Hi First Presbyterian,
It's time for your Mid-Week Meet-Up! On Sunday night, the Buffalo Bills fell to the Kansas City Chiefs in a game that sports commentators are calling the best game every played in NFL playoff history. In the final minutes of the game, the opposing teams each took the lead four different times. It was thrilling. It was historic. And for me and Bills fans everywhere, it was absolutely devastating.
I like football, because I find it entertaining and interesting to follow. I also like football because of how it teaches me about leadership, teamwork, and navigating through the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. A third reason I like football is because of how I’m feeling this week: it gives me an opportunity to be in touch with my feelings. What do I mean by that?
Football is just a game. Don’t get me wrong. For many Western New Yorkers (including myself, to some extent), football is more than just a game. It’s about the things I already mentioned above. It’s also about cultural identity. It’s about family rituals. Yet, at the end of the day, even though the Bills lost, my life goes on. Nothing has changed. My family hasn’t changed. My same routines are in place. My core values are the same. However, because of Sunday’s game, I have an opportunity to be in touch with my feelings when the stakes are low for me. Even though I’m a HUGE fan of the Bills and this loss hurts, it doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of life. That means: I have an opportunity to work through my disappointment in this situation that doesn’t really matter, so that, hopefully, I’ll be more prepared to work through my disappointment when I inevitably encounter a future situation that does matter.
In Christianity spirituality, we have something called spiritual disciplines. Examples of spiritual disciplines include prayer, fasting, almsgiving, scripture reading, solitude, silence, spiritual direction, and more. A spiritual discipline is intentional and habitual. In other words, we engage the discipline with meaning and focus, and we do it regularly. Spiritual disciplines are intended to be practice for the life of faith. We practice having an awareness and dependency on God so that, more and more, it becomes ingrained into our lives.
Have you ever heard the saying, “You don’t know how much you need God until God is all you have”? The point of Christian spirituality is to nurture a learned dependency on God, whether or not God is all we have. If you’re dealing with the Bills loss or some other minor negative experience, use it as an opportunity to practice dealing with adversity. If you want to grow your spiritual life, I encourage you to pick up a spiritual discipline. I’m happy to give you some suggestions. Lent is coming up and that’s always a perfect opportunity to try something new.
Stay aware of God’s presence in your lives, my friends.
Peace,
Aaron