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Wisdom Story
A young boy played the piano before a master pianist. He played spectacularly. After the performance the aged master replied, "Son, you play the piano very well. Now, I hope that someday you will learn to make music."
Wisdom Saying
… I come so that everyone would have life, and have it in its fullest.
*John 10.10, CEV
Comments
Jesus teaches that we can enjoy the full life: not merely bios life, or the life of the physical senses, but zoe life, the spiritual life.
This full life, while arising from Infinite Spirit and infusing our spirit, is not separate from our everyday, ordinary lives. Possibly, this is one of the hardest lessons on the spiritual journey: The full life, the spiritual life, is within this life, the ordinary routine of daily living.
However, we live lives of practical atheism when we live apart from a consciousness of the Divine within our daily lives. In absence of living aware of the Sacred, our lives fit within the dominant secularism of the times.
We may have to learn looking at the world differently. This new vision arises out of contemplative consciousness wherein we are sensitized to see the Holy in the ordinary. "There are traces of ultimacy in ordinary experience," writes Ronald Rolheiser, in The Shattered Lantern.
To have the full life, then, is not merely how well we perform life. Rather, the full life arises evermore full as we learn to experience God in everyday life and respond in gratitude to the Grace of that Presence. For this to occur, we learn to see the Sacred in the ordinary. And this new seeing is the result of a practice of contemplation that spiritualizes our spiritual sight to see that the ordinary is saturated with the scent of unseen roses.
With this full life, we find that spiritual life is not merely a technique pertaining to religion or morality, or both. The full life that Christ offers is the Presence of Love overflowing into our heart and outward to others. Our life becomes the making of music, not the mere doing of the right thing. We move beyond a performance ethic; the full life flowing through us becomes what truly and most deeply touches others with blessing.
Suggested Reflection
If God is so present in the ordinary, why do we have to learn to see God in the ordinary?
Brian is available to respond to requests pertaining to seeking a Spiritual Director, his speaking, doing classes, workshops, or retreats for churches or other spiritual groups.
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*Brian K. Wilcox lives with his wife, Rocio, and their two dogs, St. Francis and Bandit Ty, in Punta Gorda, Florida. He is a United Methodist pastor and vowed member of Greenbough House of Prayer, a contemplative Christian community in Georgia. His passion is living a contemplative life and inspiring others to experience a deeper relationship with Christ through contemplative prayer and living.
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