Thoughts on Holiness

I awoke to a spectacular morning. On Thursdays, I don't have to be in to work until the afternoon, and I claim Thursday mornings as a time of grace. In 1 1/2 hours I have drank two cups of tea (darn cold that I have), made a pot of rice and a pot of beans for meals for the weekend (it's my opening weekend), checked all there was to check on facebook and email (I'm not a huge one for living in the computer) and attempted to do some yoga. In the middle of a down dog, Jade decided to take up residence in the middle of my mat (he does this) and I was much too polite to shove him off. It's not as bad as him jumping on top of my back and curling up while I'm struggling through the plank position. And even that wouldn't be so bad if he weren't 20 lbs.

But I digress.

For the time I had been stretching and posing, I'd also been thinking. The thoughts are almost meditative since I've been coming back to them day after day, touching each thought as they pass through my mind. They are extensions of what I've been blogging about lately and extensions of what I've been reading. I'll give you a sample:

Holiness. How many people out there truly strive for holiness or even want to? How many people in this world, people I come into daily contact with, know what holiness looks like of how it affects our daily lives? I would guess most people-- even Christians (who seem to have the utmost claim on holiness) don't really want holiness in their lives. It looks too much like being "goody-goody" and it looks too much like "not having fun". It looks too much like being a prude and a cheap scape and a small-minded thinker. It looks like the uneducated. It looks like the drone. It looks like circa 1950s white middle class suburban America. It looks like repression. It looks like segregation.

No. Who in their right mind would want those things. I get that.

I've been thinking a lot lately about what a holy life looks like. A holy life is something that is lifted up. A holy life is drinking Brita Filtered water instead of lake water. A holy life is living in the light and not in the dark. This last thought is pretty cliche, but think a minute of what it implies. Utter honesty. Utter integrity. Having all you do and think and say out in the open for inspection and introspection. No secrets. No lies. Nothing to hide from anybody. Getting pulled over by the police but having complete confidence that you weren't speeding. Getting singled out by your boss and you know in your heart it's for a promotion and not the other way around. Because you have done nothing duplicitous or wrong or deceitful.

Who doesn't want a life like that? Who doesn't want to live in the light?

A holy life is one with meaning. I see people all around me who search and search and searching-- trying to find happiness or trying to find purpose or trying to find themselves. Not that I always have it figured out-- but I know when I wake up each morning and strive for holiness in my thoughts and actions, that there is something grander beyond myself to live for. And Faith is knowing that holiness will bring blessings of happiness and purpose and self-knowledge. Because I will be holy as He is holy and I will be one with the most complete and self-knowing person who ever lived.

Oh yeah. That's what I'm striving for.

So this season for Lent and on after, I am giving up my nature to live in the dark. I will be open and honest and when a friend at work asks me what book I'm reading and it's a book about Hell, I will not shy away from a difficult topic and I will be honest that I do believe in Hell and in darkness and in light and in salvation. Then she and I will have a wonderful conversation and I will learn about her heart and her desire and in the end, I will have gained knowledge of a sister in my workplace.

Oh to live with purity and without corruption! It's true and possible and if there's any time of year to truly believe it, it must be Spring. The rain washes the grime away. The sun opens up the world. Holiness in every sunrise, every minute, every breath.

With that said, I'm going to resume my workout.