14 Sep Serenity of Spirit

Well, it’s been a week.

Last Friday I read the most beautiful prayer in one of my favorite books, A Diary of Private Prayer. Here’s a portion of it:

O, God, you have proved your love for all people by sending us Jesus Christ our Lord…

Help me, Lord, to remember the blessed life that was once lived on this common earth, under these ordinary skies. May I take this memory into each task and duty of today. Help me to remember—

His eagerness to help others, rather than be helped;
His sympathy with suffering of every kind;
His beavery in the face of his own suffering;
His gentleness toward others, so that when he was abused, he did not retaliate;
His steadiness of purpose in keeping to his anointed task;
His simplicity;
His serenity of spirit;
His complete reliance upon you, his Father in heaven.

In each of these ways give me grace to follow in his footsteps…

John Baillie, A Diary of Private Prayer
Sixth Day, Morning

I love this. Every part of it, every aspect of Jesus’ life… it’s what I want; it’s the way I want to live mine. I really do.

It was His serenity of spirit that struck me the most. In the midst of everything that Jesus did in a day in his life on earth, he maintained a serenity of spirit. I stopped and prayed for the same. But I think I really only prayed for serenity in my circumstances— a state of utter calm and unruffled repose or quietude; peaceful, untroubled… where nobody and nothing bugged me.

I went about my day.

Buggy Stuff

God’s sense of humor…can I just say, honestly, that it is somewhat annoying at times.

I had a full week ahead of me, with a big writing deadline. So, I was thinking that my serenity prayer would set me up for a sort of spa-like serene week in which to finish writing and get everything together to be printed. My day started out with a bit of trouble and frustration. Buggy little stuff like the WIFI connection at the house is jacked up again and the TV went out, so I had to reboot it for the umpteenth time this month. That turned into a 90-minute text “conversation” on the AT&T app with someone (maybe a real person, maybe an Artificially Intelligent machine—I don’t know. I was too afraid to ask). It culminated with an appointment being set for Monday, at the not-so-convenient arrival time of Noon to 4:00 pm. I took a deep breath, hoping for some serenity to fill my lungs.

The rest of the week escalated. The AT&T tech never showed up, so a new appointment had to be scheduled (that only took 75 minutes to make). And since I was on a deadline to write and print my Bible study materials, of course the internet at the office went out—which was resolved the next day; after which the copy machine became uncooperative as my deadline was breathing down my neck. I was determined to capture some serenity in the midst of these circumstances. I dug my heels in.

Something to Think About

Hard work is a gift.

I laid my head heavy on my pillow last night. I was so tired—both John and I were. It had been a long and very full week of good and hard work; of frustrations and buggy stuff, and deep stuff, and great meetings—encouraging and helping people. As we prayed, I thanked God for the gift of hard work, for good and purposeful work to do, and the strength, health, ability and energy to accomplish these good things He’s given us to be about. A year ago, I was recovering from two knee replacements; I couldn’t move around very well, I ached, I couldn’t do hard things or lift heavy stuff; and my whole year was devoted to rehab and recovery. I didn’t like that, but it was necessary.

And a year later— I’ve been given back my strength to get up every day and go for God. And even when those days are met with frustrations, troubles, and buggy stuff, it is a good and beautiful thing to have good, hard work to do. Whether it’s hard and heavy, or tedious, or ordinary— even when my body is bone tired, even then, it’s beautiful, and I’m grateful. So very grateful.

Serenity of Spirit

You know as well as I do that it’s always something. And there’s always gonna be something that threatens our peace, our serenity.

I reread Bailley’s prayer about Jesus with a slap to my forehead:  His serenity of spirit. A serene spirit was Jesus’ way of life. No matter where life took him.

My problem is that I was striving for serenity on the outside (boy, is that ever an oxymoronic statement if I’ve ever written one), instead of allowing the Holy Spirit to control me from the inside, causing my spirit to abide in a state of utter calm and unruffled repose; quiet, peaceful, and untroubled.

A serene spirit is an inside job. It comes from abiding in the Vine (John 15)—staying closely connected to the One whose spirit is serene despite his circumstances. When you hang with Jesus, and his Word abides in you, the fruit of his Spirit comes out. And you know—we tend to become like the people we spend time with.

I must say that in all the buggy stuff I didn’t completely blow it. I got plenty frustrated, but not to the detriment of anyone or anything. Praise God! I prayed over broken things and uncooperative things. I kept meetings I had planned and finished tasks. God, in His grace and mercy, pressed in on me in order to help me learn, once again, that a serene spirit is already within me—in the person of the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ. I need only to abide…to hang close to him, and let him lead me.

I’m so glad He did.

One More Thing

This morning, the air conditioner was out at our home (not even kidding), but my spirit was serene. The A/C technicians got there quickly, and the job was finished before noon—and I had a thoroughly delightful conversation with these two great young men, talking about our beloved dogs, and speaking words of blessing over one another. Just another ordinary day with good stuff, and buggy stuff, and beautiful stuff.

Perfectly ordinary stuff + serenity of spirit = a beautiful, ordinary life.  

I’m still asking God to grow more of a Christ-like serene spirit within me.

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Until next week— don’t forget that you are greatly and dearly loved by The King! And let’s live our beautiful, ordinary lives like women who believe it!

I love you!

xo – P❤️