Yoga

I was looking for Houston weekend events and ran across a Yoga class at Discovery Green on Sat, morning. Curious to what the park looked like and what this Yoga craze was all about, I grabbed my towel and tennis shoes and headed that way for the 9:30 am class. The park was wonderful, a certain spot for an upcoming field trip with the grand babies. But the Yoga class was way over my head and ability. I had to be the oldest one there, by 10 or 15 years and out of about 50 classmates was one one of about three with a towel rather than a mat. I came in wearing tennis shoes, the accomplished were wearing flip flops. I knew I was in trouble. It was a grueling task that I only lasted about ten minutes in and the rest of the time watched in awe as these young men and women planted their bodied in contorted positions allowing all muscles to be stretched beyond a capacity that I could possible ever identify with. Many of you already know this and am sure have participated in this exercise before, but I was completely new to the experience. Yogo is a mind/body activity that promotes an awareness of the many factors that make up our ability to process a well balanced core of mental and physical capacity. This sport, and it is a sport, is not for sissies.

There was one warm up exercise that did capture my attention that I could do: The teacher, a young, man who had that gymnast type style and body structure, challenged his class to try to take ten breaths without a single thought in your mind. If one popped in, you were encouraged to begin again. It was a clarified form of meditation, and too great focus to achieve. But after I did accomplish this, I thought this is how God wants me to prepare to come to his throne in prayer. Without the requests, without the preconceived structure of the ACTS method, adoration, confession, thanksgiving and supplication, without worries, or fears, or guilts, and without even a manmade vision of who I am talking to. Just plain and simple, don't you think God wants us to come to him without initial expectation and just a true desire to be with him without the baggage of what I want him to do for me?

Clear my thoughts and enable my mind to be free to accept his thoughts. Too many times I come to God with a planned agenda. Oh I have faith when I am asking for help or a need on one kind or another, but I am often too concerned with my own needs to put them aside and just sit at Christ's feet and wait and listen to what he has to say regarding his perspectives and his desires.

Christ does not speak to me in audible voice, oh but I know when his thoughts have overridden mine. He has a way of placing obscure patterns of thought within my mind and many times replaces my daily map of errands and notable priorities, with ones that I have not even remotely considered. But I have learned to listen and and most times try to adapt to his nudges, as silly as they sometimes my seem, or as right as I know them to be and go forward in the desire to please him.

Prayer is a personal communication between us and Christ. He knows our hearts an our struggles and our needs. But the question is do we know HIM? Have we sat quietly at his feet and relinquished the many thoughts that we have flying around and let him give us the calmness that allows us to be filled with his peace? For it is in the quietness and the vast simplicity of clearing our minds that we will find the comfort, the strength, the courage and the grace that God has offered to each of us.

Psalm 19:14
May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.

Will I try this Yogo deal again? Well, I went to Marshall's and now have a mat, and flip flops are a basic in my wardrobe, so as far as being properly outfitted on the outside, I am ready. But before I advance into another class setting as this, I must first start slow and work my way up level by level. I unknowingly jumped into an advanced class, before I had learned the basics.

This is the way prayer is. We just have to start with the basics, a little trust and faith and work toward building those spiritual muscles. As we come to know the Lord, and learn to communicate with him and learn to listen and let him communicate with us, it is then that we become trained to accept his ways which most times are not our own. We will begin to consciously gain momentum in our faith in God and in our desire to let him teach us and train us to stretch the spiritual muscles that he has given us and shape our minds accordingly.

I said earlier that Yoga is not for sissies, well neither is a faithful dependence on the Lord. It takes great focus, a true desire and a loyal commitment to accomplish what it is that we set out to do. And if what we truly want to do is to have an intimate relationship with the lord, it is only through prayerful submission and God's simple grace that we will achieve the balance of our life joined with his and achieve his purposes for his glory.

Dear Lord, It was just a Yoga class, but even there I learned that I am not able to just jump into an advanced class and expect to be an active participant. It takes training and a dedicated and experienced coach to teach me the ways and bring me along. I thank you for being my life coach and prayerfully ask that you continue teaching me the basics so that I will be fortified in your position of strength, courage and wisdom as you build on my spiritual muscles of faith. Amen

Praise God wherever you are and whatever situation He has allowed you to be in . . . His glory will shine through!