Holy Moments - Holy Habits

I just finished Mathew Kelly’s book “Holy Moments,” and I LOVED it. I love finding great Christian authors and reading their books in addition to the Bible - this book and another one he wrote has helped me and I know they can help others too!! So I have a few free copies, let me know if you’re interested and I will send them out. I really loved how Kelly focused on mastering the moment of decision - and creating small holy moments that shape your life into something beautiful and amazing!! Because as a Christian Habits Coach, this is so on brand with what The Refinery Movement does, just with a focus on strength training and nutrition, but this can be used for any aspect in your life. I share some of the beginning of his book in this podcast! Check it out❤️

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Are you a faith-driven woman ready to transform your health and fitness, level up your habits, and steward everything that God has blessed you with? If so, welcome to the Refinery Movement Podcast, the place for Christian women in fitness or women ready to step into it, who want to build strong, faith-based habits that honor God and inspire their families and communities. I'm your host, AJ Amrine, lifelong athlete, former WWE superstar and founder of the Refinery Movement. My passion is to help women integrate faith and fitness and to make the church healthy again. Here we'll dive into powerful strategies, biblical principles, and practical tips to help you crush your goals. We'll also talk about balancing training, nutrition, and family life because you can steward the temple and still enjoy freedom, fun, and connection. So grab your protein shake, get comfy, and let's step into today's episode with boldness, clarity, and intention. Let's get refined.

