A Challenge, a Discipline, and a Contest

I raise my hand when asked, do any of you struggle with spiritual disciples. Last fall term, I needed to adopt a spiritual disciple for my Christian Ed. class, find a group of people to join me on a specific one, and then set out to explore that discipline. I and two good friends chose Forgiveness. I led our research. I talked about why Forgiveness was hard. We watched a film on forgiveness. We told our stories of getting to a place of forgiveness at different times in our lives, and we even cried. When it came time for the final and I was supposed to report how I practiced my discipline. I really couldn't do it. I wrote about biblical and historical examples. I reported how my group was conducted and our activities; but, could not authenticate my own place of practicing Forgiveness as a discpline. Clarification: A heart practice, not just a cognitive exercise done from time to time.

In my last ordination meeting, my pastor tasked the ordination pilgrims with the challenge of sticking to a spiritual discipline whatever that may be.
Sidebar: the purpose of a spiritual discipline (per my friend Kaye) is one that does the following: Stills us; Helps us Endure; Keeps us Connect; Nurtures our Growth; and, Expresses our love for God.

So, forgiveness might need to be on hold for now, but I thought of a couple of different things. I chose writing. I've been writing every day on this blog for the last two weeks. So far, so good. (Thank you to all have encouraged me to stick to it.) To start to get the "word" out of what I'm doing, I would like to have a contest. Many of my friends have contests to give-away a book, or make something. I'm thinking...something I could give away with joy...I came up with baking cookies. Leave a comment on my blog and I will have a drawing, and send you out cookies of your choice. Leave a comment...thank you for reading, and until tomorrow...wishing you many blessings of grace~