40 Days Of Decrease Quotes

Everything in physiology follows the rule that too much can be as bad as too little. There are optimal points of allostatic balance. For example, while a moderate amount of exercise generally increases bone mass, thirty-year-old athletes who run 40 to 50 miles a week can wind up with decalcified bones, decreased bone mass, increased risk of stress fractures and scoliosis (sideways curvature of the spine)—their skeletons look like those of seventy-year-olds. To put exercise in perspective, imagine this: sit with a group of hunter-gatherers from the African grasslands and explain to them that in our world we have so much food and so much free time that some of us run 26 miles in a day, simply for the sheer pleasure of it. They are likely to say, “Are you crazy? That’s stressful.” Throughout hominid history, if you’re running 26 miles in a day, you’re either very intent on eating someone or someone’s very intent on eating you.

We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be.” —C. S. Lewis (1898–1963)3

Christian spirituality, the contemplative life, is not about us. It is about God. The great weakness of American spirituality is that it is all about us: fulfilling our potential, getting the blessings of God, expanding our influence, finding our gifts, getting a handle on principles by which we can get an edge over the competition. The more there is of us, the less there is of God. —EUGENE PETERSON

The purpose of Lent is not to force on us a few formal obligations, but to ‘soften’ our heart so that it may open itself to the realities of the spirit, to experience the hidden ‘thirst and hunger’ for communion with God.

Jesus lived a truly uncluttered life and died a focused, eternally fruitful death. How I long to follow His example.

Holy gets angry. So does this mean we need to buy ropes and start making whips? No. But perhaps we need to stop hiding safely behind hashtag campaigns and instead show up and speak out.

Lent is a much-needed mentor in an age obsessed with visible, measurable, manageable, and tweetable increase, for it invites us to walk with Jesus and His disciples through darker seasons that we would rather avoid: grief, conflict, misunderstanding, betrayal, restriction, rejection, and pain. Then Easter leads us in celebration of salvation as the stunningly satisfying fruit of Jesus’ sacred decrease.

When He calls us to fast strength—when He drafts us into decrease—God’s purposes are clear: Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. (Deuteronomy 8:2

There must have been a problem, we offer. God must have something even better around the corner, we propose. Must He? Here, then is my Lenten plea for the day: let the mourning mourn. Grant those who grieve the dignity to ask questions. Bestow upon the bewildered permission to not edit their honesty. Crucifixion is, after all, serious work.

Deserts unclutter the soul. The hot desert sun vaporizes all manner of luxuries. Then the cold, shelterless nights expose the essential guts of life. I needed to eat, to sleep, to be protected, and to not be alone. Lent had come half a year early. God asked me to fast mental and physical strength. He invited me into holy weakness. I found Jesus there.

Regret empties anticipation, flattens dreams, and suffocates hope, because regret is a form of self-punishment. Whereas hindsight helps us learn from the past, regret beats us up with the past. So for one entire day (or go for forty), I invite you to fast regret. Do not feed it. Do not give it space. Let it go: God’s mercies are “new every morning” (Lamentations 3:23). And meditate on Jesus’ glorious promise from Revelation 21:5: “I am making everything new!

The problem is a broad and complicated one. There is, first, the very problematic of penance and asceticism for modern men and women—a problem which, unlike the Protestant rejection of penance, comes from modern psychology, and the quest for meaning and sincerity in an increasingly dehumanized technological world. Modern Christians reject penance and asceticism because they often lead to the distortion or destruction of more important human values. Hard things are not necessarily good things. . . . And anyway, what is the value of self-inflicted pain for modern men and women whose whole drive is to eliminate pain, to develop in freedom the autonomous self?6 Perhaps in our day, a rediscovery of Lent may help marry the modern celebration of grace with the mystery of sacrificial love treasured by the ancients. Today’s Reading: John 20:24–31 [Your Notes]

Keeping ourselves well hydrated is important at any age, but especially so over the age of 40. Your body is around 60% water, with the blood containing 90%. You should aim to consume about 2 L of water every day. The challenge as we get older is that our sensation for thirst decreases. That makes it all the more important to consciously think about meeting your daily requirements. Keeping up your H2O intake will regulate your body temperature, help you think clearly, flush toxins from your body and help your muscles to contract strongly.

the disciples’ illusions of what Jesus could and should do with His power were shattered by the reality of what Jesus actually did with His power, and their personal illusions of commitment-unto-death were shattered by the reality of fear-inspired self-protection.

Christian spirituality, the contemplative life, is not about us. It is about God. The great weakness of American spirituality is that it is all about us: fulfilling our potential, getting the blessings of God, expanding our influence, finding our gifts, getting a handle on principles by which we can get an edge over the competition. The more there is of us, the less there is of God.

