Hey! My name is Jessica. I’m trying to live a life that’s integrated- balancing physical, mental and spiritual refreshment and challenge. It’s hard to do this on our own so I want a place where I can connect with others who are trying to do the same thing or are exploring what this kind of life looks like. I once heard someone say that each part of our lives mental, physical and spiritual is like three legs of a stool- when we’re missing one, we’re unbalanced.
actually, I'd like my life to look like this stool from hivemodern.com! gnomes!
Some people think theology is a stuffy term- it really just means “the study of God”. My study of God looks a lot like encountering Jesus when I’m out experiencing life on the sidewalk so to speak; running, doing the dishes, giving my son a bath or watching the latest Judd Apatow flick. Though some believe that encountering God happens with dramatic flashes of lightning and crashing thunder, I believe that if we simply take time to reflect on our days we find that everything is connected- our internal world shapes our external world. Sometimes we’re even surprised to find that God has been there in the mundane all along!
Life isn’t just about thinking about stuff- it’s about doing stuff; participating in the fullness and beauty of things like eating juicy cantaloupe, listening to a friends laugh, and walking quietly through the woods watching the clouds drift over a canopy of green leaves.
"I love living. I have some problems with my life, but living is the best thing they've come up with so far." -Neil Simon, Last of the Red Hot Lovers
So let’s do stuff together- every month I’ll have a different way to grow physically, mentally or spiritually as a community. I’d love for you to participate in these challenges regardless of where you’re at in these areas. Check under the “cool people doing cool things” page for which challenge we’re currently doing. Each Tuesday we’ll check back with each other and share how we’ve been impacted by challenging ourselves physically, mentally and spiritually. I want Sidewalk Theologian to place for people to intersect with each others lives “out on the sidewalks on the of life” and talk about things that may not ordinarily come up in everyday conversation.
Since my spiritual tradition focuses on following Jesus, I’ll primarily be writing about my experiences with him and reflections on how his teachings influence my life. However, feel free to chime in regardless of what you believe or what your faith background is- if you believe in robots or aliens, are protestant or Catholic, Muslim or Buddhist or none of the above, this is simply a place to do some cool stuff together, find places we are connected and reflect on how our lives are being changed.
where are you going today?
nice! I like the “dirt.” keep it coming….
found you! like it!
Jess, can you add me so that I get your blog posts forwarded to my email address automatically? Would love to read them hot off the press. =)
Hey Susie- if you look on the top left of my blog you can click on “subscribe to this blog” I think it should send them to you automatically when I post. Glad you like it!