The inner journey is really just preparation for our outer, "active" life with God. I find it so much easier to experience the mystery and wonder of God when I am seeking Him, worshipping Him, listening to Him, and pursuing Him in personal, private devotion. But the real depth of my "life with God" is discovered when I am outwardly "doing life." God does not accept my compartments. He seeks to integrate the reality of His mystery into ALL of my life.
Thomas Keating says it this way:
Daily life is where the action is. Prayer, in a sense, is a preparation for action, a perspective from which we can interpret the events of our life as part of the healing process rather than try to manipulate them. Daily life becomes contemplative service, God in us serving God in others. No longer living under the influence or domination of our false selves, we begin to live under the direct influence of the Spirit. We manifest the infinite goodness and tenderness of God.
That, for me, is what I long for and desire. It's great to "hang out" with God. Really great! But I want a life that is being lived out of the perfume of His influence-- wherever I go. That's a life worth living! That's a life that is filled with life! That's a life that is energized by love and by passion. That's a life that is living the adventure of daily mystery and awe: God present in and breaking into the daily, seemingly mundane, elements of everyday life because I am making room for Him to do so.
More Keating:
The whole of life becomes contemplative as a result of the evacuation or dismantling of the obstacles to the action of the Spirit.
Great concept: "The whole of life becomes contemplative." I would say it another way: The whole of life becomes an adventure because every part of life is wrapped up in the mystery of God interacting within my life.
For more of this Keating article including his "Disciplines for Daily Life", look here.
(Feel free to post comments on this devotional blog, on your own daily devotion, on anything relating to contemplation, lectio divina, loving God.)
Keating is one of my favorite contemporary authors of contemplative prayer practices. For me, he puts it into words that makes sense and practices I can understand & implement. His book 'Open Mind, Open Heart' brought about a really point of change in my life.
Posted by: Steve Bogner | March 08, 2004 at 05:15 AM