor by exploring their origins. Just let them be felt.
Return to the breath. Inhale and exhale a few times, then open your eyes. Notice the space around you. Notice the clarity and crispness of the tangible items in the room. Notice how you could predict how each would feel if you touched it, or how each would smell. You could even predict how they would taste! Realize that you are surrounded by a treasure trove of sensate experiences waiting to happen, and some that are happening to you now.
Now that you are still, inside and out, invite God into this space. You can use a familiar scripture or say a prayer, however you want to do it. I suggest repeating this prayer, which is a variation on Ps 104:30: "Lord send forth your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth." Repeat it as often as you feel like, and then sit with God awhile.
Give up to him your thoughts, feelings, emotions or whatever comes your way. Be open to the movement of his Spirit. "Be still and know that I am God." Ps 46:10. When you feel you have finished, end with Amen.

It helps to remember the word BLISS. B is for Breathe. L is for Let your thoughts float by. I is for Investigate how your body is feeling and the emotions you brought with you. S is for Sense the world around you. And the last S is for Send up prayer, inviting God into the experience.
Equipped with a tool that helps you practice awareness, you can now go out into the world and experience it fully. But there is an entire world within you calling out, begging you to notice it. Are you aware of the different voices of the self vying for your attention? How do you take a body whose voices have been stuffed, ignored and stifled for so long, and allow it to live the life abundant? How do you fall in love with it? Let's go inward, let's dig deep.

It's a whole new world.

Tadasana - Mountain Pose

1/29/2012

Mountain Pose is a foundational pose. Even though the practitioner appears to be only standing there, the pose is very active. It develops correct posture, whose elements are then brought into every other pose. And once correct posture becomes familiar, the yogi can then take it into everyday life. A long list of ills are caused by habitual poor posture, therefore Tadasana is a must for anyone, at any age or ability.

To begin, let your stance be hip-bone distance apart, with your second toe parallel to the sides of your mat. Stand evenly on all four corners of the feet.
Line up your knee cap with the second and third toe. Don't hyperextend (lock) the knees.
Engage the legs by imagining you are opening a chasm between your feet. Push your feet down into the mat and apart.
Relax your glutes so that you can make a space for your tailbone to soften down.
Inhale deeply, and as you exhale, bring your belly button to your spine and then lift it to tuck it under the ribs (Uddiyana Bandha). Continue to breathe.
Bring your lower ribs back, like you were pressing them into a wall behind you.
Roll your shoulders back and bring the shoulder blades together.
Fan your fingers wide.
To engage the muscles of the arms, imagine you are shooting a beam of light out of each fingertip. Feel the muscles engage from wrist to shoulder.
Continue to breathe deeply, relaxing the jaw and brow.

Body bag: Part 2 of 4

1/23/2012

To have a healthy relationship with your body, first you must realize that your body is not just a bag of bones. It is a home for your soul connected by the portal of your consciousness. It is a God-breathed being and a temple of the Holy Spirit. It is the warm, safe womb in which your eternal self grows and develops, until that day it is birthed into life everlasting.

Because our body is temporary, I made the mistake of thinking of it as being unimportant. In fact, I wrote off the whole world that way. My thought was that unity with God in everlasting bliss was my goal, and I just had to hang out here in this mortal body bag until death came around to bring me to where the real party was.

This is a common pitfall in Christianity. It's easy to take the Christian teaching of how one should focus on God and store up our treasures in heaven, and twist it until the blessings that God is showering on us here are not even noticed.

Jesus said, "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly." Jn 10:10b

He didn't mean that we'd only have an abundant life in heaven. If he meant that, he would have said that. He meant, rather, that a life lived in relationship with God can be a life lived abundantly. So why are we not taking advantage? Why are we not seeing the richness around us? Where is this life abundant that he promised?

Perhaps it is in front of our faces and we're not noticing. In order to help you notice, I have compiled a list of sensations for you.

Stop what you are feeling.

Go through the list slowly, and after each entry pause and recall the richness of the sensation.

