During our three months in Costa Rica the Lord has really spoken to our family about the discipline of contemplation. From the book, Spiritual Disciplines Handbook, contemplation is defined as "waking up... to experience an event fully, in all its aspects." The author explains that a contemplative person recognizes that every experience offers more than meets the eye. They know that God is present. Consequently, contemplative people are open to seeing the unseen world. They sift the days for symbols and scan the sunsets for meaning. They believe that God may be found and reverenced in every day experiences. They see with faith, hope and love.
As a family, it has been our great joy to slow our pace and to step into each moment fully - and to be. We have seen that God is always speaking, all around us, in the little and big moments. And we are HEARING Him! Below are just a handful of the ways the Lord has spoken to us.
Ethan:
Below is a picture of a rose from a rose bush in our back yard. Roses are my favorite flower and I love looking at the pretty bush in our back yard. God has used the rose to speak to me about is how we can easily be deceived and pulled into temptation. Like this beautiful rose, sin can look good... but when you get close to the rose you see that there are thorns... sharp ones that can hurt you. Sin is the same way... it might seem beautiful, smell nice... but it will end with pain. The lesson of the rose has taught me that I want to be able to know what things are good and what things are evil. The way I can know the difference is to ask God for help and to study His Word daily. Please pray for me to grow in discernment. (We have just learned about what this word means!)
Christian: On a recent tour we learned the fact that the cocoa bean, where chocolate comes from, is useless unless it goes through a transformation process. The way it is transformed is it is stripped from the outer shell (that seemingly is there to protect it) and then it is fermented. Our tour guide used the phrase: "It is transformed in this stage from something bitter to something sweet." The cocoa bean is then crushed before it becomes useful to us as food.
The Lord used this to speak loudly to me about the importance of our transformation through putting to death the deeds of the flesh. When we allow God to transform us... when we are willing to go through the transformation process by allowing Him to strip away the outer things... and submit to Him as Lord of our life - then He changes us from bitter to His image. He continues to confirm this message to me through Romans 8.
Robin: On the same tour as the cocoa, we learned about coffee plants. We learned that coffee plants are always planted in pairs of two. Together they encourage each other to grow stronger and reach for the sunlight, they intertwine their roots and create a firm foundation and they support each other as they grow!
What a beautiful picture of God's design for us to live in community, to sharpen each other and to strengthen and support each other! Ecc 4:9-11 says: Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!
Amelia: The picture below is one of the pretty ocean views we have seen. The little tiny island is like us... and we are surrounded by God huge love. His love is deeper and bigger than the ocean. His love is really so much bigger than the ocean. Compared to his love, our love is like the tiny island but He can help us to love like the ocean.
Maddie: When we are about to make the decision to follow Jesus, to walk the narrow path, it can seem so intimidating. God calls us to the narrow path... sometimes that can be a little scary. When our family was about to cross some hanging bridges recently, I was so reluctant as I looked down the long, very narrow, very high bridge. But as I stepped out and continued to walk I was in awe at the beauty that surrounded us at and it was actually really fun on the bridge. The bridges were so narrow that we could only cross a few at a time. In our walk with the Lord we will often have to go alone, or with a few others. Following God will not be the path the majority will choose.... and it often doesn't seem like the easiest or safest path... but following God is the only real place to find safety and walking in his path is the most exciting adventure! Matthew 7:13 - 14 "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
Joshua says: On our morning walks, we often walk up a high, steep hill. One day, my mom and I were praying and walking and I noticed new spray paint on a post with the numbers 259.
259 is our family's number because it comes from our family's verse 2 Corinthians 5:9 which says, "We make it our goal to please Him." It was like God was saying, "Good Morning" to us and meeting us in our prayer time. The numbers were new...they hadn't been there the day before. It really made me feel happy and like God was on our walk with us.
