Benefits of Creating a Personal timeline – Part 2

Posted on April 22, 2016April 19, 2016 by Matthew Laker

Creating a personal timeline

We love to listen to stories and watch stories. Understanding our own story can help you further enter, engage and experience the life we were created for.

What is a Personal Timeline:

A personal timeline is created when you put together a chronological order of events, people, and experiences in your life down on paper. The purpose is to reflect back upon your life in order to understand what has shaped you so you can take stronger steps forward.

Preparing stage

· Purchase or have ready a pen, notepad (or word processor), and three different colours of sticky notes.

· Set aside 20-30 minutes in order to give a thoughtful reflection on the course of your life.

The exercise – part one

· Break your life down into chapters. For example, you could take a sheet of lined paper for each chapter(10 years). You could, on a wall, place titles for the chapter sections (10-year sections).

· Now using one color of your sticky notes list out people who have had a significant impact on your life. Place them in the correct chapter. This is both negative and positive impact.

· Using another colour of your sticky paper put in circumstances of significance (celebrations, challenges, crises, jobs change, painful moments, events, mission opportunities, ministry etc.)

· Using the third colour of sticky notes, mark out God markers in your life. Significant moments of growth in your spiritual life or understanding God.

The exercise – Part A

This is a moment to step back and look from a bird’s eye view. There are a number of things you could do. If it is on the wall perhaps put it down on paper to help reflect later and remember.

During this time use these questions below to help reflect.

Questions to ask after creating a life timeline:

1. What jumps out at you from your life’s journey?

2. What are the threads woven (themes) through your story?

3. What lessons have you learned over the years?

4. How have the painful points directed your life? What have you gained or learned from them? Is there any redemptive value from the painful points that has contributed value to your life?

5. Looking at key decisions, were they fruitful or not? How do you define this? What made it a good or bad choice. How did you respond?

6. What do you have to be thankful for? Is there anyone you need to thank?

7. Where, or what, are the turning points in your life timeline?

8. What was the most pressing emotion in each season?

9. What has God been teaching you along the way?

10. How does your life reflect the mission-heart of God?

11. When were you most fulfilled in ministry? What factors contributed to it?

12. How has this experience helped you better understand who you are in Christ?

13. What has your thought life been like through each of the chapters of your life? How has that directed your life?

The exercise – Part three

Look into the future. Where do you want to be in 5 or 10 years? What do you expect the future to look like?

In order to get there, what habits do you need to start?

Have you consider writing out a life plan? [sh_callout callouttype=”standard” title=”” bordercolor=”rgba(0,0,0,0.15)” bordersize=”1px” borderradius=”4px” backgroundcolor=”#fff” fontcolor=”rgb(24, 15, 221)” buttonenable=”enable” buttonbgcolor=”#DD4040″ buttonfontcolor=”#fff” btnbordercolor=”rgba(0,0,0,0.15)” btnborderwidth=”1px” btnborderradius=”4px” buttontext=”How a life plan can Help” buttonlink = “http://matthewlaker.com/how-a-life-plan-can-help/” buttonTarget=”_blank” fliptext=”” flipcolor=”#555″ flipbgcolor=”#fff” flipbordercolor=”rgba(0,0,0,0.15)” iconenable=”image” iconfontcolor=”#fff” iconbgcolor=”#DD4040″ iconset=”fontawesome” iconfa=” fa fa-glass” iconspin=”disable” image=”http://matthewlaker.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/how-life-plan-can-help.jpg” imageheight=”100px” imagewidth=”250px”][/sh_callout]

Understanding our story can help us further enter, engage and experience the life we were created for.

Creating a personal life timeline can be one tool to help you enter, engage and experience the life you were created for.

Let me know how you do!

Generous with time, but Focused

Posted on April 1, 2016April 7, 2016 by Matthew Laker

In Mark 1:32-39 Peter learns the need to focus on his time. At this point, Simon, who later would be called Peter, does not know much about Jesus. After some time in the synagogue, they go to Peter’s house. After the sunset people begin to show up at Peter’s house and Jesus spends time that night healing people.

