{"id":2989,"date":"2015-05-15T06:42:36","date_gmt":"2015-05-15T10:42:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/?p=2989"},"modified":"2018-11-20T09:03:24","modified_gmt":"2018-11-20T14:03:24","slug":"the-truth-of-the-moment-recovering-from-a-spiritual-slump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/the-truth-of-the-moment-recovering-from-a-spiritual-slump\/","title":{"rendered":"The Truth of the Moment: Recovering from a Spiritual Slump"},"content":{"rendered":"
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If you’ve ever been in a play or any kind of production where you were required to recite memorized lines, you know the most terrifying thing to happen is to forget your lines. You freeze, palms begin to sweat, you get the deer-in-headlights look, heat begins to overwhelm your body, causing instantaneous beads of sweat to appear on your forehead.\u00a0 It’s absolutely mortifying…so I’m told.<\/p>\n

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\"IMG_0785.JPG\"<\/a>With much of my youth and young adulthood occupied by acting in some form or another, both at Mississippi College<\/a> and during my early seminary years with The Company, I have had my share of mental lapses.\u00a0 Truly, there are few experiences to compare.\u00a0 Correct me if you are the exception, but anyone who has done any kind of public speaking or acting can relate an experience such as I’ve described.\u00a0 So, what do you do?<\/p>\n

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One of the most important lessons I was taught by my college theatre professor was that when you are in a scene and you forget your lines, momentarily stop. Now, take a breath and in your mind, gently pick up your focus and put it back in the middle of the scene. Where are you in the play?\u00a0 What was just said?\u00a0 Many times, this practice helps quickly trigger what you are supposed to say next.\u00a0 Even if it doesn’t though<\/em>, living in the scene where you are and as the character you are, can lead to a proper response that will allow your fellow actor(s) to help get the scene back on track.\u00a0 This is called living in the “truth of the moment.”<\/p>\n

Technically, in Method Acting, the truth of the moment essentially involves an actor, living authentically in the role he is playing (i.e. “becoming” the character by relating similar real experiences to the those of the character and then responding honestly according to those identifications).\u00a0 Often, lines are forgotten because the actor is too caught up in the process of simply reciting memorized lines rather than living authentically in the moment<\/em>.\u00a0 Living in the truth of the moment<\/em> is being honest and authentic in the scene you are playing so that, even if your lines are momentarily lost, gently putting your attention back in place, remembering who you are in the production, and reacting honestly in the scene can get you going again.\u00a0 Quite often, the audience never even suspects it.<\/p>\n

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I have found myself in similar situations as a disciple of Jesus.\u00a0 I may be trucking along fine, living out my role authentically and honestly, faithfully reading the Word and praying, when all of a sudden (so it seems), I hit a slump.\u00a0 I forget who I am in the scene God has cast me in, I lose focus and begin to drift away from honestly and consistently abiding in Him (John 15<\/a>).\u00a0 I am in danger of completely wrecking the scene, distancing myself from the things of God and negatively affecting my testimony.\u00a0 What do we do in those situations?\u00a0 How do we recover without being bogged down in distraction, frustration and despair?<\/p>\n

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Live in the truth of the moment.<\/p>\n

During these times of confusion, in the midst of all the noise and the myriad of lesser things vying for my affection, telling me who I am supposed to be, it is important that I stop, gently lift my spiritual focus and put it back where it needs to be.\u00a0 If I’m lost in what God is telling me, unable to hear through the clutter, then what was the last thing I heard Him say?\u00a0 I go back in my spiritual journal (read more about that practice here<\/a>), and see what God had been dealing with me about.\u00a0 I have to determine what the last thing was that I read in His Word that impacted me and start there.\u00a0 I need to re-examine who He has made me to be in Christ. \u00a0Living in the truth of the moment assures me that I am remaining authentic, even though I am distracted, and allows me to keep moving forward!<\/div>\n
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What are some of the struggles you experience in learning to follow Christ?\u00a0 What are some ways that help you stay focused on continued growth as a disciple?<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\tTweet<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you’ve ever been in a play or any kind of production where you were required to recite memorized lines, you know the most terrifying thing to happen is to forget your lines. You freeze, palms begin to sweat, you get the deer-in-headlights look, heat begins to overwhelm your body, causing instantaneous beads of sweat…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"The Truth of the Moment: Recovering from a Spiritual Slump http:\/\/wp.me\/p3jKZO-Md","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[4,648],"tags":[53,142,309,348,666,667],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3jKZO-Md","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2878,"url":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/bonhoeffer-the-cost-of-discipleship\/","url_meta":{"origin":2989,"position":0},"title":"Bonhoeffer: The Cost of Discipleship","date":"April 20, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Started reading The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer today.\u00a0 I didn't get through the introduction before I came across a great quote: When the Bible speaks of following Jesus, it is proclaiming a discipleship which will liberate mankind from all man-made dogmas, from every burden and oppression, from every\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Books"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2466,"url":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/making-disciples\/","url_meta":{"origin":2989,"position":1},"title":"Making Disciples","date":"October 22, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The mandate for the Church is to \"go into all the world and make disciples.\" (Matthew 28:18-20).\u00a0 If we're a part of a \"church\" and not doing that, and doing it effectively, we are hard-pressed to say we are a church.\u00a0 I think that we are to do this is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Christian Living"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5011,"url":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/shaking-away-the-chaff\/","url_meta":{"origin":2989,"position":2},"title":"Shaking Away the Chaff","date":"February 14, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Anyone who knows me knows that I love everything about coffee, from roasting to drinking. I have roasted my own coffee beans for about 20 years. Even so, a very simple but profound truth came to mind while roasting this past Saturday. When I finish roasting, I take the round\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Christian Living"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/davidcprice.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/coffeechaff.jpeg?fit=1200%2C800&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1003,"url":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/where-is-your-faith\/","url_meta":{"origin":2989,"position":3},"title":"Where Is Your Faith?","date":"August 19, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Last night, during Worship Out Loud at The Gathering, I spoke on Luke 8:22-25. \u00a0Here are the thoughts on that passage that led to that talk. Jesus gave His disciples a command: \"Get into the boat and let's go to the other side of the lake.\" They obeyed. 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Today, we started through\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Books"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2885,"url":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/reflecting-on-a-purpose-filled-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":2989,"position":5},"title":"Reflecting on a Purpose-filled Life","date":"April 21, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, 11\u00a0my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra\u2014which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me. 12\u00a0Indeed, all who desire\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Christianity"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2989"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2989"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2989\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4162,"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2989\/revisions\/4162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}