Dear friends,

I had just dropped off my son at school and was talking with Park, a professional musician and fellow fifth-grade parent.

“My son has good rhythm,” I explained, ​“but he doesn’t have the discipline to play drums.”

“Oh, I didn’t have any discipline when I started playing guitar,” Park replied. ​“I just fell in love with it. The discipline came later.”

For the next few weeks, this newsletter will center around core questions covered in the Renovaré online course From the Inside Out (available free here), starting with What is Spiritual Formation?

The reason I began with that story will be clear in a moment. First, a few quick thoughts about spiritual formation:

• Everyone is spiritually formed, intentionally or not, from murderers to Mother Teresa.
   
• Your spirit — your inner self, your will, your character, your ​“default chooser” — is deeply shaped by your experiences and teachers (who may be actual instructors or parents, peers, ​“influencers,” etc.)
   
• Early in life, these experiences and teachers are largely chosen for you; as you get older, you have more choice about who and what shapes you.
   
• Christian spiritual formation is what happens when you center your life on Jesus. It isn’t primarily about practices; it’s about falling in love with and following Jesus. This love sparks and sustains spiritual disciplines, even when they are hard.

This brings us back to the opening story.

It’s true that you can’t become a great drummer merely by loving music. Many people appreciate and analyze drum solos but can’t play a basic beat. Becoming a drummer requires practice. But Park is right: the process of becoming one begins with — and is sustained by — love for the music and the craft.

All analogies break down at some point, and I can feel this one buckling. Being spiritually formed in Jesus is more than gaining a skill. It is receiving a new heart. And while we are active receivers — there’s stuff we can do to cooperate with God — a renewed heart is always a gift.

Thankfully there are countless helps in this process of becoming more like Jesus, like the excellent articles below — and friends like Park who remind you that sustained practice and growth begins with love.

So, Lord, show us your beauty. May seeing your beauty increase our affection and desire for you. May that in turn fuel our practices, which, by grace, lead to greater love for you and others.