What spiritual advise would you give the younger you?

alongtheway

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G'day brethren,

I am so very happy to be here.

The thought has come to me, '' What spiritual advise would I give the younger me?''

My journey, along The Way, has been full of ups and downs thus far.
As I stop and reflect this lenten season I have come to a realisation, an epiphany, so to speak.

For me the greatest commandment has come back to me time and time again.

34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” - Matthew 22:34-40 ESVUK


As a Christian I am an expert in judging others to such a high standard which I do not live up to myself. I need the love of Christ to be the central pillar of my Faith. His mercy, and grace to flow from me to all those around me.

If I could go back in time I would tell the younger me to focus on the Love of God. His love towards humanity and all of Creation. To love God with all of my being and always be humble, gracious and slow to judge. And to always remember that I am a sinner who wholly relies on His grace and love.


so... What spiritual advise would you give the younger you?

Blessings,
alongtheway
 
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Jeshu

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If I could go back in time I would tell the younger me to focus on the Love of God. His love towards humanity and all of Creation. To love God with all of my being and always be humble, gracious and slow to judge. And to always remember that I am a sinner who wholly relies on His grace and love.

So true! i would say when you pray wait for the Lord and expect Him to answer you lovingly, because i was so judgemental when i was young, i though God thought the same as i did. Such a pleasant surprise to discover His loving grace in my life and learning to love Him, instead of fear Him, and love my neighbour instead of judge them.

Jesus is such a gracious Saviour. If people only knew what His love can achieve in our lives. He can turn bad times to good times. As a matter of fact He put my life upside down. i will always love Him for doing that, for i had it all the wrong way around.

All praise to Jesus saving sinners.
 
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Paidiske

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I guess it depends how much younger we're talking. Ten-years-ago me needed very different advice from twenty-years-ago me.

Twenty-years-ago me needed to be told to get her head straight about what was really important in life. I was still muddling through the tail end of a science degree, with a boyfriend who was, in the end, rather toxic, and a fairly nasty mental health crash was just around the corner. Most of that came about due to taking the path of least resistance and then wondering why it wasn't very life-giving.

Come to think of it, what I probably needed was a good Christian mentor or spiritual director; someone who could help me discern what God was asking of me, and how to respond. As it was, trying to figure that out on my own made it a much harder and long-drawn-out process than perhaps it might have been.

(Incidentally, depending where you are in Victoria, we might not be far apart; I'm just over the NSW border).
 
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alongtheway

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I guess it depends how much younger we're talking. Ten-years-ago me needed very different advice from twenty-years-ago me.

Twenty-years-ago me needed to be told to get her head straight about what was really important in life. I was still muddling through the tail end of a science degree, with a boyfriend who was, in the end, rather toxic, and a fairly nasty mental health crash was just around the corner. Most of that came about due to taking the path of least resistance and then wondering why it wasn't very life-giving.

Come to think of it, what I probably needed was a good Christian mentor or spiritual director; someone who could help me discern what God was asking of me, and how to respond. As it was, trying to figure that out on my own made it a much harder and long-drawn-out process than perhaps it might have been.

(Incidentally, depending where you are in Victoria, we might not be far apart; I'm just over the NSW border).

Well it's good that in the end you came to know what your calling is. A spiritual mentor is such a blessing.

Sadly discipleship is something that I think is lacking in western Christendom for the most part. I am still trying to discern my calling.

I am in the Bendigo diocese :)
 
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seeking.IAM

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I grew up in a denomination that emphasized Bible study. If I could go back in time, I would tell myself a daily prayer habit like praying the Daily Office was at least as important and perhaps more important. I would also tell myself to get to Anglicanism earlier than I did.
 
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alongtheway

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So true! i would say when you pray wait for the Lord and expect Him to answer you lovingly, because i was so judgemental when i was young, i though God thought the same as i did. Such a pleasant surprise to discover His loving grace in my life and learning to love Him, instead of fear Him, and love my neighbour instead of judge them.

Jesus is such a gracious Saviour. If people only knew what His love can achieve in our lives. He can turn bad times to good times. As a matter of fact He put my life upside down. i will always love Him for doing that, for i had it all the wrong way around.

All praise to Jesus saving sinners.

Maybe being judgmental is apart of the growth pains of being a Christian.

When I look back I feel so ashamed that I had a self righteous mentality. Sometimes it's hard to ''snap out of it''.

It's great that we can see the errors of our ways and learn from them.
Always remembering that we are all sinners and daily miss the mark helps keeps us humble and gracious with those around us.
 
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alongtheway

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I grew up in a denomination that emphasized Bible study. If I could go back in time, I would tell myself a daily prayer habit like praying the Daily Office was at least as important and perhaps more important. I would also tell myself to get to Anglicanism earlier than I did.


A daily prayer habit is great advise! It's so simple, yet so important!
Which prayer book do you use?

The Anglican tradition is special, for sure!

I love your signature. I write that saying in my Bibles.
 