The island of a warm drink in the sea of a cold morning.
The compulsion to tears and convulsions of the belly as someone tickles you.
The gentle caress of a cool breeze lighting up the sweat on your body like prickles of ice.
The exhilarating shock and complete embrace of a pool of water when you jump in.
The burst of sweet juices inundating your mouth as you bite into an orange slice; the dribble that escapes down your chin.
The pounding of your heart, the pit in your belly, the clank of the chain as you crest a hill on a roller coaster; the involuntary scream ripped from you as you plummet down that hill.
The soft blanket that wraps around your heart when you sleep in someone's arms.
The evaporation of your stress as a hot shower pounds your back and shoulders, willing you to relax.
The thrill of the sound of someone you have missed calling your name.
The reckless abandonment into dance and song when your favorite song comes on and you know no one is looking.
The symphony of smells and grumble of your stomach as you walk in the door on Thanksgiving Day.

Part of this life "lived abundantly" means partaking in life with awareness. It means being present for the sensations it was meant to give you. It means listening to your body, and feeding it's five senses by being in it.

Awareness, also known as being in the now, being focused, or being present, is necessary if you want to balance yourself, and essential if you want to love your body the way it longs to be loved. But how do you attain awareness? You get out of your head.

Do you find yourself unable to sleep, because you can't quit thinking? Do your friends have to call your name several times before getting your attention, because you are so lost in thought? The truth is, most people spend the grand majority of time in their heads. They are thinking about the past, the future, resentments, fantasies, you name it. But they are not here. They are not thinking about the now, and they are letting the present moment pass them by. They are halfway asleep.

It is like God has prepared for us a feast, and he has called it life. But instead of sitting down to eat it, we mistook it for a fast food restaurant and asked to get it to go. We just weren't willing to slow down enough to take it in and savor every bite. We weren't willing to acknowledge the love put into it or the blessings that it offers. It's sad, really.

And where is God, anyway? Is he in the past, the future or the now? Since the past and future are mere figments of our imagination at this point, then God is here and now. Where are you?

When you live in the now, aware of God, aware of the world around you, and inundated with the abundance God promised, then your awareness of your body becomes something attainable. You begin to listen to it in a different way, to love it tenderly, and thus to heal from the damage done by years of neglect.

So how can you become more aware? Next Monday I will share with you one of many ways to practice awareness. The more it is practiced, the easier it becomes to dwell in it, and abide in God, who lives in the now. He is the Great Physician, and when you decide to start practicing his presence, the healing begins.

The Body Bag: Part 1 of 4

1/16/2012

"I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well" Ps 139:14

What does this verse reveal about us, and about how we should view our bodies? When it says we are fearfully made, in other words, made in such a way as to inspire awe, does it not tell us something about our worth? We are a masterpiece created by the greatest artist there is. When it says we are wonderfully made, do we believe it? Do we believe we are wonderful? Perhaps, if we are talking on a scientific level, we can agree. The atoms, cells, DNA, complicated systems of circulation, digestion, nerves--it's all very impressive. It inspires awe. It is wonderful.

But don't think of it on a scientific level. Just explore your gut reaction. What emotion emits from you when you are told your body is wonderful? That it inspires awe? Or even more shocking, that it is a work of God, a great masterpiece? And it is only half of the equation, for we have not even explored the nature and beauty of your soul! But, sticking to the topic here, do you believe it? Do you think your body is good?

When I consider the relationship I have had with my body most of my life, I feel like it was almost absent. Like I was trying my hardest to pretend my body wasn't there. At a very young age, I took hold of the message that your body must remain covered in front of others and assigned it more meaning than it was meant to convey. I thought my body must remain covered because it was shameful. I avoided looking at myself. I covered myself at all times, except when it wasn't possible because I was bathing. I had no desire to run around stark naked with the sheer joy of being alive egging me forward, as many toddlers and young children do. My mother told me once that from the time I was four, I wouldn't let anyone in the bathroom with me, ever. She never said my body was shameful, and neither had anyone else. The people around me were only trying to instill modesty and propriety. But in my little head, I had added on meaning where there wasn't any, and it messed with my life for years to come.

