About the joy collective
The Joy Collective is a group of friends burnt out by traditional discipleship models. We longed to grow and wanted to explore new ways to enjoy our every day faith experience. Viewing each moment as an opportunity to thrive, we began to create and share the ways we have been practicing Spirit-led routines and rhythms that have helped us each experience more joy.
The problem: we’ve become T-rex’s
Years ago, I (Will) watched a documentary about the Tour de France. These athletes trained nonstop for one of the most grueling races on the planet. 2,200 miles over 23 days, climbing some peaks as high as 9,383 ft - where the oxygen gets so thin you almost pass out. Their legs are crazy developed, in some cases each leg is the size of their torso. But have you seen their arms? They are stick-like appendages. They are under-utilized; all their training is focused intentionally on their legs. They look JUST like a T-rex. All their time has been focused on just one part of their body.
Spiritually, you and I have developed just like this. We have overly focused our attentions on one area of our spiritual journey, and drastically disregarded another critical element.
Most of us have been taught that the journey of faith is all about the knowledge of God. Knowledge of self is only useful to the extent that you are aware you are a broken mess who needs Jesus. But past that, don’t waste your time. Knowing your self is viewed as a selfish act; we are supposed to serve others and “die” to our self. However, for thousands of years, theologians have taught that the journey of faith is **both** the knowledge of God AND the knowledge of self.
We’ve been training really hard — but only training half of what we need.
How can you draw close to God when you are far from your own self?
Augustine (AD 500)
Why does this matter?
If we don’t know ourselves, we can’t bring our full self to the Lord. We keep hiding parts of ourself from our own conscious awareness and from the healing that the Holy Spirit longs to bring to bear. Think about it like this - we are told that we are now the living Temple of the Spirit. But you live as if the Holy Spirit were hanging out in the lobby of your heart, wanting to explore with you all those doors that you keep intentionally and sometimes subconsciously closed and locked. If you don’t go on an inward Spirit-led journey, those doors stay locked. You keep living on the surface of yourself, never bringing your full self into the light.
Take Action NOW
- If you wake up feeling like you are living a to-do list that someone else wrote for you
- If you believe the promises of God — but that hasn’t translated to less anxiety and greater peace in your heart
- If you feel like you are repressing key parts of yourself and it is limiting your growth
- If your closest relationships are growing cold or volatile and you are becoming numb and hopeless it could ever be better
- If you are ready to shift into THRIVE mode instead of SURVIVE mode
This is not just theory; this is my life.
Several years ago I (Will) woke up feeling like battery acid. So acidic that I couldn’t touch anyone or anything without it melting under the cynical bitterness dripping from my heart. I was - and still am - a passionate follower of The Father, Son, and Spirit, but yet I had no working tools to deal with the daily trauma in my life. The intensity of my son’s disabilities combined with my wife’s depression/complex PTSD/suicidal ideation were destroying me from the inside out.
The work of Spirit-led self-awareness changed everything for me.
Let me define some terms:
Spirit-Led → Christians have believed for thousands of years that when Jesus ascended to heaven after the resurrection that he sent us the Holy Spirit who would dwell within us. To live a life that is in tune/alignment with the Spirit of God is to be Spirit-led.
Self-Awareness → The intentional journey inward in order to know yourself fully and bring yourself fully ‘into the light’ of the Lord. You are worth knowing.
When you combine these two terms you get Spirit-led self-awareness. The daily practice by which you are led inward by the Spirit to full knowledge of self in order to live a life of alignment with yourself, God, and relationships with others.