7 Asleep on the Job

Whoa. 

I'm used to hearing Jesus say, "Why are you so afraid?" That question alone is asked multiple times throughout the pages of Scripture by God in various ways to various people through various means. 

But when Jessica and Kate write, "Jesus might have said, instead, 'I thought you knew me,'" well, that just grabbed on to my heart and wouldn't let it go. 

It reminds me of the experience I had Wednesday night during our time of solitude and silence. We're in week 2 of gathering in the sanctuary Wednesdays from 5:30 - 6:30 p.m. and being silent together. (The sanctuary is plenty big enough to spread out and feel like you're alone!) 

I set up candles on the communion table to watch and to light, then add some papers for prayer requests, a guided reading for a Scripture passage, and a guided prayer to reflect back over the day. 

Last week, I picked this passage from Mark 8:22-29 ...  

They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?” He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.” Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. Jesus sent him home, saying, “Don’t even go into the village.” Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” 

“But what about you?” Jesus asked. “Who do you say I am?”

Then I added the questions: who is Jesus to you? What your relationship with him? If you could ask him to meet you in your deepest need, what would that look like? 

And I thought about how important it is to know the answer to that question, to know what images come to mind when we think of God, to be able to articulate the kind of relationship that we have with God. 

Kate and Jessica talk about all the things the disciples had seen Jesus do ... and yet, they were still "incredulous" when he appears to them post-resurrection (p 40). Are we too still incredulous? 

Seeing that we ourselves are reading this book in the season of Easter -- the weeks between Easter and Pentecost -- this seems like a question we should linger over longer: who do you say Jesus is? 

And then they ask: Why is it that we so often have "a picture of who we want God to be?" (p 41) And "how we want God to act?" (p 42) that may not match up with what we know of God? (We're getting dangerously close to idolatry again which we already talked about earlier here.) 

We worship a God who falls asleep during a storm. Who calls us to "love the stranger and foreigner and enemy. The one who leads us into chaos. The one who heals some but not all. ... And the one whose presence remains but whose absence is always before us in this broken world. We marvel at the God loves us and stays by our side, regardless of how little we understand or how often we wonder if our savior is asleep" (pp 41-42). 

There's a steadfastness in that that I love, like the "little way of love," that we talked about yesterday.

They don't try to answer the "why" of the questions we're asking; they simply accept that God is bigger than us and so much more than we can ever comprehend. 

"Oh God, comfortable would we be if You gave us formulas and answered prayers and realized hope. But You call us beyond comfort. ... May again and again we be awed by Your presence. That even when we feel like we've hit rock bottom, may we recognize we have fallen into Your arms because there is no place so deep or so dark or so scary that Your presence cannot reach." (p 43). 

Pastor Allison 

I'm curious: 

In the "A Good Enough Step" on page 44, they write: 

"Let is surface - that fear that is just below the surface, masquerading as frustration or irritability or tension. Let it come forward to your mind and sit with it awhile. Then put it into a prayer - something very specific and simple that says, "God, please take over all of this, just for today." Rest. 

Why don't you give that a try today? 

6 Small Things, Big Love

"There are many acts of great love that are great because they are massive, monumental, and earth-shattering. 

"And some are great because they are incremental. Each small act adds up to something really spectacular. 

"Small acts, great love" (p 35). Small acts are good enough to express great love.

Welcome to "the little way" of love. 

In the late 1800s, Saint Therese - knowing that she would die at a tender, young age - wrote: 

Love proves itself by deed, so how am I to show my life? Great deeds are forbidden me. The only way I can prove my love is by scattering flowers, and these flowers are every little sacrifice, every glance and word, and the doing of the least actions for love (p 36). 

I started writing this post three different ways, then deleted them all because nothing I could say would have made this simple truth any simpler; my words would have just gotten in the way. 

Lord, help us "to remember that love isn't always in grand gestures or extravagant gifts, but in the small, faithful acts. Help [us] to remember it is in the showing up, in the work behind the scenes, in doing that which won't get us recognition. The one who is first in and last out. The generosity of time, resources, spirit. The one who leaves flowers in her wake. 

"This is the long faithfulness that can change the world" (p 37). 

Pastor Allison 

I'm curious: 

At the end of the chapter, Kate and Jessica refer to Galatians 5:4-6 -- here it is from "The Message" version of the Bible: 

"I suspect you would never intend this, but this is what happens. When you attempt to live by your own religious plans and projects, you are cut off from Christ, you fall out of grace. Meanwhile we expectantly wait for a satisfying relationship with the Spirit. For in Christ, neither our most conscientious religion nor disregard of religion amounts to anything. What matters is something far more interior: faith expressed in love." 

