Author Archives: Bill Britton

Daily Riches: Your Power to Crush or to Bless (Mark Buchanan)

Posted on by under awe and wonder, Downward Mobility, Ego Issues

“‘Look, Daddy! What’s that?’
I stopped talking with my neighbor and looked down.
‘A beetle,’ I said.
David was impressed and pleased with the discovery of this fancy, colorful creature.
My neighbor lifted his foot and stepped on the insect, giving it an extra twist into the dirt.
‘That ought to do it,’ he laughed.
David looked up at me, waiting for an explanation, a reason. I did not wish to embarrass my neighbor, but then David turned, picked up the hose, and continued spraying the raspberries.
That night, just before he turned off the lights in his bedroom, David whispered. ‘I like’d that beetle, Daddy.’
‘I did too,’ I whispered back.

“I used to think the spiritual life was mostly about finding and using our gifts for God’s glory…. More and more I think it is not this, not first, not most. At root, the spiritual life consists in choosing the way of littleness. I become less so that Jesus might become greater. Its essence is No–No to ourselves, our impulses and cravings, our acts of self-promotion and self-vindication, our use of power for its own sake. It calls us to deny ourselves possessions, rights, conquests that we’re temped to claim just because we can. It is growing, day by day, into the same attitude that Christ had, and by exactly the same means: emptying ourselves, giving ourselves. It is refusing to grasp what we think is owed us and instead embracing what we think is beneath us. Simply behold, in love and wonder, what you have strength to crush. Exercise power–power you might use otherwise–to serve, bless, protect.” Mark  Buchanan

“It will be good for those servants
whose master finds them watching when he comes.
… he will dress himself to serve,
will have them recline at the table
and will come and wait on them.”
Luke 12:37

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Choosing “the way of littleness” is usually counter-cultural. Is this something you aspire to do?
  • The phrase “growing day by day” reminds us that spiritual growth is a slow process. What can you do daily to practice “emptying and giving” yourself?
  • Do you think of yourself as having “strength to crush” others? Think about your relationships with this in mind.

Abba, I want to serve, bless, and protect, not harm. Remind me when I go astray.

For More: The Rest of God by Mark Buchanan

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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek after God and he seeks after you. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it. My goal is to share something of unique value with you daily in 400 words or less. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

“I practice daily what I believe; everything else is religious talk.”

Daily Riches: Bent and Broken … Into Something Better (Charles Dickens, Hans Küng, Richard Rohr, and Charles Spurgeon)

Posted on by under Desolation's Gift, Downward Mobility, Embracing Losses and Limits, Suffering and Grace

“Suffering has been stronger than all other teaching …. I have been bent and broken, but – I hope – into a better shape.”  Charles Dickens

“We are faced here with a phenomenon which has been widely attested by countless Christians who have lived out their Christian and human existence without looking for any cheap consolation. Countless incurably sick who discovered through their sickness a new awareness of themselves. Countless individuals for whom a new dimension in their life was opened up through their own misfortune, through the loss or even the treachery of someone they had loved. Countless people who, through all disappointments, separations, mis-hits, failures, humiliations, setbacks and disregard, transformed their lives and acquired a new personal quality; through suffering becoming more mature, more experienced, more modest, more genuinely humble, more open for others–in a word, more human.” Hans Küng

“… the way down is the way up. …The loss and renewal pattern is so constant and ubiquitous that it should hardly be called a secret at all. Yet it is still a secret, probably because we do not want to see it. We do not want to embark on a further journey if it feels like going down, especially after we have put so much sound and fury into going up. …The supposed achievements of the first half of life have to fall apart and show themselves to be wanting in some way, or we will not move further.” Richard Rohr

“I have learned to kiss the waves that throw me up against the Rock of Ages.”  Charles H. Spurgeon

“My suffering was good for me,
for it taught me to pay attention to your decrees.”
Psalm 119:71

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • No one wants the “gift” of suffering: sickness, misfortune, disappointment, failure, humiliation, etc., but it’s also true that no one “moves further” without it. Have you experienced suffering that made you “more mature … experienced … modest … genuinely humble … open for others–in a word, more human?”
  • Is your testimony that you have been “bent and broken … but into a better shape?”
  • Have you learned to “kiss the waves [that] throw you up against the Rock of Ages?”