The next day, early in the morning, Jesus gets up and leaves to find a solitary place and prays. Peter is searching for Jesus and seems a little frustrated that he has left. Peter tells Jesus that everyone is looking for him. Let me summarize what is behind that statement: What are you doing here Jesus? All these people are at my house and you need to be there healing those people. There is some implication that Peter sees the Lord’s absence as unproductive and perhaps having the wrong priorities.

Jesus simply does not seem impressed by the large crowd and all the people wanting. Notice his statement in verse 38 “Let us go somewhere else….” The reason was to preach the gospel to other villages. You see Jesus was generous with is time but also focused. He knew what God the Father sent him to do and so prioritizes his life. Jesus that day did not heal everyone or do everything.

Peter would learn the need to prioritize his time. Peter would begin to learn to look at the needs through the eyes of the Father’s will. There are a lot of good things they could be doing.

There are a lot of good things you could be doing.

Jesus knew what God the Father called him to do. Sometimes we get so caught up in trying to be good Christians and helping everyone and doing all kinds of good work that in the process, we miss Jesus and the opportunity to produce better fruit. Sometimes, like Peter, we have expectations, or listen to the expectations of others, and miss out on being and doing what God has called us to be or do.

What about you?

Are you just running through life with no direction; running from one urgent thing to the next? Have you filled your schedule so much that you look busy and are busy but have no margin and time to just be still and know God.

God is not in a rush.

In this season of your life, what is the Holy Spirit asking you to focus on? Where do you need to stop living for the urgent and live for the significant? Are you busy in work, or a location or circumstance, but God is calling you to be somewhere else?

This week ask yourself this question, how does Jesus want you to use your time?

There is no way Peter got this right away and he would have taken baby steps. What steps do you need to take to focus on what you should be doing?

In my life I do still live in the tensions and the only way I can align correctly is to have paused moments of reflection. Perhaps this is what Jesus was doing out there alone praying. He was being reminded of where he should be and who he was.

Series: Walking with Peter and Jesus

Help for a distracted Mind in Prayer.

Posted on March 9, 2016March 9, 2016 by Matthew Laker

My family and I recently watched the movie “Up” and the dog character, Dug, really reminded me of how we can often get distracted in prayer. Dug is found at times in the middle of a focused conversation and then suddenly, without warning, gets distracted when he sees something and shouts out the thing that is distracting him. The most well-known example of this is “squirrel!”.

How do we focus our prayer time and deal with the squirrel moments?

Our minds are amazing things and thoughts are triggered by smell, music, images and emotion. This is not a bad thing, but for many our minds can feel very cluttered when we are praying.

How do we focus in on praying?

It is common for many when they have set times of prayer to have their minds go every which direction than what they have set out to do in the moment.

Have you ever been there? We all will at some point.

Here are four things to help you when you get distracted in your prayer time.

a. Incorporate it into your prayer.

I do not know if there is a reason your mind went to that person or situation or all the things you need to do but why do you have fight it?

If it is something that needs to be written down, do so and pray about it. As people or situations come to mind, pray about or for them.

b. Read scripture

This can often help focus the mind and you can use the themes in the passage you are reading to guide your time. Find a few passages that you can pull up to help you focus and calm yourself. In my life psalm 23, 46, 90, 119, 145 are just a few I use.

c. Understand your environment.

We all will connect deeper with God in different environments. We need to become very aware of our environment and where we are at physically. Perhaps there is a need to shut certain lights off or turn them on. Many are going to need to shut the phone or parts of the phone off. In my current season of life, set prayer times need to be when my kids are sleeping or off busy for a time where they will not be coming to me. Play around with your environment.

d. Deep breathing

There was a moment of great anxiety in our life at one point. We had invited a number of the leaders over to our house after church and wanted them to pray with us. We struggled to share what was going on. Then one of our other pastors told us to take some deep breaths. He instructed us to count to 10 and as we did take a deep breath, then push it all out.

Doing such an exercise can be a great way of calming oneself. Sometimes I image as I blow out that I am pushing out all the worries and distractions and burdens I carry. Usually, I will do the breathing in and out a few times. I have learned there can be a physical impact upon my body by doing this. In return, it can help me focus.

There are many more tricks and ideas I could add, but what about you, do you have any tricks or ideas?

A Prayer Practise: What is Examen prayer?

Posted on February 17, 2016February 17, 2016 by Matthew Laker

Looking for help to kick start or develop your prayer life? Consider using the Examen prayer.