Those are two interesting sentences to put side by side (what I put in bold). Which do you spend more time thinking about, interior love or exterior love? Which do you feel more capable of? How do they work how in hand? 

And I love the words of the Adam Lindsay Gordon poem they quoted: 

Life is mostly froth and bubble, 
Two things stand like stone, 
KINDNESS in another's trouble,
COURAGE in your own.

What do those words mean to you? 

5 Building a Good Day

“We need to learn how to structure a day that is rich in meaning and joy-producing activities. … How we spend our time defines who we are. There is no magical future. Today is our future” (p 29).

How do you structure your day?

Hopefully by now you’ve got a good enough regula going: some routine for reading today’s Good Enough chapter and this Good Enough blog post and leaving a Good Enough comment.

It may not always happen at the same time every day, but hopefully you’re creating a sacred rhythm of carving out some time and space in your day for time spent with God in prayer and study.

You’ve got to be thoughtful about this because, as they say in the book, a day is a limited thing, only as big as a mason jar (from the opening illustration on pages 28-29). So you’ve got to decide what Big Stones and Small Stones will fit in your day.

If you’re reading this in the morning, don’t start planning today yet. Instead, think back over yesterday. (There’s a sacred rhythm called the “daily examen” that can help with that. It’s a favorite evening ritual of mine.)

If you’re reading this at night, think back over today.

What big loves (big stones) found their way in to your jar? Which ones didn’t but you wish they had? What little loves (little stones) found room to wriggle their way in?

Or, did your jar seem so full of unwanted things (shards of glass and sand), there was no room left for loves, big or little?

What meaningful and joy-producing activities do you wish had been a part of your day? Why weren’t they? How can you change that tomorrow?

I appreciate the point the authors make toward the end of the reading, that in some seasons in life, our jars may be very small, and we may only be able to fit a few things into them. Again, as someone who is living a more limited life now because of health concerns, I cannot cram as many stones into my jar as I used to. (Well, I could, but I’d probably give myself a seizure.)

Some days, it’s good enough to only have a few stones in our jar. 

“To be human is to accept that we are limited and the more honesty we have about that, the better” (p 31). 

(I love that. If you do too, you should read Kate Bowler’s excellent book, No Cure for Being Human.)

Let your big loves in first. Prioritize them. Then let the rest come as they will. That’s good enough.

From “A Prayer at the Start of the Day” (for the early birds among us!):

You are the kindness that runs to find me wherever I have wandered off to. You are the faithfulness I don’t have enough of. You are my safe harbor in the midst of the storm. And in that quiet place, speak gently to me of what needs to change in order for Your freedom to free me, Your love to care through me, and Your faithfulness to strengthen me.” (p 32)

Pastor Allison

 

I’m curious:

From page 33: “Think about the day you’ll have tomorrow. Is there anything you can cross off or kick down the road? Don’t crowd your day.”

“What are your big loves? Allow them to take up space.”

“Then, do it again tomorrow.”

How we spend our time defines who we are. 

Thoughts? Questions? Thoughts on my questions? Share them with me in the comments! 

4 Shiny Things

As Martin Luther famously wrote in his Larger Catechism, “That to which your heart clings and entrusts itself is, I say, really your God” (p 24).

Ouch.

Idolatry may just be the sin that’s the hardest to escape. If you peel away the layers of your besetting sin (your “favorite” sin) and the shiny things that take your attention away from God, chances are you’ll find idolatry somewhere at the heart of what’s really going on.

“My sense is that we are more likely to be Judas than Peter. Peter denies God. Judas betrays him” (p 23).

Double ouch.

Using the story of Aaron, the Israelites, and the Golden Calf from Exodus 32:1-35, Kate and Jessica explain that idolatry is creating a false image of the true God (p 23). And while Christians are likely to avoid the big sins like murder and arson, we ARE prone to “take great comfort in our own version of God instead” (p 24).

Anne Lamotte – one of my favorite writers! – once said, “You can safely assume that you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.” (Traveling Mercies)

After thinking about this for a moment or two, ask yourself: do I do this?

Does the God you worship always agree with you?

Who does your God say it’s OK not to love? Not to care for?

(“After all, what is idolatry except beautiful things that do not transform us?” p 25)

Or do you constantly find yourself challenged by what Jesus commands you to do and who Jesus commands you to love?