Abba, thank you for the “gifts” I never asked for and didn’t want, for they taught me to pay attention to you and your decrees.

For More: On Being a Christian by Hans Küng

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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek after God and he seeks after you. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it. My goal is to share something of unique value with you daily in 400 words or less. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

“I practice daily what I believe; everything else is religious talk.”

Daily Riches: The Trouble I Give Myself (Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Charles Spurgeon, Martin Luther, Dwight Moody, Augustine)

Posted on by under Self-care, Spiritual Disciplines

“Gradually it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either – but right through every human heart – and through all human hearts. …And even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained. And even in the best of all hearts, there remains … an unuprooted small corner of evil.” Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

“All the devils in hell and tempters on earth could do us no injury if there were no corruption in our own natures. …Beware of no man more than yourself; we carry our worst enemies within us. …The worst thing you have to fear is the treachery of your own heart.” Charles Spurgeon

“I am more afraid of my own heart than of the pope and all his cardinals. I have within me the great pope, Self.” Martin Luther

“I have had more trouble with myself than with any other man.” Dwight L. Moody

“Lord Jesus, don’t let me lie when I say that I love you…and protect me, for today I could betray you.” Augustine

One of the servant girls who worked for the high priest came by and noticed Peter warming himself at the fire. She looked at him closely and said, You were one of those with Jesus of Nazareth. But Peter denied it. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ he said, and he went out into the entryway. …When the servant girl saw him standing there, she began telling the others, ‘This man is definitely one of them!’ But Peter denied it again. A little later some of the other bystanders confronted Peter and said, ‘You must be one of them, because you are a Galilean. Peter swore, ‘A curse on me if I’m lying—I don’t know this man you’re talking about!”  Mark 14:65-72

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Do you fear “the treachery of your own heart?” If not, in light of these testimonies, and Peter’s example, why not?
  • If so, what practices do you have in place to protect yourself from the ravages of “the great pope (Self) within?”
  • Do you have a spiritual friend that can help you watch over your heart?

Abba, help me to guard my heart as though my life depended on it, for of course, it does.

For More: Lectures to My Students by Charles Haddon Spurgeon
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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek after God and he seeks after you. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it. My goal is to share something of unique value with you daily in 400 words or less. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

“I practice daily what I believe; everything else is religious talk.”

 

Daily Riches: The Lord’s Prayer and Structural Evil (Dallas Willard, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Tim Keller)

Posted on by under Contemplation and Activism, Loving Well, Social Justice, The Poor and Disenfranchised

“But in human affairs other ‘kingdoms’ [other than God’s kingdom] may for a time be in power, and often are. This second request [of the Lord’s prayer] asks for those kingdoms to be displaced, wherever they are, or brought under God’s rule. …And we are especially praying about the structural or institutionalized evils that rule so much of the earth. These prevailing circumstances daily bring multitudes to do deeply wicked things they do not even give a thought to. They do not know what they are doing and do not have the ability to distance themselves from it so they can see it for what it is…. We therefore pray for our Father to break up these higher-level patterns of evil. And, among other things, we ask him to help us see the patterns we are involved in. We ask him to help us not cooperate with them, to cast light on them and act effectively to remove them.” Dallas Willard

“Jesus, in his incarnation, ‘moved in’ with the poor. He lived with, ate with, and associated with the socially ostracized (Matt 9:13). He raised the son of the poor widow (Luke 7:11-16) and showed the greatest respect to the immoral woman who was a social outcast (Luke 7:36ff). Indeed, Jesus spoke with women in public, something that a man with any standing in society would not have done, but Jesus resisted the sexism of his day (John 4:27). Jesus also refused to go along with the racism of his culture, making a hated Samaritan the hero of one of his most famous parables (Luke 10:26ff) and touching off a riot when he claimed that God loved Gentiles like the widow of Zarephath and Naaman the Syrian as much as Jews (Luke 4:25-27). Jesus showed special concern for children, despite his apostles’ belief that they were not worth Jesus’s time (Luke 18:15).” Tim Keller

