Part of our spiritual discipline begins with attentiveness. We are called to pay attention to two things: First we are to notice our restlessness and learn to call it what it is—a hungering for God. Attending to our restlessness may mean emptying ourselves of some of those other things that fill up our lives—those things, whatever they are, that dull us to our need for God. And each of us knows for ourselves what those “other things” are.
Second, we are invited to give attention to those moments of communion with God. Those glimpses, when we take time to notice them, can pull us forward toward all God has in store for us. Our discipline begins, then, with the desire of our hearts, the desire placed there by our creating, redeeming God.
This message is adapted from “Discipline: Not about Should or Ought” written by E. Louise Williams in the January/February 2001 issue of Lutheran Woman Today (now Gather) magazine.