Chapter 7—LET YOUR DESIRES LEAD YOU TO GOD
1) Ortberg speaks about how God made us with desires—Material, Achievement, Relational, and physical desires and there is a definite pattern to your desires. Do you see a definite pattern to your desires? Share if willing.
Chapter 8—THINK GREAT THOUGHTS
2) I love Ortberg’s skunk under the house story. He puts it clearly- “you cannot get rid of the skunk odor without getting rid of the skunk.” It is a great metaphor for thinking about this chapter. He writes “our feelings never descend on us at random. As a general rule, our emotions flow out of our thoughts.” Agree or disagree with this statement?
3) Reflect and comment on the statement- “the way we live will inevitably be a reflection of the way we think. True change always begins in the mind.”
4) The spiritual life is about paying attention to our thoughts. Ortberg says we need to remember to “monitor the mind”- take any thought and ask, “what direction do those thoughts lead me in? Are they leading me toward life- toward God’s best version of me or in another direction?
Do you find that simple question helpful? Are there other questions you can think of that would help “monitor” your thoughts?
Do you believe its possible for you, personally, to adjust thoughts that are not leading to life as Ortberg suggests?
Chapter 9—FEED YOUR MIND WITH EXCELLENCE
5) How are you feeding your “mind” right now? From your experience, what has helped “feed your mind so that it flourishes”?
CHAPTER 10- NEVER WORRY ALONE
6) Ortberg reminds us that we are not meant to worry alone. Have you ever had someone who was a “non-anxious presence” for you? (in the past? Current?) How did that help you on your journey?
Looking ahead- next week I will post discussion starters for part 4 of the book (chapters 11-14)
1- Pattern to my desires--yes, that of excelling and being independent. Not so much of material desires--I can self deny material things a long time, but the physical--achieving a goal of running/walking a certain distance, other physical goals is very impt., the pattern is usually to try my hardest to accomplish my desires on my own, but I am discovering that when I do that, I am shutting out God, and his power to help me, and direct me toward the desires that are really in His will for me.
ReplyDelete2-I agree that emotions flow out of thoughts--you become what you think about--positive or negative, relaxed or stressed, which leads to (3) where only when I change my anxious thoughts can I change the way I live, and interact with others. Yet, it's not just MY changing the way I think, it's using prayer time to surrender my thoughts to God, as I'm discovering hesitantly. Need some help here I think...
4- Sometimes the more I try and change my thoughts, the more anxious I become, and it becomes a viscious cycle, so NO, Ortberg's suggestion isn't especially helpful to me.
6- I have some very close friends who are non-anxious persons for me--one college friend who is especially this way. I can call Nancy and be calmer afterward when things get difficult for me. My husband is also good, but even he gets very anxious at times. I wish Nancy lived closer (she's in CT) because she has done much for me. She has put my concerns into perspective, and let me be me when eally uptight--that's really impt to me....she listens.
In the spirit of chapter 10, I wanted to share a worry I am having. I'm feeling a little self-conscious about being a main poster here! I have a lot of new experiences here....new to the church, new to a book group, new to an online book group. Because of the first 2, I have no marker of comparison as to how things normally operate for those of you who have done so. I was thinking that in similar situations, no matter how many people are involved, there are always some people who do most of the talking. And I was thinking that in those situations, I am not usually one of those people! So it's odd for me in this current situation. I think that the thing about facebook that I like very much is the constant exchange or feedback. When you post something, almost immediately you get comments from friends. And I think that the lack of feedback to each other has made us, or me, more aware or worried about continually just sharing my own stuff. Anyone else feeling any of this?
ReplyDelete1) I have definitely had patterns of desires over the years, and like everything else, that has morphed with age. I think I am getting better at maintaining a better handle on these and keeping them useful and not allowing them to have too much power over me.
2) Agree, agree, agree. I loved the skunk story too! I still have few skunks in my attic I am working on!
3) and 4) I agree in theory that the mind can be powerful and sometimes make the difference, but I also agree with Sue. Sometimes thinking too much on something just makes it worse.
5) Trying to feed it here, with this book and this discussion. I have not tried to read the bible for several years, I must confess. I just visited an Aunt in Florida who reads it everyday. And just seeing her sitting quietly reading made me very envious for the peace she seemed to have in those moments.
6) Honestly, my exterior person is very un-anxious. I'm the person people say remains calm and that people go to. If they only knew what was going on in the inside! I think knowing this is helpful to everyone, that we are all freaking out sometimes, and that even the calmest of souls need some help.