Week 372

Positive post Sunday, April 14, 2024…. Week 372.  During my recovery, I have been able to catch up on my reading over the past several weeks.  I love to read (and write)!  Yes, Dana Rendler (mom), I realize this is quite a change from my early years when you couldn’t get me to read or write much of anything, and you often stayed up late at night helping me write and correcting my papers.  All things happen on God’s timeline, and although not until later in my life, all your hard work, and the sacrifices you and Ken Rendler (dad) made to provide me with a foundation of a faith-based education has blossomed into my passion to read and write.

I already wrote about a few books I’ve recently read, “From Success to Significance”, by Lloyd Reeb and “Halftime”, by Bob Buford (see Positive post Sunday, March 17, 2024…. Week 368).  Another book I recently read is “Falling Upward”, by Fr. Richard Rohr (thanks for the recommendation, Jay McCall).  Just like I don’t believe it is by coincidence that Jay McCall, Brian Cameron and I have reconnected after all these years to combine our resources to serve others in honor of our Lord, I don’t believe it’s a coincidence that all three of these books made it to my reading list at the same time.  I encourage you to read all three!

You have likely heard the saying, “The third time is a charm”.  With 3 life threatening experiences behind me and now 3 books with common themes being presented to me for reading, it’s crystal clear to me, that God is speaking to me, revealing his plan for me.  Just as Samuel answered the Lord, I respond “Speak, for your servant is listening” (1 Samuel 3:10). 

As noted above, I have already shared some thoughts and insights from Reeb and Buford’s books and, although this is not a formal book review, I wanted to share some insights I gained from Fr. Rohr’s book.  Fr. Rohr is a Franciscan friar, and considering I went to a high school led by Franciscans, St. Francis High School in La Canada, this book piqued my interest.

Strikingly similar, although deeper in faith, “Falling Upward” like “From Success to Significance” and “Halftime”, Fr. Rohr puts the two halves of our lives into perspective.  Not by age but by spirituality.  We spend the first half of our lives achieving our goals and climbing the ladder of success, which would lead one to think there is nowhere to fall but down, when in reality, during our first half, we are discovering who we were meant to be.  And, as noted by Fr. Rohr, our task in the second half of our lives is to discover the most authentic expression of our “souls” (an important distinction for an expression of ‘ourselves”).  It’s our choice, will we fall downward or upward spiritually in the second half of our lives?

As I reflect on my life, I am clearly in the second half of my spiritual life.  I have a deeper understanding of how I want to dedicate the rest of my life, and more importantly how God wants me to serve.  I’m excited and continue to pray for God’s guidance as I shift from success to significance and focus on Falling Upward not downward as I live out the plan God has for me.

What stage are you at in your spiritual journey and how will continue to achieve spiritual growth?

How will you Fall Upward rather than downward spiritually in the second half of your life?