GROWING TOGETHER

Exercises to Develop Deeper Roots
• Take several walks in your neighborhood, noticing the different shape, size, and texture of trees. As you look at their outward appearance, imagine what the roots look like. (Some trees, like oaks, have a taproot that goes straight down as deep as the tree is tall. Others have a root system as big as the crown.) Now, imagine what your roots in God look like. Thank him for the life that he gives you through them, and ask that he help you sink them deep into his life.

• For one day as different people come to mind, instead of wondering or worrying, talk with God about them. Ask God very specific questions about their situation and how you should respond. Remember, you are talking with God about what you are doing together. Don't be concerned if no answer comes; in a partnership both parties make decisions, and it may be your turn. If an answer does come, rejoice in the goodness of God.

• "The secret of the easy yoke, then, is to learn from Christ how to live our total lives" (Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines). During the next few weeks read the four Gospels, noting when Jesus practices a specific discipline such as prayer or worship or solitude. If you take note of prayer, after you read a passage where Jesus prayed, pray; if you choose

worship and read that Jesus worshiped with friends (e.g. the Passover), schedule a special time of worship, and so on.

• For good or for bad, we are students of other people—parents, school teachers, college professors, professionals—our entire lives and many times cannot choose who teaches us. But becoming Jesus' disciple is a conscious choice. Write down the things that you have learned from Christ and those that you have yet to learn, praying over the list for guidance and help.

GOING DEEPER

In Search of Guidance: Developing a Conversational Relationship With God
This book takes us beyond the anxious—often neurotic—quest for "what God wants me to do" and emphasizes its role in my becoming the kind of person he wants me to be. I read it when I was 45 years old and was helped immensely.

Dallas Willard provides a biblical view of guidance and of the world that cuts through much of the rhetoric of today; teaches us how to distinguish the "still small voice" from its rivals; and shows us the avenues through which God has, is, and will continue to try to reach us. He then takes us beyond guidance and gives us concrete instruction on how "to live confidently and in a sensible fashion with God as a conversational presence in our lives" (p. 210).