Dale Cresap's blog

Do you expect progress in your life to be linear and sequential? Do you see yourself establishing a foundation of meeting your basic needs, and then adding to it, much like a large building is built by adding floors in sequence? This may work for a building, but being too secure in the lower levels can limit upward progress in people. Could being too comfortable work against the stress and strain that are necessary to reach the higher levels? Have you seen this in the lives of others, that it takes a crisis at the lower levels to push them to advance to higher levels?

Do you have control issues? Is this something that is easier to see in other people than it is in yourself? How great is your sense that you are not capable of directing your own life, that you need assistance from outside yourself, that you are being led? The short answer to these questions is that if you are in control of your life I am not. Do you think of progress in terms of seizing and advancing in a structured planned process that you direct? Are you willing to view progress in terms of letting go and surrendering?

Do you like questions or do they make you uncomfortable? If questions make you uncomfortable, are you quick to seize answers to resolve the questions? Yet there are questions that require some time to answer. Have you been in situations or in churches where questions were not welcomed? There is no need to fear any question, and there is nothing wrong with living with some unresolved questions. In fact, there is growth potential available if you can meditate on unresolved questions that don’t lend  themselves to easy answers.

Have you been through a faith crisis or transition? Do you expect to go through one? When people are fully invested in their current practice of faith do they ever expect it to change? Yet often it does. If you have been through one yourself how do you know you will not go through another? Consider those who seem most spiritually mature to you, or whom you most admire. Have they gone through shifts or transitions, or is their faith practice essentially unchanged from the first?

Do you enjoy your freedom? Is it appealing to have unlimited opportunities for action available to you? Yet freedom accomplishes nothing unless you make the choice, and in making one choice, you are saying no to all others. And so you spend your freedom to move in one direction. Have you ever committed to a course of action only to find that it led to a place you didn’t want to go, or was unsuitable for you? It is not in a man that walks to direct his own steps. Blessed are those who are led by the Spirit of God, for they are sons of God.

Do you remember the story of the man with two sons, and he told them both to work in his vineyard? One said he would, but did not, and the other said he would not, but did. Which one did the will of his father? Do you know people who say that I exist and claim to believe in me, but live as if I did not? On the other hand, do you know people who claim I do not exist, but behave as if I did? You know that you are saved by grace through faith, not by works. Having said that, do not be eager to dismiss those whose life and conduct conforms to the law of love regardless of what they profess.

Have you heard that seeing is believing? Or heard people say that they will believe it when they see it? Yet have you not had things pointed out to you that were clearly in your field of vision that you had no awareness of until they were brought to your attention? Do you realize how deeply your perceptions are influenced by your preconceptions and biases? Most people don’t, even if they claim they do. Are we blind also? This is likely if you claim to see clearly. You tend to see only what you expect to see. So will you believe it only when you see it?

Are you comfortable with silence? Some people are not, and volunteer to prevent any periods of silence. Do you enjoy the company of such people? The multitude of words used to prevent silence can be wearisome. Do you speak because you have something to say, or because you have to say something? Let your words be full of intention and purpose, and they will be full of meaning. This is a case where less is more, and a few of the right words will carry more weight than the right words mixed with excess words. Are you familiar with the idea of ‘letting it sink in’?

I said that you must become as little children to enter the Kingdom of heaven. What essential quality do children have that allows them into my Kingdom? Children are believers from day 1. They are hard-wired for faith. This isn’t a quality that you develop over time, but you do run the risk of losing it as you grow older. Children thrive on stories that are not true in historical and factual sense, but this process is still essential to their growth. Did you put away childish things when you got older?

Do you value authenticity? You see ethnic restaurants that claim to serve authentic food, but most people prefer their food with a foreign theme adapted to the tastes of their culture. Do Americans eat more cheese on their ‘Mexican’ and ‘Italian’ food than Mexicans and Italians do? But this is just a matter of taste. Authenticity is a more important concept when it comes to people. The concept is the same in being true to the original. Do you live and express your true self; your unique spirituality identity, rather than maintaining an image? This is not just a matter of taste.