Not that this would ever
happen. But if it did, here is what I might say.
Imagine a group of women are
on their way to celebrate one of those milestone birthdays ending with a zero.
Maybe the first number is a 4. Friends
all. Christians all. A four-day celebration
of friendship and life.
Now imagine one of their
number says to me, ‘Pastor Bill, could you suggest a good discipline that we
could use this weekend to strengthen our friendships and our walk with Jesus?’
(I already said, this would never happen, but play along.)
So, I say, ‘Sure. This would
be a fun exercise in transforming discipleship which would add loads of
positive energy to your time together. Read this quote every morning and practice
it all day.’
“An added discipline for this week might be to
say nothing negative about anyone else or about yourself. This will give you
more energy for inner work on the subject [self-observation]. If you find it a
difficult discipline to keep, do not be discouraged. A discipline is to help us
learn, and there is often more learning in failure than in success.”–Elizabeth
O’Connor, Our Many Selves, p. 71 (inward/outward.org)
‘Imagine talking about the
restaurant that offered slow service due to understaffing without saying anything
negative. Imagine avoiding all negative words
about yourself as you sit around the living room at night swapping stories of
children and pets and, dare I say, husbands. (Alright, maybe that bit about no
negative talk about ‘husbands’ is beyond imagination.)
Imagine learning a little
more each day about how smiles and laughter come much more easily to faces that
say nothing negative about anyone else or about yourself. That’s what you
should talk about, my friend.’
Not that this would ever
happen. But imagine if it did. And you
were there.
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