“We are not to simply bandage the wounds of victims beneath wheels of injustice; we are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“How long will you defend the unjust
and show partiality to the wicked?
Defend the weak and the fatherless;
uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.
Rescue the weak and the needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”
Psalm 82:2-4

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Are you asking God to help you “see the patterns of evil” that you’re involved in? that you allow by your consent or “cooperation?”
  • Are you asking God to help you “cast light on” these structural evils and “act to remove them?”
  • Does your relationship with Jesus give you a burden to “drive a spoke into the wheel” of injustice?

Abba, may thy kingdom come, may thy will be done – on earth as in is in heaven.

For More:  The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard
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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek after God and he seeks after you. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it. My goal is to share something of unique value with you daily in 400 words or less. [with today being a very rare exception!] I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

“I practice daily what I believe; everything else is religious talk.”

 

Daily Riches: Spiritual Formation and the Love of Books (Henry Ward Beecher and Charles H. Spurgeon)

Posted on by under Meditation, Spiritual Formation

“Where is human nature so weak as in a bookstore?” Henry Ward Beecher

“He was inspired, and yet he wants books!
He had been preaching for thirty years, and yet he wants books!
He had seen the Lord, and yet he wants books!
He had a wider experience than most men do, and yet he wants books!
He had been caught up into the third heaven, and had heard things that it was not lawful for a man to utter, and yet he wants books!
He had written a major part of the New Testament, and yet he wants books!” Charles Haddon Spurgeon on the Apostle Paul

“Give yourself to reading. …Master those books you have. Read them thoroughly. Bathe in them until they saturate you. Read and reread them…digest them. Let them go into your very self. Peruse a good book several times and make notes and analyses of it. A student will find that his mental constitution is more affected by one book thoroughly mastered than by twenty books he has merely skimmed. Little learning and much pride comes from hasty reading. Some men are disabled from thinking by their putting meditation away for the sake of much reading. In reading let your motto be ‘much not many.’” Spurgeon

 “When you come bring the cloak which I left at Troas with Carpus,
and the books, especially the parchments.”
2 Timothy 4:13

“But beyond this, my son, be warned:
the writing of many books is endless,
and excessive devotion to books
is wearying to the body.”
Ecclesiastes 12:12

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Do agree that both reading too little or reading too much can be a problem?
  • Do you carve out time to read regularly and deeply? Do you also read widely – e.g., interacting with authors from other times, other continents, other cultures – people’s whose temperament, race, gender, economic status, politics or religion is very different from yours?
  • Can you relate to the danger of “putting meditation away for the sake of much reading?” If this is a temptation for you, what is behind it? What exactly is the danger for you?

Abba, thank you for all the men and women whose books I turn to again and again. Their words help me to hear your Words. Draw me closer to you through them.

For More:  Lectures to My Students by Charles H. Spurgeon
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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek after God and he seeks after you. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it. My goal is to share something of unique value with you daily in 400 words or less. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

“I practice daily what I believe; everything else is religious talk.”

 

 

Daily Riches: The Restless Self Loves Its Illusions (Henri Nouwen)

Posted on by under "Being" with Jesus, approval addiction, Being and Doing, Busyness, Striving and drivenness