SPEAKER_01 0:58

Hey girl, so glad that you're here today. I want to talk to you about something simple but life-changing and something small enough to fit into your everyday life, but powerful enough to absolutely transform your life. And it starts with this truth: our lives only get better when we grow in virtue. Our lives only get better when we become more patient, more loving, more generous, more aligned with what is good. Think of your soul like a still lake. When the water is calm and clear, it reflects the sun perfectly. And God is like that sun, constant, radiant, full of truth, beauty, goodness. And when our hearts are quiet and open, we begin to reflect the image of God. We begin to reflect that goodness into the lives of everyone that we encounter. And how does that happen? Through small moments. It happens through small moments, ordinary, everyday choices, what Matthew Kelly likes to call holy moments. I just finished Matthew Kelly's book called Holy Moments, and I have free copies to give out, and I just wanted to share a little bit of the beginning of this book and let me know if you want a copy, because I have a few extra. But I read my Bible and I also just really enjoy finding Christian authors and reading about what they have to say. And I found a few of his that I just absolutely love, and I think that they were really helpful in my life, and I think that they can be really helpful in yours and a great resource to read in addition to your Bible. But these tiny moments, choosing kindness instead of irritation and patience instead of rushing, generosity instead of selfishness, these are the things that breathe life back into everything. They breathe life back into our relationships, our families, our communities, our schools, even the world around us, even the nation. What if we started living as if God is truly present among us? What if we treated every single person we meet as if they carried something sacred? Like they matter deeply, like they are seen, like they are loved. What if we treated every person that we encounter as if they were the messiah in disguise for the second coming? How different would the world look? There's a story about Michelangelo, one of the greatest artists in history. Near the end of his life, he reflected with regret, not about his work. He accomplished so much, not about his success, but about how little attention he had given to his soul. I urge you to start living as if the Messiah is among us. Treat every person you ever meet like the second coming of Jesus in disguise. Michelangelo said this: I regret that I have done so little for my eternal soul and that I am but beginning to learn the alphabet of my craft. He was 88 years old and a genius who had lived a life of astonishing worldly accomplishments. But what was his regret? Care of the soul. And the advantage that you have over Michelangelo is that you still have time to do something about it. You have so much more to offer. But to contribute more, to experience life in new and exciting ways, to accomplish things far beyond your accomplishments so far, and to discover who you really are and what you are here in this world to contribute, you need to start paying closer attention to the sacred truths bubbling up within your soul. You were made for more, and it's time to find out what that more is. And holy moments draw out your potential. So that's striking about Michelangelo, isn't it? But here's the good news. You and I, we still have time. We have time to grow, time to change, time to become who we were created to be. Tomorrow's not promise, though. So let's have a sense of urgency about this. There's something more waiting for you. And those small holy choices, they're what draw that more out of you. So let's talk about something we all feel, whether we admit it or not. Hunger. We all have appetites and we try and satisfy it sometimes with earthly short-term dopamine things like money, fame, pleasures, not just a physical hunger, but a deeper one. There's a deeper hunger inside of all of us. What are you hungry for right now? We all chase things thinking they'll satisfy us, like success, fitness, becoming the fittest person ever, comfort, validation, distraction. But often, no matter how much we get, something still feels off. Like we aren't a fool. And Kelly shares the story about the Bushmen in the Kalahari Desert in Southern Africa, and they talk about two hungers. There's the great hunger and the little hunger. The little hunger yearns for food, while the great hunger, the greatest hunger of all, is the hunger for meaning. Here's a quote by Lawrence Van Der Post. There's ultimately only one thing that makes human beings deeply and profoundly bitter. And that's to have thrust upon them a life without meaning. There's nothing wrong in searching for happiness, but far more comfort to the soul is something greater than happiness or unhappiness. And that's meaning. Because meaning transfigures all. Once what you're doing has a meaning for you, it's irrelevant whether you're happy or unhappy. You are content. End quote. Lauren's Van Der Post. We pretend our hunger baffles us. Like we try to feed our hunger in a thousand different ways, but still our hunger remains because it will only be satisfied with meaning. We can't thrive without meaning. Our need for meaning is as urgent and unceasing as our need for water. Have you ever had a night tossing and turning, wondering about the purpose and direction of your life? We all have. So what are you hungry for in your life right now? Do you know? You might not, and that's okay. Let's find out together. And this book helped me figure this out too and just get to a deeper place spiritually. But whatever your hunger is, more of the same, more of what you have been trying to satisfy it with until now is not the answer. So are you open to trying something new? We can try to fill our lives with noise and busyness and distractions, but if there's no meaning, the emptiness lingers. Meaning is what gives life depth, it's what carries us through both joy and hardship. Because without it, we drift. And with it, we're anchored. So if you've ever laid awake at night wondering, what am I doing with my life? Where am I going? You are not alone. You're human. That question is an invitation. And that feeling of wanting to do more with your life and that hunger, that's a very good thing. God designed us to crave that. It's an invitation to stop numbing the hunger, though, and start listening to it. And maybe it's time to try something different. And here's where things begin to come into focus. Kelly writes this book around this single moment of clarity that he had when he was 15 years old. Some moments are holy, some moments are unholy. And our choices can guide a moment in either direction. Boom. It's that simple. Some moments are holy, some moments are unholy, and our choices can guide a moment in either direction. Every moment of your life holds a choice. Some moments move us toward what is good and true and life-giving, and others pull us away from it. And once you realize that, once you understand that your choices shape the direction of each moment, life starts to make more sense because suddenly you're not just reacting to life, you're participating in it, you're shaping it. And a holy moment is this. Kelly defines a holy moment as a single moment in which you open yourself up to God, you make yourself available to him, you set aside personal preference and self-interest. And for one moment, you do what you prayerfully believe God is calling you to do. You don't need to have everything figured out. You are already equipped to begin, creating and collaborating with God to create holy moments. And these small intentional choices, they bring a kind of joy that runs deeper than circumstances, a quiet, steady kind of joy that comes from living with purpose through Christ. But let's be real, and this is where I really loved this book because it, first of all, it's all about Jesus. And then it's it's really about habits. It all comes down to decisions and the habit of making good decisions. If you only learn to master one moment in your life, learn to master the moment of decision. Because your life is built choice by choice. We're not born knowing how to make great decisions. We learn that often through trial and error. And yes, through regret. Regret reminds us that our choices matter. But here's something we don't talk about enough. Good choices have powerful consequences too. They build confidence, they create peace, they shape a future that you actually want to live in. Your habits matter, your attention matters, your presence matters. So take every thought captive. And the beautiful thing is you always have another choice in front of you. God always provides a way out. God is always just one choice away. Even if you don't like where you are right now, you're not stuck. Different choices create a different future. Most people in the modern secular world cannot make sense of life. The culture has exiled them from God, religion, and spirituality. So each day is a frustrating attempt to put together a jigsaw puzzle of life without crucial pieces. The more disconnected from God our lives become, the more meaningless life becomes. Holy moments, though, give meaning and divine purpose to our lives. Meaning is crucial to our health and happiness. We can't thrive as human beings without it, and we can't live a meaningful life by filling our life with trivial things and meaningless activities. Holy moments solve the meaningless of our lives. You are equipped right now to collaborate with God and create holy moments. And these tiny collaborations with God unleash pure unmitigated joy. And like I just mentioned above, what Kelly said, if you only learn to master one moment in your life, learn to master the moment of decision. Boom. That is so powerful. You're not born great decision makers. It's something that must be learned. The wisdom of holy moments will teach you how to become a great decision maker. Regrets teach us that choices have consequences. Regrets reveal that we need to become better decision makers. When we teach children that choices have consequences, the emphasis is usually placed on the consequences of poor choices, while the powerful and positive consequences of wise choices are often overlooked. Decision making is a powerful force in our lives. Our decisions quite literally shape our life alongside our habits. So let's build the habit of good decision making and being present and free from distractions. We make the future with our choices. And the beautiful thing about choices is you have more to make. Choices got you here, but if you don't like here, all you need to do is start making different choices. Your choices have power. So let me ask you something honestly. What are you going to do with the rest of your life? Keep going through the motions, stay distracted, keep putting off the change that you know deep down you want and need to make. Or are you ready to do something about that quiet dissatisfaction in your heart? You have one life. It is short. And yes, we all waste parts of it, but there's still time to live differently. There's a moment in the gospel where Jesus is transfigured, his appearance becomes radiant and transformed and full of light. And in a small way, every holy moment is like a mini transfiguration, a glimpse of who you could become, a glimpse of the beauty, the goodness, the strength that's already within you that God put inside of you. You are made in the image of God, and it's just waiting to be chosen. Don't let your past define your future. You are not your worst mistake. You are not your hardest moment. You are made for more. You are always one good choice away from moving in a totally new direction. One holy moment can begin to shift absolutely everything in your life. So as you go about your day-to-day, I want to leave you with this. Your life will be made up of moments. It will. That is a fact. Your life will be made up of moments. The question is what kind of moments will they be? The choice, again and again, is yours. Will they be holy moments? Or will they be unholy moments?