Last time I offered a new definition of the spiritual exercises: The spiritual exercises awaken us to the already present God and invite God to transform us. I also shared a reflection by a student who had come to see how the disciplines function in this way in his life. In this entry I want to share some more insights I am learning from my students at Friends University, in a class I teach on Christian Spiritual Formation.

There are a lot of great definitions of the spiritual disciplines that have helped me through the years. Richard Foster’s classic definition of the disciplines is this: “The spiritual disciplines place us before God so that God can transform us.”

When I was in college I was evangelized and proselytized by a parachurch organization who had a wonderful slogan they often used: “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life” . . .