Arrange Your Life
Dallas Willard's Church Growth Secret Became My New Year's Resolutio
“So I pace and I pray / And I repeat the mantras that might keep me clean for the day.”
Jason Isbell’s 2013 album Southeastern includes some of the most emotional and introspective songwriting I’ve encountered. This particular line from “Songs that She Sang in the Shower” has held my attention for years. The song recounts his journey through rehab and sobriety. Like many in recovery, he relied on certain phrases, mantras, that helped keep him focused on the task at hand.
Though “recovery” in my life hasn’t included rehab, I’ve relied on several mantras to help me rethink and refocus on the changes I need to make. One came from John Ortberg’s recollection of his conversation with Dallas Willard about spiritual growth.
A Moment of Clarity
In Living in Christ’s Presence, John recounts asking Dallas, “How can I help people in my church grow spiritually? What do I need to do?”
Dallas’s immediate response: “You must arrange your life so that you are experiencing deep contentment, joy and confidence in your everyday life with God.”
John’s first thought was the same one I would have had: I didn’t ask about me. He wanted to know what book to assign, what program to implement, what services to offer. But Dallas pressed on: “The main thing that you bring the church is the person that you become, and that’s what everybody will see; that’s what will get reproduced; that’s what people will believe.”
Like John, I’ve often fallen prey to thinking my ministry effectiveness will be determined by some program or more active participation by others. And like John, I need this reminder most days, as a mantra to shake me awake.
My Context Gave Me Clarity
Arrange your life. This is where Dallas’s instruction begins. As we enter a new year, this question may occupy many of our minds.
I serve in a church in a rural agricultural community and have the privilege to observe the life of many farmers up close. What I’ve learned is there’s an essential rhythm undergirding their work. Tasks must be done in certain arrangements to produce whatever they’re growing: corn, soybeans, rice, or peaches. Each fruit requires a different arrangement of activities.
The pastor’s question isn’t all that different from the farmer’s: Are my activities arranged to produce the fruit I’m looking for? Is my life arranged in such a way that I will produce more love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control?
I’ve found it helpful to look at my schedule honestly. Of the 16 or so waking hours of my life, are they ordered and arranged to allow me to grow the fruit of the Spirit?
Practicing God’s Presence in the Ordinary
This isn’t about monasticism or retreating from the world. This is where Dallas and I have found the work of Brother Lawrence so helpful. Brother Lawrence showed us how to practice God’s presence right in the middle of ordinary life: “Think often on God, by day, by night, in your business and even in your diversions. He is always near you and with you; leave him not alone.”
Am I bringing the Lord into my everyday tasks? Am I engaging in disciplines or efforts that shape me into a spirit-filled person?
Small Disciplines, Big Transformation
For me, arranging these things requires creativity. Years ago I recognized a deep bitterness inside myself toward those I felt had wronged me. So I began what I called the discipline of “reverse-tipping”: the worse the service I receive at a restaurant, the better tip I leave. I strive always to be generous, but I work to be extra generous to those I feel have underdelivered.
This is Dallas’s instruction in practice: a small, repeated arrangement that shapes character. I want to take seriously Jesus and his call to bless and not curse. I found that by being generous in these simple slights, I became more generous and forgiving in bigger ones. I arranged a way, a discipline, a task to help me, and mighted by the Spirit of God, it worked.
Generating New Affections
These disciplines aren’t just meant to produce new actions. They’re also meant to generate new affections for God: joy, confidence, and contentment in Him.
As a pastor, I often find the root cause of most trouble and anxiety in my congregation (and in myself) comes from deficiencies and doubts in these three areas. For many, life has generally been smooth on their own account, so there’s been no perceived need for confidence in God. How can I help them develop it? I often try to help them consider a way to step out in faith, giving a situation, circumstance, or source of security over to the Lord. What I’ve found, with time and repetition, with testing and trial, is that these affections are developed.
"How Are You Arranging Your Life?"
So the question for all of us: How are you arranging your life? Is the arrangement going to help you generate the fruit of the Spirit?
I’d love to hear from you. What arrangements have you made, or are you making, as we enter this new year?