If you find yourself being challenged, something tells me that you are resisting the sin of idolatry. That’s good enough faith.

“O, how blessed are we who lay it all out before You, oh God, asking to be awakened to our lives as You see them. Asking for the inward renovation that will tear down anything false we worship, and for the outward turning that will make every aspect of our life point to You” (p 26).

Pastor Allison

 

I’m curious:

What do you think idolatry ("shiny things") looks like in your life? Probably not much like a golden calf! It's much sneakier than that! 

In the “A Good Enough Step” on page 27, the authors write: “What do your major life choices point toward? … What is the most beautiful thing you can say about your life when you look at the evidence? … What is a core truth of your life, the straightest arrow you can imagine finding there? Now ask yourself, is it aimed too low?"

Once again, these are pretty personal questions but I’d love to hear your thoughts on this chapter, perhaps in generalities instead of specifics. 

3.5 Mourning a Future Self

Friends, in case you don't see this in the comments on the previous post: 

If this chapter touched you or if your heart aches or resonates at the thought of simultaneous joy and longing, I hope you'll check out this podcast hosted by the author, Kate Bowler. 

Below is the info from Kate's website about the episode ... 

SURVIVAL OF THE KINDEST

How is it that joy and pain seem to coexist at once? Susan Cain (author of the bestseller Quiet) explores this question in her new book, Bittersweet. In this conversation, Kate and Susan discuss:

• How we are literally hardwired for compassion 
• Susan’s advice for pushing back against compassion fatigue
• How that feeling of longing isn’t something to be ashamed of but allows us to see things clearly—the beautiful and the terrible

If you ever feel like you didn’t have a word for the sweetness of longings (and why your compassionate heart is a gift), this conversation is for you.  

3 Mourning a Future Self

Well, this chapter just split my heart open. Did that happen to you too?

“What is it that you grieve,” Kate and Jessica ask on page 15. 

They’re asking specifically about grieving something that now never will come to pass: an “imagined future” or a future self that has died.

Surely, we’ve all suffered an unexpected loss of something we always had or expected or hoped would happen. We all know the ache they’re talking about – the “deep sadness that reverberates through our bones” (p 15).

A whole way of living died the day I had my first seizure. (That’s not a completely bad thing because I was living beyond my limits.) But I will never be able to live a life where I’m not measuring and tracking and evaluating something. Which can be exhausting. 

And I’m not sure I’ll ever drive a car again because I don’t know when a seizure is going to happen. That means I will always (one way or another) have to ask someone to take me somewhere. This loss of freedom and independence is something I deeply mourn – I mourn the loss of the life I used to live and even mourn the life I might HAVE to live from now on.

Thankfully, all is not lost. “Loss requires us to reimagine hope” (p 16). 

I can do hope; I am good at looking for hope. This new life I'm not sure I want can still be good enough. 

Even as I type these words, providentially, a friend texted me about an event, asking if I wanted to go and needed a ride. Reimagining hope for me is being grateful for dear friends who are looking out for me and trying to include me because they know I hate asking for help.

“Acknowledging ‘this will never be’ is the precursor to imagining what might happen next" (p 16). Because something always does happen next. Hope is always reimagined, if we have the eyes to see it. Why not name what will now never happen, so that we can prepare for what is yet to come?

Kate and Jessica encourage us to look into the painful emotions we all have – “When you cannot have the future you imagined, let the tears flow. Let yourself mourn. … Tell God the whole of it. Even if it hurts” (p 17).

“Blessed are you when mourning is the holy work of the moment, for it speaks of what is real” (p 18).

Pastor Allison

 

I’m curious: Did your heart split open when you read this chapter? Is there something you need to mourn but can’t face? Has this chapter changed your mind about anything? I don’t expect you to be specific in a public forum if you don’t want to, but I am curious to hear what you think if you can speak in generalities. (I’m still learning to mourn my imagined future.)  

What do you think of their suggestion of a ritual to mark a transition like mourning an imagined future? (p 19) 

Let me know in the comments! 

2 Buoyed by the Absurd

“Is it OK to laugh when sadness surrounds us?” (p 10) 

This is a question I’m guessing we’ve all wondered about at one point or another. I’m sure we could each name a contrasting set of circumstances like they do in the book, like Kate’s mom laughing at her “delicious frozen rocks” in the hospital as her mother was dying (pp 9-10).