After I was married, I began to explore the concept of my body maybe not being my enemy. I talked with my husband a lot about the topic, and he informed me that my thinking was twisted. That my body was beautiful, that I should not be ashamed of it. It was hard to believe him. I was hard-wired to believe otherwise.

Another big step out from under the lie happened from observing my children. I have four, and not one of them skipped the stage I described earlier. They equated a lack of clothing with freedom! Their little faces were full of mischief and bliss if they could escape my grasp after they bathed and take off across the house. Watching them, something inside me began to heal. I could tell, deep down in my soul, that they were right. Their bodies were wonderful, beautiful, and meant to be celebrated. And that meant mine was, too.

Our bodies are a gift. Consider this well-known verse in a new light: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" Mat 22:39. Do you think that Jesus meant we should not love our neighbors all that much, just a little? No, we understand we are to love them profoundly--unconditionally. Jesus calls us even to love our enemies. He loved us without reservation, and that's how He wants us to behave towards our neighbors.
But don't forget the second part: as yourself. Jesus assumes that His listeners have a profound love for themselves. And He doesn't declare that conceit or self-centeredness. He points to it as an example of how we should love others. A normal love for self, from God's point of view, is a profound and unconditional one. But that's not how we treat ourselves, is it?

Imagine for a moment that we started treating our neighbor as we actually treat ourselves. If our neighbor told us they were hungry, we would tell them to skip a meal, because they had more important things to do. If they told us they were full, we would keep stuffing food down their throats because it tastes good. If they said they were exhausted, we would hand them a cup of coffee and yet another task. If they said they were sad, we would tell them that wasn't important and we didn't have time to think about it, so take this pill and call us in the morning.

The continual message that many of us send to our bodies is that they are unimportant, flawed, ugly, fat, shameful, dirty, you name it. When we look at ourselves, we focus on the flaws. Too many zits. Too many stretch marks. Ears that are too big, feet that are too big, a nose that's too big. Too top heavy, too bottom heavy. Broken, and needing to be fixed.

But what does a tender, loving relationship with our bodies look like? I'll tell you next time, because my body says it's tired. Time for bed.

The Dismemberment of Christ

1/9/2012

The year was 1990. My husband Brent was a twenty-year-old college student who hadn't yet met me. His friends Charlene and Harold were a young married couple who attended an Evangelical mega-church. Brent himself was Catholic, and this had his friends worried. They had heard a lot from their pastor and other church authorities about Catholicism. Did Brent have a personal relationship with Jesus? It was hard to tell with those Catholics. So, feeling called by the Great Commission itself, they invited Brent to their mega-church in hopes of saving his very soul.

Brent was aware of their motivations, but agreed to attend to show good will. He had no idea just how far the plot would go. After the service, per a secretly pre-arranged plan, they brought the pastor to meet Brent in the foyer of the mega church.

"Skip, we'd like you to meet our friend, Brent. He's a Catholic," they said.

Brent only had a split second to wonder why his Catholicism had been brought up before fire and brimstone started to be flung onto his head. The pastor began hollering at him phrases like, "Did you know that you worship Mary and think the Pope never sins? Did you know that you have replaced the Gospel with works-salvation? Did you know that your bowing before statues is idolatry? Did you know you believe that you eat God? Answer all this!" The barrage went on and on, as a crowd of some sixty churchgoers formed a circle around the two figures. Having never before considered or heard of such topics, Brent was confused and whimpered "...I don't believe those things." The pastor flung a final stinging attack with slow measured words "Yes, you do! You go read your catechism and tell me that you don't!"

Needless to say, Brent came away from that experience hurt. It kindled in him a desire to be able to defend his heritage, his church, or at least his spiritual self. Over the next ten years Brent gained the relevant knowledge. He studied theologians, historians, original languages, ancient Christian writings, and read the bible cover to cover repeatedly. He mastered the doctrinal distinctions between Christian churches, and the reasons behind those distinctions.

