Have you ever thought about your posture?  It was not on my radar until it was addressed by a doctor.  In assessing the impact of posture on the body, it caused me to reflect on my spiritual posture as well.  One area especially stood out to me; the effects of breathing are substantially altered with poor posture.  And so it is with our walk with the Lord.  

The leaves have all started turning deep, rich colors of golden yellow, rich purples, and bold reds stimulate the visual palette.  The smell of spices and herbs ride the air currents awakening the senses.  The crisp coolness of the air brings a sense of excitement.   We pull out that old, but faithful, cardigan or jacket, and freshen it up to be worn in the evenings as the cool night swoops in, and dew kissed mornings arrive.  We bake treats like we are baking for an army.  Comfort food is desired, and creative ways to prepare it are sought.  Football games are part of the weekend routine.  These are all reminders of autumn for me, and maybe for you, that evoke energy and thankfulness.  It’s that time of year, at least in North America, when we focus on thankfulness.  We can list 10,000 reasons and more of what we are thankful for.  It’s a great starting point, to bring our attention to the attitude of thanksgiving.  But I pause in wonder, what is our posture as we participate in these seasonally cultural rituals!  Maybe the idea of Thanksgiving is not sweet for you; maybe it brings pain and sorrow, evoking anger and self-deprecating behaviors of isolation and depression.  I have been there, too.

I used to loathe the arrival of Fall!  Year after year, October was the month when the truth of others’ actions were often exposed, leaving me to take care of all the broken pieces.  My spiritual posture was no different than the physical; I was slumped over in defeat.  I think I wore my grief like a “Scarlet Letter”.  I could barely breathe some days, because the pain was so overwhelming.  The loss of trust, the smashed hopes and dreams, the fading away of friendships, and the silhouette of the church lost in the shadows of lies and deception.   

My typical posture this time of year was to masquerade living a good life.  Then, one day it no longer worked.  The facade ended and the lies were exposed.  I was thankful, truly thankful, to see life through the lens of truth, but it was hard. When my ex-husband was arrested for theft,  I was left to pick up the pieces with a newborn and a toddler.  My first face to face experience with the stone cold reality of the harsh world as a parent.  Homelessness was a real threat and the need for food and health care were real and urgent.  The church pretended to care initially, but that waned quickly.  The final option, and the one I was left to accept, was the very one I tried to avoid.  I knew in my heart the end result would be catastrophic.  Initially, it was a great relief and I doubted my initial instincts.  But in time, the true colors oozed out and I was caught in the web of others’ addictions and manipulation.  It took seventeen more years to escape from the sticky residue of living under the oppressed addictive and narcissistic behaviors of others.  The thing that changed everything for me was my spiritual posture!

My daily attention with the Lord had become simply the songs on the radio and Sunday morning service.  Until one morning I woke up with a fierceness in my soul.  I was ready for battle.  I was not standing by to be walked all over anymore.  It was the morning I changed my spiritual posture with the Lord.  I returned to seeking Him first thing and using a Bible Study to guide me in my study.  My spiritual breathing had been amped up and my lungs were filling with truth.  I was breathing again!  He is my oxygen!  I am alive, all because of Christ.  He never left me, I was the one who allowed the slow fade.  

The church nor the friends were to blame.  It was the way the enemy used to shadow the truth and hide the reality.  But it was done and the exposure allowed me to be set free.  But it was my spiritual posture that allowed His saving grace and mercy to clean the house of my heart.  The seasons of life mirror the identifiers of the seasonal changes in our weather.  Let the Lord bring the season of Autumn into your soul and allow you rest through the winter so that when spring comes you are ready for the lusciousness of the summer harvest in your life.

Now, Autumn is one of my favorite times of the year!  I celebrate that the old is gone and the new is to come!  I count my blessings, I even write them out on a big board in my kitchen to share with all who enter my home, look what my Savior has done for me!  No longer am I the shattered porcelain doll lying  disabled and scattered on the ground, but rather a rag doll patched and mended by the mercy of Christ; I am mercifully mended!

It is my prayer that your spiritual posture will be upright and holy so that Christ will fill you and be all that you breathe!

Joyfully Healing from the Inside Out,