{"id":1187,"date":"2018-08-29T16:38:17","date_gmt":"2018-08-29T20:38:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redchairblogs.wpengine.com\/holymoly\/?p=1187"},"modified":"2018-08-29T16:38:17","modified_gmt":"2018-08-29T20:38:17","slug":"learning-to-be","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/2018\/08\/29\/learning-to-be\/","title":{"rendered":"Learning to Be"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the last two years I have been on a contemplative spiritual journey. It has been a journey of recovering the truth that I am a human being<\/em>, not simply a human doer<\/em>. As a minister, it\u2019s been a journey of learning to be with <\/em>God, first, in order to do for <\/em>God. As a husband and father, it\u2019s been a journey of learning to be present to my family at all times.<\/p>\n

Now, as a task oriented, to-do list completer, J on the Myers-Briggs, and Achiever on StrengthsFinder type of person, I like to get stuff done. Yet, in my rush to complete a task I have often ignored people who ultimately matter more than tasks. Sure, I\u2019ve checked something off of my list, but I have neglected the people around me. I\u2019ve been present to my list, but not present with the people I love dearly.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve also seen how easy it so to get lost in our devices, such as our phones, tablets, or laptops, which results in ignoring the people around us. It\u2019s interesting to note that our technological devices were created to connect us and be present with people who are not physically near. Ironically, though, these devices often hinder us from being present with people who are physically near. The device created to break down certain barriers actually creates more barriers.<\/p>\n

So, I have been learning how to be with God and to be with people. I have been trying to log off, shut down, turn off notifications, and leave my phone in the other room. I am working to be present with people around me rather than rush to get a task completed. Through it all, I have been learning how to be.<\/p>\n

There is a great psalm found in the ancient scriptures. Written from the voice of the Divine, Psalm 46:10 simply states, \u201cBe still and know that I am God.\u201d Some meditate on this short psalm by reading it slowly as written below:<\/p>\n

Be still and know that I am God. <\/em><\/p>\n

Be still and know that I am.<\/em><\/p>\n

Be still and know.<\/em><\/p>\n

Be still.<\/em><\/p>\n

Be. <\/em><\/p>\n

It is in our being and our stillness that we can know the Divine. Learning to be still, learning to be, has been a beautiful life-changing quest. And, I invite you to learn to live as you were created to be; a human being, not a human doer. Be with. Be still. Be.<\/p>\n

For any student that is interested, I am starting a weekly group, called Praxis, to explore ancient contemplative spiritual practices and rhythms that teach us to be. If interested, please send me an email (Albert_ND@lynchburg.edu) or stop by the Spiritual Life House. <\/em><\/p>\n

Nathan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the last two years I have been on a contemplative spiritual journey. It has been a journey of recovering the truth that I am a human being, not simply a human doer. As a minister, it\u2019s been a journey …<\/p>\n

Learning to Be<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nathan"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1QIf6-j9","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1187\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lynchburg.edu\/holymoly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}