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Wisdom Words
How often we fashion cloaks of evasion~beam-proof shelters~in order to elude our Eternal Lover. But when we pray, God slowly and graciously reveals to us our evasive actions and sets us free from them.
*Richard Foster, "The Main Business of Life," in The Contemporaries Meet the Classics on Prayer. Compiler, Leonard Allen.
Comments
After being in the dark, we discover even more how bright can be the light. Our eyes have to adjust slowly to the brightness. That is natural.
After seven years of living alone, I met my fiance. I rejoiced to have a beloved in my life. But the blessing of God gracing me with romantic love was matched, initially, by the challenge of becoming adapted once more to receiving such affection. I had to choose to give myself some time to adjust to the gift. I did move beyond the overwhelming feelings, not by evading her sharing love with me, but by welcoming her love fully into my heart and life.
Like adjusting to light, after being in the dark, or adapting to receiving loving from a beloved after living without it for years, is our adaptation to receiving the Love of God. We might think most persons would gladly and wholly welcome the Love of God. That is not the case. God~Love challenges and changes us to the core and outward, and the integration of such unconditional, transforming Affection can be disturbing to our adjustment to living with less than such marvelous Grace.
So, we should let ourselves, through prayer and without judging ourselves for being human, be freed from our resistances to the Love of Christ. To do this we need to recognize the ways we evade the Love through even our religious devotion and service to others.
Contemplative prayer moves us beyond words to the immediacy of contact with the Triune God. This can be uncomfortable, but in this Quiet the Holy Spirit slowly adapts us to the enjoyment and welcoming of True Love.
Suggested Reflection
In what ways have you consciously or unconsciously sought to escape the Love of God? How has God worked in your life to help you open more to His Loving?
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