20. Examination

It is a fair task to examine ourselves.  The Spirit already knows where and how we are broken.  Perhaps we know some of our brokenness, and perhaps we do not.  For certain, when we begin with the Spirit, we cannot possibly understand how deep our brokenness extends.  Nor does the Spirit want us to know.  To understand how deep of a task we have before us to be healed is overwhelming at best, and a cause for us to give up any future work at repair at worst.

It is good to take time to examine ourselves, to give ourselves an evaluation.  The method I often use to examine myself is to ask two questions of my life and to create lists beneath both.  Below, I give you a list of question pairs that you can use to examine yourself.  Do not use all of them at one time.  For now, just answer one pair, or perhaps two, and you can leave the others for another time.  Some of the pairs of questions may not open up your life at all—that’s fine.  Just skip them and work on a pair of questions that reveals something about who you are.

• What do I need in my life? / What needs of others do I meet?
• Where is the Divine in my life?/ What parts of my life need the Divine?
• What is separating me from God?/ Where does God meet me?
• How do I act like Jesus?/ How should I act like Jesus?
• What habits separate me from the Spirit?/What disciplines might renew me to the Spirit?
• What relationships are breaking me and how?/ Where is God in the people I have broken relationships with?
• What about myself needs forgiveness?/ How do I display forgiveness?
• Who are the people I view negatively?/ What is the good in those people?
• Why am I overwhelmed? / How does God want me to have balance?
• What things in my life harm me?/ What aspects of my life are healing?
• What discipline do I need to add to my life?/ What am I willing to give up to make the discipline happen?
• What things in my life cause uncontrollable anger?/ What things grant me peace in my life?
• What things in my life do I worry about? / What can be changed through love?
• What do I expect from others? / Am I fair in my expectations? 
• How is God great? / What do I wish God to do for me that he hasn’t done yet?

Take the questions you chose and the answers you discovered and give them to the Spirit, allowing him to work with you on these areas.