While checking out facebook this morning, I came across a note from the NWYM about journeying with God. Normally I just skim these articles, but it was written by one of my favorite college professors, and I got sucked into reading the whole thing. It was exactly what I needed today and, to use a Friendly term, it "spoke to my condition." I would love to share the whole thing, but these couple of paragraphs struck me the most powerfully:
"Sometimes people have entered the spiritual journey more out of duty than desire, thinking they must take this path even though they might enjoy life more without God’s interference. The journey’s gradual deepening trust moves us away from suspicion and mere duty. It allows us to relax into God.
As trust deepens, we can again discover new possibilities. We can come to “know” God in greater intimacy and grow in having our own character and hearts shaped to God’s. As we come to love what God loves, we discover that God’s embrace is much wider than our own, and we may feel our own arms widen to enfold what we once thought unimportant or unlovable. Jesus shocked people with who he hung out with, who he refused to ignore, and who is shown kindness to. We might shock ourselves as God opens our eyes.
We might be surprised, too, to share more fully God’s deep sadness and outrage over brokenness and oppression in the world, and we might discover that we now are compelled to respond to it. We might grow to show compassion in the ways God shows compassion. And we are likely to ever more readily embrace God’s purposes and learn to delight in collaborating with God’s active presence in the world. We gladly put hands and feet to our words “your will be done.”'
-Howard Macy
Originally published in Quaker Life, July/August 2010
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