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G'day brethren,

I am so very happy to be here.

The thought has come to me, '' What spiritual advise would I give the younger me?''

My journey, along The Way, has been full of ups and downs thus far.
As I stop and reflect this lenten season I have come to a realisation, an epiphany, so to speak.

For me the greatest commandment has come back to me time and time again.

34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” - Matthew 22:34-40 ESVUK


As a Christian I am an expert in judging others to such a high standard which I do not live up to myself. I need the love of Christ to be the central pillar of my Faith. His mercy, and grace to flow from me to all those around me.

If I could go back in time I would tell the younger me to focus on the Love of God. His love towards humanity and all of Creation. To love God with all of my being and always be humble, gracious and slow to judge. And to always remember that I am a sinner who wholly relies on His grace and love.


so... What spiritual advise would you give the younger you?

Blessings,
alongtheway
Quit trying to work God out, Trust His word 100%, no matter how I felt or how little I understood what was going on. Never ever slack off in prayer and study. Shun pride as if it was cyanide.
 
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Friedrich Rubinstein

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Thinking about this, I feel like it would've been impossible to give my younger-self an advice: I was an extremely stubborn child who wouldn't listen to anyone.
I guess there is a reason why growing spiritually and sanctification are processes and not a sudden transformation. Years ago we were not ready for the things God has taught us recently. How fortunate that our great God knows exactly when to teach us which lesson :)
 
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Anthony2019

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These days, I try and make an effort to go away on a Christian retreat every year. Because of the lockdowns, I won't be going any time soon unfortunately.
Sometimes it is good to get a break from our everyday activities to get a fresh perspective on life. Each time I have been away, a new and exciting chapter in my life seems to have happened.
I wish I could go back 20-30 years and tell myself to start going on them! Perhaps my life would be even more exciting that it is now!
 
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seeking.IAM

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A daily prayer habit is great advise! It's so simple, yet so important! Which prayer book do you use?

I prefer to use The Book of Common Prayer, (Episcopal Church,1979). I also like the phone app, Venite, for those times when the prayer book isn't handy.
 
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PloverWing

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It's an interesting question. As I look back over the path of my life, I think that God brought events into my life to shape me into the person I am now, and I'm hesitant to want to rearrange those events by sending advice to my past self. It matters that I had to wrestle with gender issues within a conservative community, and it matters that I journeyed from an Evangelical faith to near-atheism to a more liberal yet more historically-rooted faith. I'd be tempted to let my younger self skip over the pain of that, but it's not the same journey if I skip over the hard stuff. I want, for example, to tell my Younger Self to trust in God's grace, that I'm saved by the work of Christ and not the perfection of my belief; but that realization came after several years of painful searching, and it took those years of pain to make me truly appreciate what grace means. So.

I think one bit of advice, though, that I could safely send back in time is about ethics and social justice: "Younger Self, there are several important social ethics upheavals going on around you, and the only one you're paying attention to is gender. Pay attention to the other ones, too. The Watts Riots of your childhood happened for a reason. Find out what that reason was. You need to care, and you need to find other Christians who care."
 
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alongtheway

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It's an interesting question. As I look back over the path of my life, I think that God brought events into my life to shape me into the person I am now, and I'm hesitant to want to rearrange those events by sending advice to my past self. It matters that I had to wrestle with gender issues within a conservative community, and it matters that I journeyed from an Evangelical faith to near-atheism to a more liberal yet more historically-rooted faith. I'd be tempted to let my younger self skip over the pain of that, but it's not the same journey if I skip over the hard stuff. I want, for example, to tell my Younger Self to trust in God's grace, that I'm saved by the work of Christ and not the perfection of my belief; but that realization came after several years of painful searching, and it took those years of pain to make me truly appreciate what grace means. So.

I think one bit of advice, though, that I could safely send back in time is about ethics and social justice: "Younger Self, there are several important social ethics upheavals going on around you, and the only one you're paying attention to is gender. Pay attention to the other ones, too. The Watts Riots of your childhood happened for a reason. Find out what that reason was. You need to care, and you need to find other Christians who care."

It's great that you can look back at your life and see the hand of the Lord directing and guiding you along the way. Often when we slow down, take a deep breathe in and just be still with Him, we can see things more clearly and calmly. It's surely a great blessing to be able to see our mistakes, learn from them and also see how through the Holy Spirit we are growing in our sanctification as the imagine of God is being put back together piece by piece. That is comforting and something to be celebrated.


I think we all focus on the issues that most relate to us in our day to day life. We can form a spiritual ''tunnel vision'' and miss other equally important things that happening around us and in other parts of the world.

Thank you for sharing :)
 
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Padres1969

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Some variant of "*bleep* or get off the pot". I clung to my birth religion (Catholicism) for far too long expecting it was to change. I wouldn't want to influence my younger self on where my journey ended, but I would definitely urge myself to get on with it as I clung to the notion that the RCC would somehow change for far too long.
 
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