Throughout the journey, Brent had frequent opportunities for in-person or online discussions with Christians who had inter-denominational axes to grind. The objections and attacks he encountered were allegedly motivated by the quest for doctrinal truth, but what he found is that all too often the real motivation was just a love of war. Whether coming from Catholics or Protestants, too much of the debate was devoid of love. Brent concluded that most of these problems between Christians came from Christians serving themselves rather than serving God and his people.

Certainly we should feel called to challenge or correct our brethren (Pro 27:17, 1 Cor 5:12), but those precepts are subordinate to our need to accept each other in Christ and be one body. Read these verses from Jesus's prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane:

"Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one...that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me," Jn 17:11b, 21-23.

Indeed we are not fulfilling Christ's plea, and that makes it harder for the world to discern what Jesus had hoped for: "that you have sent me and loved them". In Brent's story, the titles "Catholic" and "Evangelical" are irrelevant. Animosity between and among Christians because of differences in doctrine abound, and it is not limited to one label or a subset of them. It is easy to see why a person might get caught up in such discussions. The desire to seek truth runs through humanity as a common thread, but in the end what truth really is can be hard to pin down. Absolute truth, in all its splendor, is only known fully by God himself, and although he has revealed a great deal of it to us, we still, "see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known" 1 Cor 13:12. So it is no wonder that we often come to different conclusions.

But we all agree on Jesus Christ as the source and cause of our salvation.

Earlier in the Prayer of the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus tells us the purpose of his coming and how to obtain eternal life:
"Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent" Jn 17:1b-3.

And that, my brothers and sisters, is the gist of it. It's what is important. It makes us one.

So, even though oneness is the sincere desire of the heart of the Savior--indeed something he prayed for as his last prayer on earth, while sweating drops of blood in his earnestness--we have ignored him. Instead, we have twisted something good -- seeking truth -- into something bad -- division. And not only division, but division made with dissension, rivalry and enmity, resulting in endless strife. All of which Paul describes as "fruit of the flesh":

"But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires" Gal 5:16-24.

Let me repeat that for you, "those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God". People who seek to condemn others for their beliefs don't get it. "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" Rom 8:1. It is like they missed the second half of 1 Peter 3:15. They heard, "but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you" and left out, "yet do it with gentleness and respect".

Examine with me Paul's dissertation on the body of Christ:

"For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ...The eye cannot say to the hand, 'I have no need of you,' nor again the head to the feet, 'I have no need of you.' On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together," 1 Cor 12:12, 21-26.

As it stands now, we are the dismembered body of Christ. We do not suffer together--we make each other suffer. We do not rejoice together, we attack each other. We consider the "other types of Christians" as weaker and less honorable, but that does not create in us a desire to treat them with greater honor or give them equal care. We are like a dysfunctional family who has filed divorce after divorce. Is that how it has to be? Can we agree that Christ is more important than our disagreements? He is in the business of changing hearts. Nothing is impossible with God.

Where do we begin? Perhaps with looking at the gifts the Holy Spirit has given to each of us. I have in my lifetime attended Lutheran, Catholic and Evangelical churches. And while attending them, I have encountered and interacted with Charismatics as well. From each church, I have gathered a world of wealth, wisdom and knowledge that I treasure about the things of God. Here are a few examples:

From the Lutherans, I learned of Jesus's love for me, developed affection for Bible stories and lost myself in hymns of unsurpassed beauty and depth.
The Catholics were the first to impress on me just how unfathomable is our God, and I developed a reverence and awe of him. They also taught me the concept of the saints as family, how undeserved was the grace I have been given, and how if I were to explore the depths of God, I would never find an end to them.
The Evangelicals made God intimate for me. No matter how huge and holy, they brought home just how close and compassionate he was. They taught me a love of the Word as a living force in my life. They gave me a heart for the unsaved and a desire to serve.
The Charismatics taught me how to listen to the whisper of the Spirit moving in me and respond. With them, I embraced the freedom Christ died to give me.

