About Me

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I long to see Christ formed in me and in those around me. Spiritual formation is my passion. My training was under Dallas Willard at the Renovare Spiritual Formation Institute. One of my regular prayers is this: "This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all powerful. Be in the heart of each to whom I speak, and in the mouth of each who speaks unto me."

Center Peace

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Virtue and Peace

Devotional Classics, Thomas a Kempis, Excerpts from The Imitation of Christ

"No matter how hard we try, our lives will never be without strife and grief. Thus, we should not strive for a peace that is without temptation, or for a life that never feels adversity. Peace is not found by escaping temptations, but by being tried by them. We will have discovered peace when we have been tried and come through the trial of temptation." (p.186)

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

Peace and trouble do not sound like they can coexist well. Somehow in my mind they seem more like opposites. Most often I pursue a peace that is an absence of trouble. I imagine a peace that is a trouble-free life.

Certainly, I did not get this from Jesus or his teaching. Jesus, the man of peace, faced many troubles. He also promised that I would faced troubles. Where does this idea, this hope come from, then?

I think part of it is a mistaken idea about spirituality. I imagine the "Nirvana" peace of losing self and complete complacency is floating around there somewhere. Peace in this light is a lack of fear, but also a lack of passion and concern. The peace that Jesus offers is different.

I guess from reading a Kempis, I find that peace is overcoming. Peace is not passive. It is a lack of fear and alarm, but not because desire has been denied or ignored, but because evil is overcome. Temptation and trial find their true faces when they are overcome by Jesus.

Actually, I find that trying to maintain a trouble-free peace guarantees fear and alarm. My hopes have always been dashed to the ground since trouble is part of this existence. Instead, a Kempis reminds me to go through trials with Jesus and overcome them with his good.

Peace accompanies virtue, but when I misunderstand peace, I find that virtue takes on a different face. Since seeking virtue brings trouble, trouble-free peace cannot be found. When following Jesus, trouble finds me, but remaining with him enables me to go through trials and temptations and stand. Then I find true peace.

Lord, I can see I have a long way to go in this, but I am excited about having a way to go! Please remind me each day to walk in this way. I want to overcome with you rather than live in fear and frustration. This peace is peace. Amen.

Today I have been facing troubles in the form of people frustrating me and opposing my good intentions. Rather than being so deeply troubled by this, I am seeking to overcome my worry about what people do or think around me and seek to overcome evil. The first evil God has shown me is my own frantic concern about what people think about me. I believe this step toward peace will also be a step toward loving goodness and virtue as they should be.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

The Road to Virtue and Away From It

Devotional Classics, Benedict of Nursia, Excerpts from The Rule

"The ninth step of humility is to withhold our tongue from speaking, keeping silence until we are asked. . . . The eleventh step of humility is to speak with few and sensible words." (p.180)

"Do not be quick with your mouth,
Do not be hasty in your heart
To utter anything before God.
God is in heaven and you are on earth
So let your words be few." (Ecclesiastes 5: 2-3)

"First you say it, then you do it." (Bill Cosby)

I have found that there are some general steps on the road of wrong doing. The first steps have to do with what I think. I forget God. I choose to dwell on what I want mostly. I put other peoples' needs out of my head. I ponder what would feel the best. I think about how to hide my tracks the best. I also focus on how miserable I am without the object of my desire.

These actions of the mind are counteracted by Benedict's steps toward humility. He lists these activities for the mind: Reverence for God, Doing God's Will, Obedience to Others, Enduring Affliction, Confession, and Contentment. In practicing these, I cut at the root of a thought life that wanders into wrong doing.

Then there are steps on the road of wrong doing that I take more through actions. I tend to boast and talk about myself much. I look for ways to get out of doing what I should do. I look for noise and distraction. I try to find things that will make me laugh and feel good. I write and speak with great explanation and defensiveness. I become more concerned with how I look to other people.

Benedict also addresses these in The Rule with Self-Reproach, Obeying the Common Rule, Silence, Seriousness, Simple Speech, and Humility in Appearance. With these actions I find that humility begins to find a place to stay in my life. When my thoughts being to seek God presence and his will through obedience and sincerity, my body begins to follow suit with less boasting, more silence and simplicity.

In particular, my mouth indicates which road I am traveling. It is not uncommon for my mouth to speak what has been on my mind for quite some time. This is not surprising, but does take me by surprise. I am shocked at what I say a times. Further, my mouth also tends to predict what I will eventually do. It may not be literal, but it certainly is real.

So, I may find myself thinking that I deserve to be treated better than I feel I am being treated at work or at home. This will be followed by complaints about how I am treated. Such complaints will be followed by my actions to "get even" with those I see as my attackers. I neglect my work or try to make my kids do things to appreciate me more through laying guilt on them.

So these steps of humility are real disciplines that can bring about humility and steer me from wrong-doing. Such steps can never bring anything without a real desire to please God and a real intention to begin, but they do give some ideas about how my mouth can stop its part in wrong-doing.

I have found that holding my tongue can stop the progression of wrong-doing long enough for me to be reminded of God's presence or my contentment in him. These things can become habits that give space for virtue in my life. Being silent or content are not virtues in themselves, but rather create a path for virtue - a real desire for good - to come rest in my life.

Lord, help me develop thoughts and actions that will house virtue in my life. The desire for good is what makes this life worth living. You alone are good, Father. Let virtue be the tie that draws me nearer to you each day. Amen.

Each word I say or don't say can be a road on which God is invited into my life or sent away from my life. May my words be few and inviting of God and his good.