The inescapable truth is, “Joy and sorrow simply coexist” (p 10).

Kate and Jessica recall the stories of Jesus’ first miracle of turning plain, old water into the finest Bordeaux at the wedding in Cana while under the thumb of the Romans (John 2:1-11). When he was surrounded by grumbling bellies, Jesus made sure there were leftovers (John 6:1-15, Matthew 14:13-21). And when he was resurrected from the dead, Jesus appeared to the disciples and asked for something to eat (Luke 24:30-32).

Even in difficult circumstances, Jesus was “a man who enjoyed a feast” (p 11). If it's good enough for Jesus, then can't it be good enough for us too? 

When things heated up between Russia and Ukraine and became a part of our daily living through the news and social media, I heard folks asking this same question: how can we rejoice about things in our lives when we can see the suffering of so many?

I love the simple acknowledgment that all kinds of emotions can coexist at the same time. You can be full of joy and full of sorrow. You can grieve and delight. (I’ve seen all of those happen at funerals – you grieve the loss but delight in the memories and the chance to gather with family and friends.) 

Romans 12:15 reminds us to “Rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn.” Sometimes that means doing it at the same time, like when my friend had one daughter announce she was pregnant while the other whisper their second fertility treatment had failed at the same time. 

It’s an occupational hazard for pastors that we run into a lot of sorrow and grief. And sometimes it is the most absurd things that keep me afloat. (If only you could see the frivolous things I watch on YouTube or the podcasts I listen to when my soul is feeling heavy!)

They say in the book, “ … there is a discipline to this kind of joy, especially when we’re not feeling especially cheery” (p 14). 

I wonder what would happen if we could work a bit of joy or absurdity into our regula so that it’s already an ingrained discipline the next time we need it!

Perhaps my favorite part of this chapter is from “A Prayer for Finding Joy in Sorrow” on page 13. I’ve changed it from the singular to the plural: “God, [we] can’t deny it, the way that sorrow catches up with [us] and forces [us] to pay attention. There is so much to grieve, so much to lament in the world, in [our] life, in the lives of those [we] love. You have shown [us] again and again that I can look sorrow in the face, take its hand and talk things over, because it shows [us] what [we] love” (p 13).

I really love that last line, how looking sorrow in the face reveals what we love the most. That re-framing makes sorrow feel a little more bearable, don’t you think?

Pastor Allison

I’m curious: have you asked this question or has someone asked it of you? If so, how did you answer it?

When you find yourself in this kind of situation, what do you do? Do you give in to the sorrow and let it drown out the joy?

What sources of joy or absurdity (like the list on p 11) do you draw on in times like this?  

Let me know in the comments! Or, show us you did your regula by just saying, "I did it!" 

1 Regula

For a long time, I thought a “rule of life” was admirable and definitely something I should aspire to. So I did what pastors do when they want to learn something: I read some books about it!

I found several examples of classic versions of this rhythm with their emphasis (at least, in my perception) on doing the same thing at the same time, day after day. And that usually means following a prescribed set of Bible readings and prayers. 

Good and necessary stuff for a Christ-follower who wants to grow in their faith. We should all do something like this. 

Websites like the Daily Office and apps like YouVersion and the Presbyterian Church’s Daily Prayer app put things like this right at your fingertips, all planned out for you. Even this book, Good Enough, has everything right there for you in one place. And there are a million other daily devotionals available out there!

But I could never stick with one of those things.

I tried the Daily Office but lost interest after a while. I use the Daily Prayer app when I’m leading a group, but it doesn’t do much for me when I do it by myself. I’ll start a devotional book only to find that what I need to be studying and praying about has changed but part of the rule is finishing the book (so I thought), and I would get frustrated and quit.

And then I got really down on myself because I know this is something I should be doing, but I failed every time I tried, just like Kate and Jessica said sometimes happens (pp 4-5).

So it was as though the heavens opened when I read Kate and Jessica’s definition of “regula” – a regular pattern of activities that becomes more valuable over time because its structures creates a space for good things (p 3).  

I mistakenly thought a rule of life meant you needed to do the same thing at the same time every day again and again and again. But that’s not it at all. It’s so much more to it than that! So much more freedom and flexibility. 

They say, “ … a regula doesn’t have to be hard; it only has to be regular” (p 5). 

Here’s my regula now: since I am at my best in the morning, I wake up and do a head to toe body scan, first asking, “How am I feeling physically?” and then “What do I need spiritually?” (Often those two things are tied closely together.) Based on how I answer those questions, I make a plan. Sometimes it’s the same thing for a couple of days; sometimes it’s different every day for a week of days.

