Month / February 2022

woman picking up cell phone
by Karen Twinem

Look Up

Look Up is an easy Christian mindfulness exercise. Yet it helps us to grow our perspective, gratitude and visual mindfulness.

How easy is it? Just two steps.

Step 1: Look up.

Step. 2: Give thanks for what you see.

When you deliberately look up, you notice many new things. I am short, so looking up sometimes lets me see things that taller people view everyday!

What’s up there? Roofs, treetops, interesting architecture, ceiling treatments, light fixtures, clouds of varying colors and shapes, birds and more.

This exercise improves our awareness of the world around us. And it builds our gratitude for our cozy inside spaces, our cities and neighborhoods and the glory of outdoors. It helps us to get outside of our interior worries.

Give it a try a few times a day, and see what happens!

by Karen Twinem

Find the Silver Lining

“Inside every silver lining, there’s a dark cloud,” comedian George Carlin used to joke. Some days we all agree with him. Recently I discovered a secular practice called “Find the Silver Lining” that easily adapts to Christian mindfulness.

The practice was from the Greater Good Science Center website. The center is at the University of California Berkeley. It provides research-based tools and training to shift our culture toward a kinder, more compassionate society.

The site has a lot of positive psychology materials:

  • An online magazine featuring stories and tips for building social-emotional well-being.
  • Free e-newsletters.
  • Research-based practices for happiness, resilience, kindness and connection.
  • A cool monthly Happiness Calendar with daily tips.

One of the research-based practices is the Find the Silver Lining practice. It can bring new perspective and even some peace of mind to our most difficult experiences. Here’s how to do it as a mindful Christian:

  1. Go before the Lord to thank him for things you easily appreciate: your health, your church, trees, whatever comes to mind.
  2. Then write about something that has been negative in your life: an event, person or any life circumstance.
  3. Look for two or three things that are the silver livings to that negative experience.
  4. Pray a gratitude prayer for them, and ask the Lord to help you to see silver linings more easily.

The poet Maggie Smith tried the secular version of this practice. You can read about her experience on the center’s website here. More resources for leading your mindful Christian life are found on the Resource Page here.

a man feeling depressed
by Karen Twinem

How to Suffer

If you know how to suffer, you suffer much, much less. And then you know how to make good use of suffering to create joy.

Thich Nhat Hanh (1926-2022)

Learning how to deal with suffering is both a God-given grace and something we can learn. It helps us to be content and even joyful in times of suffering and injustice. Contentment is an inner condition cultivated in humility. We can have a teachable spirit prepared to bend to God’s will.

Rich Nathan, founding pastor at Vineyard Columbus, taught a sermon years ago that offered a three-part plan to be content no matter what suffering we may endure. Here are his three points.

No. 1: Practice surrender.

The Bible teaches that everything, even our loved one’s illnesses, has to pass through God’s hands before it happens.  As Elisabeth Elliott put it:  “Whatever happens is assigned.” God’s power is unlimited, and he rules all our lives.

Matthew 10:29-30:  Jesus says, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?  And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.  The very hairs on your head are all numbered.”

Romans 8:28:  “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who live him, who have been called according to his purpose.”  We will never suffer trials unless God allows them and watches over them.

The most important example of a person who trusted God under terrible circumstances was Jesus himself.  Have we ever been in so much agony that we sweat blood over it?  Yes, Jesus understands how we feel.

We learn things from suffering that we probably couldn’t learn anywhere else: reliance on grace, humility, perseverance, quality prayer, faith, trust, and a real relationship with God.

If we can’t accept this for a lifetime, Rich suggested that we accept it “just for today.”

No. 2:  Practice thanksgiving.

Start being grateful for the littlest things:  grass, sky, trees.  Spend a day looking for things to be grateful for.

No. 3: Practice abiding.

This means that you connect with God’s person.  This is the essence of Christian mindfulness. You focus on the present in the felt presence of God. You can do all things through God who strengthens you, but you have to abide in God to do so.

Rich encourages us to welcome the Holy Spirit into areas where we’ve grumbled, where we are discontented, where we are frustrated. Invite the person of the Holy Spirit to come into that part of your life. Contentment will grow where we abide in God.