First some history:

A soldier was wounded in battle and while recovering he read about the life of Jesus and the people who followed his path. In time, he would convert to following Jesus. In exploring this faith and life, he became a priest to spread the gospel. In 1534, he and six others gathered and bound themselves by a vow to serve Christ. In doing this they called themselves the company of Jesus. Eventually, they would become ordained priests and ultimately become what we know today as the “Society of Jesus” or “Jesuits.”

From this group has developed something known as the “Examen prayer.”

The examen prayer is an intended short daily reflection. It is a method of seeking and finding God in your daily life. People have taken the practice and adapted it in small ways over time. However, the core seems to have stayed the same.

It is a great tool to help you engage, enter, and experience the life you were created for. It is a great tool to pick up for the lent season or add into your regular routine in life.

Examen Prayer Steps:

St. Ignatius, a Church in Boston that is staffed by Jesuit priests, shares the five steps of the Examen prayer.

1. Recall you are in the presence of God. No matter where you are, you are a creature in the midst of creation and the Creator who called you forth is concerned for you.

2. Give thanks to God for favors received. Pause and spend a moment looking at this day’s gifts. Take stock of what you received and gave. Notice these clues that guide living.

3. Ask for awareness of the Holy Spirit’s aid. Before you explore the mystery of the human heart, ask to receive the Holy Spirit so that you can look upon your actions and motives with honesty and patience. The Spirit gives a freedom to look upon yourself without condemnation and without complacency and thus be open to growth.

4. Now examine how you are living this day. Recalling the events of your day, explore the context of your actions. Review the day, hour by hour, searching for the internal events of your life. Look through the hours to see your interaction with what was before you. Ask what you were involved in and who you were with, and review your hopes and hesitations. What moved you to act the way you did?

5. Pray words of reconciliation and resolve. Having reviewed this day of your life, look upon yourself with compassion and see your need for God and try to realize God’s manifestations of concern for you. Express sorrow for sin, give thanks for grace, and praise God for the times you responded in ways that allowed you to better see God’s life.[i]

These steps can serve as a framework to help guide your prayer time. Many in steps four and five have included times of prayers for others as well.

Are you struggling in your prayer life or looking for a tool to help? This is one I have found useful in my life. Let me know how it goes for you.

[i] http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/prs/stign/ignatian_spirit.html

A Life plan: Admitting your reality

Posted on November 16, 2015November 16, 2015 by Matthew Laker

A personal review is a foundational step to growth.

If you are going to embrace, enter, and engage the life you were created for– if you are to discover a life of wholeness–it is going to involve looking at reality. To do that you will need to hit the pause button and take a look at your life in review.

Jesus shares, “how can you think of saying, ‘Friend, let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye” (Luke 6:42 NLT).

In that passage, Jesus is speaking about how we interact with others and judge them without seeing our own sin first. There is a reminder in this statement that we are both in need of God’s grace, but to find it we must admit our own sin first. It is in this passage that we also learn the value of admitting our own reality.

I was watching a season of reruns of ‘Kitchen Nightmares’ and noticed that the same thing happens in every episode: the food is bad and there are organizational issues everywhere. However, the biggest issues are the people refusing to look at the plank in their eye. Often they refuse to admit reality.

In any development of a life plan, part of that plan will involve understanding your current reality. Not only the circumstances but understanding who you are. How are you thinking and feeling? How are your thinking and habits are leading and contributing to where you are right now?

For many to admit their reality they are going to have to admit and identify the plank that is in their eye.

At the end of the year, it is common for people to set goals and New Year’s resolutions. Many of them fail because they are done on a whim and people do not really want to change.

If you are serious about wanting to change, you need to develop a plan and get help to work that plan. A good place to start is by reviewing your year.

Each December I sit down and do a review. I set aside some space with no distractions. I then take a mental walk through a reflection exercise of different areas of my life, asking where am I at.

Here are four questions to help you in such an exercise.

1. What can I celebrate in my life this past year?

2. What would I like to see changed? What is God asking me to change?

3. What were my obstacles this year?

4. What would I like to see changed next year.

Next Step: Get out your calendar and block off some time to take a review and create a game plan for the New Year.