It's written in a way that every few pages is a new 'discipline' that it goes over. (ie worship, gratitude, sabbath, celebration, etc.) It has a blurb, reflection questions, and exercises. And let me tell you, I am not about to use it as my devotions for each day. It's one of those "I'll do the dishes until you tell me I have to" type things. I would way rather do my own thing for daily devotions instead of being limited to a book that is simplistic, and way to "A-B-C-like". And what is more, at the end of the week we have to journal. So at first I was like, "Yay! No problem! I love journalling and would be doing it anyway."
But, we're getting marked on it. We have to limit it to one page double spaced and we have to follow a certain structure. I just completed the journal entry about 5 minutes ago and was so frustrated while doing it because I wasn't allowed to let my thoughts just flow and actually let it mean something to me. I had to be too conscious about making sure that I ended it with a proper conclusion, saving the goals until the end of the page, and writing it in a way that I knew my prof would be reading it.
You would think that in a spiritual formation class they would be encouraging us to grow sincerely and do the things that work best for us. It feels fake, forced, and routine. But I guess I'll just have to take it as a challenge to make it mean something to me anyway. To take it as it is and meet with God anyway.
1 comment:
Maybe look at this as an opportunity to have God take you out of your devotional..."routine", and reveal new parts of himself to you. Maybe you won't click with it on a heart level, but you can still learn things and personalize them for yourself. There are people that I know really need that structure, and it might give you an opportunity to talk with them about it....
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