The Foundation of the Spiritual Life

Soon afterwards

Elizabeth his wife became pregnant

and went into seclusion for five months.

“How kind the Lord is,” she exclaimed,

“to take away my disgrace

of having no children!”

(Luke 1:24-25, The Living Bible)

Dear friends, even though I am talking like this I really don’t believe that what I am saying applies to you. I am confident you are producing the good fruit that comes along with your salvation. For God is not unfair. How can he forget your hard work for him, or forget the way you used to show your love for him—and still do—by helping his children? And we are anxious that you keep right on loving others as long as life lasts, so that you will get your full reward. Then, knowing what lies ahead for you, you won’t become bored with being a Christian nor become spiritually dull and indifferent, but you will be anxious to follow the example of those who receive all that God has promised them because of their strong faith and patience. (Hebrews 6:9-12, TLB)

The French author Simone Weil  writes in her notebook: “Waiting patiently in expectation is the foundation of the spiritual life.” Without patience our expectation degenerates into wishful thinking. Patience comes from the word patior which means “to suffer.” What seems a hindrance becomes a way; what seems an obstacle becomes a door; what seems a misfit becomes a cornerstone. (Henri Nouwen, Out of Solitude)

Prayer

Lord, give us patience so that we may truly see obstacles as doors, the “not-quite-rights” of life as a foundation, our suffering and indifference as eventual gateways to your salvation, to goodness, and to meaningful service. Make the challenges on our spiritual journey into opportunities to say “yes” to your love and to your help. Amen. 

Advent action

Advent is marked by a spirit of expectation, by watchful alertness. Prepare the way of the Lord by making an Advent calendar of ways to help others or positive changes in your own spiritual life. Don't plan too precisely, however; leave room for God's input. 

(from Advent and Christmas Wisdom from Henri Nouwen)

Let God Hear Your Voice

 I am completely numb, totally spent, hopelessly crushed.

    The agitation of my heart makes me groan.

(Psalm 38:8, The Voice)

Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, 

and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. 

From inside the fish 

Jonah prayed to the Lord his God.

(Jonah 1:17-2:1, NIV) 

 

When the course of his priestly assignment was completed, [Zechariah] went back home. It wasn’t long before his wife, Elizabeth, conceived. She went off by herself for five months, relishing her pregnancy. “So, this is how God acts to remedy my unfortunate

condition!” she said.

(Luke 1:24-25, Message)  

 

John Skinner's story of the novice monk has impressed upon many of us the words of council the novice was given:

 

Go to your cell, 

and your cell will teach you everything.

 

The cell is a place of being shut away with God, and with yourself. This may be a physical place or just a choice to be opened to Him in an interior way. We know it is exactly what we need, but avoid time alone and find other things to address in order to delay it. . . 

 

The son felt fenced in. His Father took him to the fence and bid him look. He looked and he did not notice a hedge of thorn or a barbed wire entanglement. He saw a fence of feathers. 

 

'With his feathers shall he make a fence for you.' The son remembered how once he had said, 'There are days when little things go wrong, one after another, and I am distracted by much serving. Such days are very trying.' Then the Father had said, 'On such days take yourself take to yourself the words of your Savior and which you have so often given to others. Let them be your solace and your tranquility. But tell me, when you are under pressure, do you turn first to your companions or to me? Your companions listen and respond, but you never tell me about it. Let me see your face, let me hear your voice.  

Amy Carmichael

Come, Thou Good and Faithful Servant

 Meanwhile, I am empty and need so much,
    but I know the Lord is thinking of me.
You are my help; only You can save me, my True God.
    Please hurry. 

(Psalm 40:17, The Voice) 

 

When he got there, he crawled into a cave and went to sleep. Then the word of God came to him: “So Elijah, what are you doing here?”

(1 Kings 19:9, The Message) 

 

Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.”
 

The angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.”

 (Luke 1:17-18, NIV) 

 

God is not easily impressed - but then he never asks us to try to impress him. It is as if he turns to us when we are consumed with our own unworthiness and are tempted to avoid meeting with him, then he cuts through all our excuses and says: 'Relax, I already know you.'

 

Amy Carmichael captures the feeling of such an exchange in her book His thoughts said. . .  His Father said. . .  

 

The son said, 'But I am not successful.'

His Father said, 'At the end of the day will my word be, 

Come, thou good and successful servant? 

If only that will walk humbly with thy God it will be, 

Come, thou good and faithful servant. 

 

We are not called to be successful, but faithful - relax! (Northumbrian Aiden readings, Dec. 11)

 

In the face of a culture that worships productivity and success, 

relaxing may seem foolhardy. 

How might you practice your faith

in some small way this season 

in the God who gives his vision of success?