What’s important is that it’s becoming a sacred rhythm for me to ask myself those questions and then make time to spend with God in a way that feels right for me, that I look forward to, and that feels natural for me.

If you don’t have a regula, I hope you will work to develop one in the next 40ish days. Here’s a “good enough” way to create one:  

1. Figure out your best time of day: Are you an early bird? A night owl? Do you come alive in the afternoon? 
2. When you’re at your best, read the chapter from Good Enough and try the activities they suggest.
3. Then read my blog reflection.
4. Finally, leave a comment to show you followed your rule of life! (If nothing else, just post, “I did it!” and we’ll all know what you meant!)  

Ta-da! Now, you have a regula to experiment with! It’s nothing fancy, but it is good enough.

"Blessed are we who ask You to be the guide as we begin to build from here and create a stronger, more flexible rule of life." 

Pastor Allison 

Wait, before you go -- I'm curious! Do you already have a regula? Are you mostly able to follow it, or do you sometimes struggle with the discipline of doing it every day? 

What other sacred rhythms are most important to you? 

What difference does it make in your day when you’re able to follow those sacred rhythms as opposed to the days when you don’t? 

Leave a comment!  

A Prelude (Sat, 04.23.22)

In the preface to their book Good Enough, authors Kate Bowler and Jessica Ritchie write: If you check your social media feed, the debate has been settled. Yes, you can be perfect. Other people are living beautiful, joyful, effortless lives. In fact, it’s embarrassing that you haven’t joined their ranks yet already. (p. vii)

Of course, that’s all written with tongues firmly planted in their cheeks.

But they’re right: somehow, a lot of us (like me and you since you’re reading this!) have gotten the idea in our heads that we actually can be perfect. Or at least get pretty darn close.

Try harder. Do better. Other people are already at the finish line (p. viii).

I’m the firstborn of five with most of those associated characteristics: confident, driven, determined, organized. (Did you know that almost all US Presidents are fellow firstborns?) A peacemaker/people-pleaser by nature. A high-achiever by nurture. I often think I should have gone into a profession that involved commissions, because I could work harder and longer than almost anyone I knew.

And then in November 2020, I started having seizures, and everything stopped.

After being stunned wore off, I started recalibrating my life’s rhythms because I was far exceeding my limits. I’m not sure I would have said I was striving for perfection; I think I just wanted to be a faithful servant of God in my vocation as a pastor. But being a “faithful servant” manifested itself in the habit of doing good, noble, helpful things at 100 mph during 12-14 hour days.

And guess what I learned? Poor quality of sleep and high amounts of stress are two of the biggest seizure triggers. I’m not saying that’s what caused my seizures (we haven’t figured that out), but if I kept living at that pace, I was going to do some serious damage to my brain. And my soul.

Long before I read this book, I realized that I needed to learn how to live a life that was “good enough,” and I am grateful for both the vocabulary as well as the permission to just be good enough. You don’t know what a relief this is for me. You can only strive after perfection for so long – live beyond your limits for so long – before your body and your soul begin to fall apart.  

I’ve been recalibrating the rhythms of work and rest for over a year now, but there are still moments when perfection is awfully sneaky and tempting. (You can read about a recent choice between perfection and good enough I wrote about here.)

But most days, I am totally on board with the idea that “We are on the lookout for beauty and meaning and truth in the midst of lives that didn’t turn out like we thought they should. We can have lives where God breaks in and surprises us. We can learn to believe that we are blessed regardless of how our lives appear on social media or at high school reunions. We can begin to feel less alone, more loved, and less judged when good is … enough” (p xii).

It makes my heart happy that you’re along for the ride of learning that being good enough really is good enough.

Blessed are [we] who need a gentle reminder that even now, even today, God is here, and somehow, that is good enough.

Pastor Allison 

A *Good Enough* Triumph!

Even before I begin officially blogging my way through Kate Bowler's Good Enough, I'm already attempting to leave behind my pursuit of perfection in favor of the pursuit of *good enough.* And here's proof: 

Tuesday afternoon, I had worked diligently to set up a prayer center for a Wednesday evening time of silence and solitude. 

(See Exhibit A )  

Everything was perfect: the lights were dimmed; the candles were just right, their light flickering in the water that filled the vases; the guided Scripture reading and daily reflection prayer papers were finished and printed. The atmosphere was exactly what I was hoping for! 

