Faith Dare Friday, #5

This past week's FAITHdare was about solitude, making a place and finding a time for solitude in your day every day. I was quite excited for this 'dare.' But surprisingly, I found it somewhat difficult. It's easy for me to find time alone, yet distractions bombard me and keep me from having solitude. Mostly those distractions are technology related: cell phone, Internet (Facebook, email, etc.), and TV. I realized that I have the TV on far too often and most of the time I'm not even watching it; it's there for background noise. When I realized that I thought, "How gross! Who wants the noise of a TV show as the background noise for her day?" Even when some of the time I set the TV to the Christian music station, it's still constant sound in the background of my daily routine. There really weren't any silent moments in my day.

At first this week, I really got into the dare and made it a point to have a moment of solitude. My place of solitude where I can be alone from people, pets, and technology, and just be alone and be quiet, is one of my favorite places in my house: our jacuzzi bath tub.

I absolutely love a soak in a nice, hot bubble bath. Plus on days where my muscles happen to be extra sore, I can turn those jets on and receive a little massage of sorts. Oh how wonderfully calming and relaxing! So 'sneaking away' at night for a quick soak in the bath became my time and place of solitude.

But as this week became "busier," with my wisdom teeth extraction consultation, Josh's selection, his wisdom teeth extraction, an unexpected trip to the ER in the middle of the night (he had an allergic reaction to his medicine from the surgery), trying my best to take care of my husband and the house, and a lack of sleep, made 'finishing' this week's FAITHdare quite difficult. The events of life this week definitely were overwhelming at moments, and I will blog a little about that tomorrow, and perhaps a moment of solitude would have been especially needed and appropriate during those times, but of course, those very times when I need solitude are when it's hardest to do it.

Even though this is another dare I didn't accomplish how I wanted to, I still took away some important lessons from it and will be making some changes to my lifestyle. Change number one: I am making it a point to not have the TV on during the day and enjoy any silence I find naturally occurring in my day. I'm also making it a point to continue to find at least 5 minutes of solitude in my day every day. Solitude is so important for staying energized; it helps combat feelings of stress or times when you feel disheartened. It rejuvenates, clears your mind, and, most importantly, I think, gives you a greater connection to God and time for you to listen to what God wants you to hear. And of course God knows all of this and tell us this in His word - found in the same verse that I have on a wooden sign by our jacuzzi tub:

"Sanctuary: Come away to a secret place and rest a while. Mark 6:31"

FAITHdare #5: Mud Pies Underfoot

For more information on this FAITHdare click the above link. Here are some snippets from the FAITHdare #5 blog post:

C.S. Lewis said, "We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased."

Over the next couple of weeks, we will be specifically focusing on three different idols that I think prevail over most in today's culture: Relationships, ambitions (often in the form of safety and security), and possessions. This week, however, I want us to focus on uncovering our idols.

1) Watch the video at the bottom of the post here.


2) Do the work of wrestling with God over this issue. Maybe these questions will help: How do you spend the majority of your time? To whom do you take your needs and desires? What (or who) do you have in your life that you could not live without? Do you attribute thankfulness to the One who has given you every good and perfect gift? If so, how often? Would you be willing to leave everything and everyone in your life to follow Jesus if He asked you to today? When you read the account of the rich man (Matthew 19:21-23), do you find yourself relating to the rich man and feeling sad? Would you be able to do what Jesus asks the rich man to do?

3) Create a thankful habit. Be creative with this. I want you to develop a way in which you are recounting God's faithfulness at least once a day. That may mean starting a thankful journal where you write down one thing you are thankful for each day. For me, that means creating a thankful jar.

Do you dare??