We all guard against sins of commission and we are vigilant toward sins of omission. But achievements—even in small doses—can make us vulnerable to sins of addition: adding niceties and luxuries to our list of basic needs, adding imaginations onto the strong back of vision, adding self-satisfaction to the purity of peace.

when that salesman tells you that the product is free, you ask about the opportunity cost. How much time does the average child spend using the product? Around 40 hours a week for preteens like your daughter, he says. For teens aged 13 to 18, it’s closer to 50 hours per week. At that point, wouldn’t you walk out of the store? Those numbers—six to eight hours per day—are what teens spend on all screen-based leisure activities.[11] Of course, children were already spending a lot of their time watching TV and playing video games before the smartphone and internet became parts of their daily lives. Long-running studies of American adolescents show that the average teen was watching a little less than three hours per day of television in the early 1990s.[12] As most families gained dial-up access to the internet during that decade, followed by high-speed internet in the 2000s, the amount of time spent on internet-based activities increased, while time spent watching TV decreased. Kids also began to spend more time playing video games and less time reading books and magazines. Putting it all together, the Great Rewiring and the dawn of the phone-based childhood seem to have added two to three hours of additional screen-based activity, on average, to a child’s day, compared with life before the smartphone.

The discussion following will focus on the debate over these two primary alleged resting places, Cudi and Ararat. Key verses in the Scriptures need to be consulted before proceeding: Then the ark rested in the seventh month, the seventeenth day of the month, on the mountains of Ararat. And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen (Genesis 8:4–5). The tops of the surrounding mountains were seen 74 days after the ark landed in the mountains of Ararat. This gives the impression that the mountain the ark landed on was much higher than the others. So the obvious choice is Mt. Ararat, which today towers excessively over all the other mountains in the region.

GOOD ENERGY BIOMARKERS AND MOVEMENT When you’re striving to be part of the 6.8 percent of metabolically healthy Americans, regular movement will help you get there. Research shows that exercise improves all five of the following basic biomarkers of metabolism: Glucose Levels Above 100 mg/dL: Twelve-week exercise programs of either high-intensity running (40 minutes per week) or low-intensity running (150 minutes per week) both brought participants’ blood sugar from the prediabetic range (100 mg/dL or greater) to the nondiabetic range (<100 mg/dL). HDL Cholesterol Less Than 40 mg/dL: A 2019 review of the literature showed that exercise increased HDL cholesterol, “with exercise volume, rather than intensity, having a greater influence.” Meanwhile, “raising HDL levels pharmacologically has not shown convincing clinical benefits.” Triglycerides Above 150 mg/dL: Numerous studies have demonstrated that physical activity effectively lowers triglyceride levels. In a 2019 study, an eight-week moderate aerobic exercise program significantly reduced triglyceride levels in participants. Furthermore, even a single session of intense aerobic exercise has been found to decrease triglyceride levels the following day. This positive effect could be due to the increased activity of hepatic lipase in the liver, an enzyme that facilitates the absorption of triglyceride from the bloodstream. Blood Pressure of 130/85 mmHg or Higher: Research has shown the effects of exercise among populations with high blood pressure were similar to the effects of commonly used medications. A Waistline of More Than 35 Inches for Women and 40 Inches for Men: Not surprisingly, regular exercise can help decrease obesity by increasing energy expenditure and promoting weight loss. Research shows a clear inverse relationship between the amount of movement people do each week and the size of their waistline: more movement, smaller waist circumference. What’s more, lower activity (fewer than 5,100 steps per day) yields a 2.5 times higher risk of central obesity than higher activity (more than 8,985 steps per day).

Less” liberates. “Less” gives us the possibility of the pause. “Less” makes work smarter and more productive. Microsoft Japan conducted an in-house study looking at the effects of a four-day workweek and found that it increased productivity by 40 percent while overhead costs decreased by nearly a quarter. Charles Darwin and Charles Dickens both worked four to five hours a day and on that schedule wrote nineteen and twenty-one books, respectively (with time for letter writing, social lunches, and extended midday strolls). Less can be the new more if we give it a chance.

God needs nothing, asks nothing, and demands nothing, like the stars. It is life with God which demands these things. . . . You do not have to sit outside in the dark. If, however, you want to look at the stars, you will find that the darkness is necessary. But the stars neither require nor demand it.” — ANNIE DILLARD1

The question asked is not, ‘What should be happening in my life?’ but ‘What is happening in my life?’ The present moment, the present set of circumstances, the present relationships in our lives—this is where God lives. This is where God meets us and gives us life.” — ALICE FRYLING

In our daily lives, we may prefer self-reliance. But perhaps utter dependence is the truer friend of our souls.

To endure the cross is not tragedy; it is the suffering which is the fruit of an exclusive allegiance to Jesus Christ.

more of a sojourn. A sojourn is a “temporary stay at a place.”4 And a “stay” is about presence, not productivity.

