The human development of Jesus as recorded in Luke 2:52 is a compelling framework for holistic health. This is where we learn that Jesus “increased in wisdom and in years and in divine and human favor” (NRSVScripture quotations marked (NRSV) are taken from the New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.). As we follow Jesus’ example and attend to the psycho-cognitive-emotional (wisdom), physical (years), spiritual (divine), and social (human favor) aspects of ourselves, we are also move toward becoming whole persons.Al Tizon, Whole and Reconciled: Gospel, Church, and Mission in a Fractured World (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2019), 106.

Jesus encouraged his followers to love God wholly, with every dimension of the human person: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. . . . You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” (Mark 12:29–31; see Deut. 6:4–9; Lev. 19:18). This is what the RESPIRE model puts into focus. 

Presented below is a simple model for leading small group discussion concerning use of the RESPIRE model. We suggest that you begin each session with a focus on where the group members are with the emotional aspect of personhood. While emotions do not serve well as the drivers of our life, each emotion conveys an important message that we can learn from.  

Following the first round of discussion—with a focus on key emotions from the week—we recommend that you encourage a second round of discussion that can focus on some other aspect of the person. We’ll give you an example of this, but each person should be encouraged to focus on any other aspect of their week (Intellectual/Cognitive, Physical/Behavioral, Spiritual, or Social) that she or he wishes to discuss.  

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01.  Round One: Emotional—Using the S.A.S.H.E.T Check-in Process

Check-In Process 

1. Feelings — S.A.S.H.E.T.S.A.S.H.E.T. is an acronym that means Sadness, Anger, Scare, Happiness, Excitement, Tenderness. http://www.libpsych.com/articles/sashet/sashet.html emotions 
2. Sixty-second context 
3. End with “I’m in” (this indicates wholehearted attention that you are now ready to listen) 

 

List of Six Core Emotions  

• SAD (grief, a sense of loss) 

• ANGRY (blocked from something I want, frustration) 

• SCARED (fear, response to a perceived threat or danger, dread) 

• HAPPY (joy, sense of well-being, peaceful, contented) 

• EXCITED (eagerness, anticipation, positive expectation, hopeful) 

• TENDER (caring, sense of connectedness with others, compassion) 

 

Guidelines for the Group  

• Avoid modifiers: simply own the emotion however mild or strong it is. 

• Give full attention to the person speaking: with your face, eyes, and body. 

• Do not interrupt another speaking—no comments, jokes or “cross-talk.” 

• If you feel like someone is saying something that you identify with, indicate by raising your hand as a silent affirmation / similar identification with what is being shared.  

• Make “I” statements rather than saying “you” or “we” when referring to yourself. 

• Do not worry about what you are going to say or try to plan it out in advance—speak from the heart about what is true for you in the moment. 

• Additional Circles of Trust Communication Guidelines: We give and receive welcome. We are present as fully as possible. We speak our own truth. We listen receptively to the truth of others. When the going gets rough, turn to wonder. We observe confidentiality. Nothing shared in a circle of trust will ever be repeated to other people. Source: https://couragerenewal.org/  

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02.  Round Two: Group Members Can Bring Up Any Other Function of Their Person

With the second round of sharing, each member of the group can pick any aspect of themselves (Intellectual/Cognitive, Physical/Behavioral, Spiritual, or Social) for discussion. Perhaps they will choose to share about the area which was their most frequently rated lowest, or highest, and describe what was learned from this observation. Perhaps they will bring up an aspect of themselves to which they feel drawn to pay more attention. 

Example: If a person chooses to discuss the “I” dimension of the RESPIRE model, he or she may discuss ways in which they found themselves loving God with their mind (books, podcast, inspirational thoughts). And with this particular dimension, they are keeping the end-goal in mind. “Children of Light are beginning to think constantly about the greatness, goodness, and loveliness of God.”  

But remember, any aspect of the person is fair game for sharing how the week went and in which way the RESPIRE model was helpful. Our one example, after round one, focused on intellectual, but each of the other aspects (physical, social, spiritual) are also fair game.  

As the group facilitator, you may also find it helpful to keep in mind Willard’s two primary objectives for any Curriculum for Christlikeness.Dallas Willard, Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God (New York: HarperSanFranscico, 1998), 321–322. The first objective is to bring apprentices to the point where they dearly love and constantly delight in that “heavenly Father” made real to earth in Jesus. They do this by enthralling their mind with God. The second primary objective of a curriculum for Christlikeness is to remove our automatic responses against the kingdom of God—that is, automatic responses that tend to move us away from instead of toward God’s Light and Love.  

 

Bonus Ideas  

Here are multiple options you may like to consider conversationally in your time together:  

1. Use the old Appalachian greeting, “What’s learnin’ ya; what’s workin’ ya?” Share a brief summary of something that you are learning about . . . through thinking about your life or something you are currently reading or studying. 
2. Richard Foster defines the spiritual discipline of study as “the intentional process of engaging the mind with the written and spoken Word of God and the world God has created in such a way that the mind takes on an order conforming to the order upon which it concentrates.”The Renovaré Spiritual Formation Bible, Richard Foster, ed. (New York: HarperSanFranscico, 2005), 2314. 
3. Do you notice any childlike curiosity that you are currently being drawn to study or explore more and why? Or What do you just need to think more about?  
4. In the Divine Conspiracy, Willard writes that “our seeking and teaching must be thorough and completely honest.”Divine Conspiracy, 328. Is there anything going on in your life that you are “learning the hard way?” Or is there any current thought or idea that you may need to set a boundary with?  
5. In what ways are you thinking about God differently lately, in what ways are you enthralling your mind with Him?  
6. Think it through: Is there a grace you wish you were receiving from God and are not? And what’s the grace you are receiving instead?

 

Close the group discussion with Prayer.