And then ... I looked a little more closely at the daily reflection paper I had created. 

(See Exhibit B)

Yup, that definitely says "Weds, Jan 20, 2022." 😬 

So, I was faced with a choice: do I follow my perfectionistic tendencies and take the time to go back to my computer, wake it up, change the document, and print the copies again because I just can't stand it when I see a mistake and have the ability to fix it ... or do I decide this is *good enough*?  

(Wait. Did I also mention I discovered this mistake about 30 minutes before people were supposed to arrive? And I was a little behind schedule because someone had stopped by for emergency food, and I ended up sharing some other resources with them? And as a result, I was feeling extra stressed and panicked when I discovered my mistake?) 

Would I choose to make my stress worse and rush to fix my mistake or would I choose to say, "You know what? This is *good enough.*" 

I chose to say this is good enough. And because I chose good enough, I was in the right frame of mind to lead an hour of silence and solitude - not rushed, not panicked. Peaceful instead. 

And you know what? If anyone noticed my mistake, they didn't say anything to me about it. 

Have you made a *good enough* kind of decision lately? If so, tell us about it in the comments! 

Pastor Allison 

#itwasgoodenough #iamgoodenough

It's Time to Be Good Enough

 

It's the season of Easter at Second Pres ... and time to set aside the pursuit of perfection in favor of the pursuit of GOOD ENOUGH! 

From the Good Enough website: 

Written gently and with humor, Good Enough is permission for all those who need to hear that there are some things you can fix—and some things you can’t. 

And it’s okay that life isn’t always better. 

In these gorgeously written daily devotionals, co-authors Kate Bowler and Jessica Richie offer fresh imagination for how truth, beauty, and meaning can be discovered amid the chaos of life.

Their words celebrate kindness, honesty, and interdependence in a culture that rewards ruthless individualism and blind optimism. Ultimately, in these pages we can rest in the encouragement to strive for what is possible today—while recognizing that though we are finite, the life in front of us can be beautiful.

 

Here's how it works: 

Each day's devotional includes a prayer or blessing because Kate and Jessica believe in blessing the crap out of people.  

Included with each devotional entry is a quote of some sort and a simple prompt called a Good Enough Step to nudge us toward action. No, not every transformation is possible. But yes, there are some things we can do to inch toward a deeper, richer, truer kind of faith. 

They write: "Let’s begin. But before we do: A blessing for you, dear one, as you embark on this joyfully mediocre journey toward, well, imperfection."

A Blessing for a Joyfully Mediocre Journey 

Blessed are you

who realize there is simply not enough

—time, money, resources.

Blessed are you

who are tired of pretending

that raw effort is the secret to perfection.

It’s not. And you know that now.

Blessed are you

who need a gentle reminder that

even now, even today,

God is here, and somehow,

that is good enough.

And you are welcome to join us in this joyfully mediocre journey toward a good enough life and faith! 

1. Pastor Allison's reflections (starting with chapter 1) will go live on Sun, April 24. 
2. Books will be available through the church office - call (740-353-4159) or email (secondpres@yahoo.com) to reserve your copy now. 
3. Read whenever you want, post whenever you want from wherever you happen to be - no scheduling a group discussion date and time! 
4. You are encouraged to comment on the post, respond to someone else's comment, or add your own thoughts. 
5. A "perfect" goal would be to do this on a daily basis, but since we're aiming for "perfectly imperfect," try to post more often than not! 

More About Being "Good Enough"

What Kind of Faith is GOOD ENOUGH?

• A good enough faith will establish a sort of rhythm of life to sustain momentum. These are not an effort to ensure 7 Steps to Guaranteed Sainthood™, but rather to remind us that closeness with God is not just a question of belief. It is also in the small actions we can take. 
  
  
• A good enough faith is not reaching for the impossible. We can’t be everything to everyone, or even enough for ourselves. We’re human. 
  
  
• A good enough faith looks for beauty and truth in what’s possible. No, not everything is possible. But we will hunt for the places where we can find an opportunity for a little more.

Truths to Start Loving Even More 

• We are made for interdependence.
  
  
• We are fragile…and so is everyone else. But we can learn to live beautifully inside of our limited bodies. 
  
  
• Yes, our stupid, imperfect, ordinary lives can be holy. Life will break your heart, and there’s nothing wrong with you if you know that. 
  
  
• Sometimes joy and laughter and absurdity are the exact medicine we need, but also we need actual medicine. We love actual medicine too.