Some things just have to be believed to be seen.” —PHILIP YANCEY

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Help for PMS—Low progesterone is often one of the culprits of PMS symptoms. Progesterone cream used during the last week of a woman’s cycle is often helpful. I also recommend a combination of supplements to balance the brain, especially 400–500 mg calcium citrate twice a day, 200–300 mg chelated magnesium twice a day, vitamin A, B complex with 50 mg B6, and 500 mg evening primrose oil twice a day. I also suggest 50–100 mg 5-HTP (5-hydroxytryptophan) twice a day to help to boost serotonin and decrease anxiety and worry. If focus is a problem, try green tea or 500 mg L-tyrosine two to three times a day. Chaste-berry, 20–40 mg a day, can also help for PMS symptoms of especially breast pain or tenderness, swelling, constipation, irritability, depressed mood or mood alterations, anger, and headache in some women. Boost exercise in the last week of your cycle, and hold the sugar and alcohol.

On the cross, leadership dies. On the cross, success dies. On the cross, skills die, and excellence dies. All of my strengths—nailed to the cross. All of my weaknesses—nailed to the cross. All of my yearnings for bigger and better, for anything other than Christ himself—nailed to that same cross.

I am not moved, my God, to love you By the heaven you have promised me. Neither does hell, so feared, move me To keep me from offending you. You move me, Lord, and I am moved seeing you Scoffed at and nailed on a cross. I am moved seeing your body so wounded. Your injuries and your death move me. It is your love that moves me, and in such a way that even though there were no heaven, I would love you, and even though there were no hell I would fear you. You do not have to give me anything so that I love you, For even if I didn’t hope for what I hope, As I love you now, so would I love you. —ANONYMOUS SPANISH POET, OFTEN ATTRIBUTED TO JOHN OF THE CROSS (1542

Though in our day we are more than a little obsessed with exact times and sequences, ancient writers were often less linear in worldview and, consequently, actual events were sometimes listed in an order consistent with a theme as opposed to chronologically. Such is the case in the Gospels when Matthew and Mark placed this emotionally charged exchange before Jesus’ flogging and John positioned this exchange after the flogging.5

Without any supplementary body support, the victim would die from muscular spasms and asphyxia in a very short time, certainly within two or three hours. . . . In order to prolong the agony, Roman executioners devised two instruments that would keep the victim alive on the cross for extended periods of time. One, known as a sedile, was a small seat attached to the front of the cross, about halfway down. This device provided some support for the victim’s body. . . . Both Erenaeus and Justin Martyr describe the cross of Jesus as having five extremities rather than four; the fifth was probably the sedile. To increase the victim’s suffering, the sedile was pointed, thus inflicting horrible pain.

Regret empties anticipation, flattens dreams, and suffocates hope, because regret is a form of self-punishment. Whereas hindsight helps us learn from the past, regret beats us up with the past. So for one entire day (or go for forty), I invite you to fast regret. Do not feed it. Do not give it space. Let it go: God’s mercies are “new every morning

What might be the fruit of fasting stinginess? What would happen if our churches fasted spectatorship? What might occur if our families fasted accumulation? What could change if our offices fasted revisionism? What might erupt if a new generation fasted escapism? Such fasts could trigger a spiritual revolution.

From John’s perspective, the true value of people seeing him was that people would then be positioned to see through him and gaze at Jesus. By

Yet somehow Jesus’ actions were not matching John’s expectations. And that distance between what John thought Jesus would do and what Jesus actually did was straining John’s certainty of who Jesus was.

key invitation of our spiritual journeys is to be emotionally honest about our uncertainties. Questions such as the one asked by John are signs of a living, growing, active faith, not evidence of a dying one.

No matter how we rationalize, God will sometimes seem unfair from the perspective of a person trapped in time. . . . Not until history has run its course will we understand how ‘all things work together for good.’ Faith means believing in advance what will only make sense in reverse.” — PHILIP YANCEY

(On Gaza) "They are being strangled since the Israeli withdrawal, surrounded by a separation barrier that is penetrated only by Israeli-controlled checkpoints, with just single opening for personnel only into Egypt-Sinai as their access to the outside world. There have been no moves by Israel to permit transportation by air or by sea. Fishermen are not permitted to leave the harbor. Workers are prevented from going to outside jobs. The import or export of food and other goods is severely restricted and often cut off completely, and the police, teachers, nurses, and social workers are deprived of salaries. Per capita income has decreased 40% during the last three years, and the poverty rate has reached 70%. The UN special repertoire on the right of food has stated that the acute malnutrition in Gaza is already on the same scale as that seen in the poorer countries of the southern Sahara, with more than half of Palestinians eating only one meal a day.