Sure, we disagree. Did we really expect to understand all the revelations of God while we still live? Let us run this good race as a relay team, and finish victoriously. Only at the end of the race will we see truth clearly. But working together, we can show the world that Jesus Christ is from God, and came to give them life, because God loves them. Amen!

Couch Potato Unicorns

1/2/2012

Our culture has reserved a special place in the imagination for unicorns. The unicorn and the concepts behind it reveal a deep spiritual perfection. A unicorn is a shining, splendid creature of beauty; the pristine picture of innocence; it is glorious but shy, strong yet meek; it is filled with grace--it encompasses all of the good and none of the bad. It even has the one thing were all looking for and have a near impossible time locating: a wealth of magic.

If you were to imagine encountering one somewhere deep within a forest, you would see how it would make everything around it seem dim in comparison. When it looked at you, you would see in its eyes an intelligence beyond your own. You would suddenly feel the fleeting nature of your mortality. You would know that its hidden life was the complete fulfillment of its purpose. That it lacked nothing.

Lets stretch your mind. Metaphorically speaking, your soul is like a unicorn. Somewhere deep inside, deeper than your hurts and past, deeper than your imperfections and consciousness, is an unwavering, immortal self. It was made to be perfect, and placed here to develop: "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" (2 Cor 3:18).

But unlike the unicorn, we do not seem to be constantly connected to this. We lack awareness of our worth, our purpose, and the divine. We are unbalanced. Stuck in a physical world, we are confused about what it all means and distracted by promises of "magic" that are only illusions. We do not have spiritual balance. We are spiritually starving.

How would it look if a unicorn became like us? It might be that it would end up on the couch, having lost its sheen and let its powerful
muscles atrophy, drinking a cheap beer and watching endless television. When my husband wants to inspire in my children a desire to become glorious, it's the image of the couch potato unicorn that he uses. How strange to imagine such a creature brought to such a state.

It is possible to be in denial of the spiritual so long that you are no longer in touch with it at all. It is possible to be very in touch with it, but not know. But, the most ideal situation is to know you are in touch with it and the source of it: God.

So how do we achieve this spiritual balance? How do we feed the spirit, as we feed the body? How do we become "enlightened", or discover our purpose? How do we attain glory, beauty, strength, meekness, grace and even "magic"?

Information on the topic can be found in abundance in the first chapter of John:

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”) 16 Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

This passage reveals a "magic" that is not fake: Christ Jesus. And it tells us, on a very spiritual level, his significance. He is:

the Word of God
with God in the beginning
the source of all created things
the dwelling place of life
the light of mankind
unconquerable by darkness
not recognizable by the world
not received by his own
the source of adoption by God
flesh
glorious
grace-filled
truth-filled
the reason we have received grace upon grace
in the closest relationship with the Father
the way to know the Father

Jesus Christ, the Messiah, has the glory, beauty, strength, meekness, grace and even "magic" that we have such a hard time attaining. So, how to we get it, too? How do we become like him? The passage has already told us: "Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God" (Jn 1:12-13).

Seek out Jesus Christ, and he will give you God. You will be born of God. Let him become the greatest desire of your heart because he is the one who can feed your soul. He will make your glory like that of the unicorn. You will become a reflection of all that he is. Your soul will live in its hidden purpose, united with the source of its life and immortality. And the longer you walk with Christ down the path of your life, the more when people look in your eyes, they will see something beyond what they have. Your eyes will reveal a life they've not touched, a truth they've not heard, an eternal quality they hunger for, an overflowing of grace they long to bathe in.

Get up off the couch.

The Body Bag: Part 3 of 4

Tadasana - Mountain Pose

Body bag: Part 2 of 4

The Body Bag: Part 1 of 4

The Dismemberment of Christ

Couch Potato Unicorns

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