Thrive 2/11/2010 Lainie Allen

I'll admit it. The time I spend with the Lord sometimes feels boring and lifeless. I feel like I’m only talking to the ceiling when I pray. When I read the Bible, the words have no significance or meaning. I get discouraged and am tempted to give up trying. But instead of walking away, I ask questions:

Is worship something that is relegated to Sunday mornings between 9:30a and noon?

Is worship only done through singing, listening to sermons and tithing?

How do we go about loving and worshipping God with all that we are and all that we have?

How do we deepen our relationship with the Creator? Are their other ways to engage with God?

Lainie Allen, of Nurturing Your Soul Ministries (www.nurturingyoursoul.com), says that partnering with the Holy Spirit is the key ingredient, and she suggests understanding our spiritual temperament can be helpful. We can engage the Holy Spirit in more natural and personal ways as we begin to understand ourselves and the temperaments. Last Thursday at Thrive, women had the opportunity to complete a spiritual temperment inventory and then experience spiritual practices related to that temperment.

Here's a list of spiritual temperaments and suggested readings (click on the book title for a link to amazon.com):

1. The activist loves God through actions that set an injustice right.
2. Ascetics love solitude and simplicity.

3. The caregiver loves God by serving others.

4. Contemplatives love God through quiet and stillness.

5. Celebration and praise are the methods for an enthusiast.

6. Intellectuals like to engage their minds through study.

7. Naturalists enjoy the outdoors and creation.

8. Sensates worship with all the senses using all their bodies.

9. Traditionalists enjoy ritual and symbol.

Book of Common Prayer

Making all Things New by Henri Nouwen
Awakened Heart by Gerald G. May M.D.
An Altar in the World by Barbara Brown Taylor
The Long Loneliness by Dorothy Day
Living Simply Through the Day by Tilden Edwards
Invitation to a Journey by M. Robert Mulholland Jr.
Prayer & Temperament by Chester Micheal & Marie Norrisey

Overviews of the spiritual temperaments can be found in What's Your God Language by Myra Perrine, and Sacred Pathways by Gary Thomas. Copies of the Spiritual Temperament Inventory and worksheets for each temperament are available at the Thrive registration table if you would like more information.

Come this Thursday to Thrive to find out what marshmallows, toothpicks and cornerstones have to do with Ephesians 3! And as always, Thrive is a come-anytime, bring-anyone ministry! Look forward to seeing you then!