“While teaching, lecturing, and writing about the importance of solitude, inner freedom, and peace of mind, I kept stumbling over my own compulsions and illusions. What was driving me from one book to another, one place to another, one project to another? …What was turning my vocation to be a witness to God’s love into a tiring job? These questions kept intruding themselves into my few unfilled moments and challenging me to face my restless self. Maybe I spoke more about God than with him. Maybe my writing about prayer kept me from a prayerful life. Maybe I was more concerned about the praise of men and women than the love of God. Maybe I was slowly becoming a prisoner of people’s expectations instead of a man liberated by divine promises. …I had succeeded in surrounding myself with so many classes to prepare, lectures to give, articles to finish, people to meet, phone calls to make, and letters to answer, that I had come quite close to believing that I was indispensable. …While complaining about too many demands, I felt uneasy when none were made. While speaking about the burden of letter writing, an empty mailbox made me sad. While fretting about tiring lecture tours, I felt disappointed when there were no invitations. While speaking nostalgically about an empty desk, I feared the day on which that would come true. In short: while desiring to be alone, I was frightened of being left alone. The more I became aware of these paradoxes, the more I started to see how much I had indeed fallen in love with my own compulsions and illusions, and how much I needed to step back and wonder, ‘Is there a quiet stream underneath the fluctuating affirmations and rejections of my little world?’” Henri Nouwen

“[Jesus] appointed twelve
that they might be with him….”
Mark 3:14

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Has being a Christian or a minister become a “tiring job” for you?
  • Is your doing for God anchored in your being with God?
  • What were some of Nouwen’s illusions? his motivations? What are some of yours?
  • Is there a still point that anchors your life? What is that?

Abba, may I be a person liberated by divine promises, then useful to you and others.

For More:  The Genesee Diary by Henri Nouwen
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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek after God and he seeks after you. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it. My goal is to share something of unique value with you daily in 400 words or less. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

“I practice daily what I believe; everything else is religious talk.”

 

Daily Riches: Grieving and the Vast Emptiness of Loss (James Baldwin, C. S. Lewis, Richard Rohr, John Green, Henri Nouwen)

Posted on by under Desolation's Gift, Embracing Losses and Limits, Spiritual Formation, Suffering and Grace

“You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read.” James Baldwin

“For in grief nothing ‘stays put.’ One keeps on emerging from a phase, but it always recurs. Round and round. Everything repeats.  …how often will the vast emptiness astonish me like a complete novelty and make me say, ‘I never realized my loss till this moment’? The same leg is cut off time after time.” C. S. Lewis

“‘All great thought springs from a conflict between two eventual insights: (1) The wound which we find at the heart of everything is finally incurable, (2) Yet we are necessarily and still driven to try!’ [Hans Urs von Balthasar] Selah. Our largely unsuccessful efforts of the first half of life are themselves the training ground for all virtue and growth in holiness. This wound at the heart of life shows itself in many ways, but your holding and “suffering” of this tragic wound, your persistent but failed attempts to heal it, and your final surrender to it, will ironically make you into a wise and holy person. It will make you patient, loving, hopeful, expansive, faithful, and compassionate—which is precisely second-half-of-life wisdom.” Richard Rohr

“We all want to do something to mitigate the pain of loss or to turn grief into something positive, to find a silver lining in the clouds. But I believe there is real value in just standing there, being still, being sad.” John Green

“Just as bread needs to be broken in order to be given, so, too, do our lives.”  Henri Nouwen

“… unless a grain of wheat
falls into the earth and dies,
it remains alone; but if it dies,
it bears much fruit.”
Jesus in John 12:24

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Our sense of loss grows over time as we experience a loss “time after time.” Have you suffered like that?
  • Have you quit trying to understand your loss, heal it – or find its “silver lining?” Have you allowed yourself to feel it rather than flee from it?
  • Why might someone “need to be broken” by what feels like “unprecedented” heartbreak? Can you trust God to work in the space created by your loss – with no explanation and slow healing – but bringing life out of death?

Abba, meet me in my losses.

For More:  A Grief Observed by C. S. Lewis
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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek after God and he seeks after you. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it. My goal is to share something of unique value with you daily in 400 words or less. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

“I practice daily what I believe; everything else is religious talk.”

Daily Riches: Chasing the Wind … With Words (Richard Foster, Ruth Haley Barton and Thomas Merton)

Posted on by under approval addiction, Contemplative Prayer, Ego Issues, Silence, Solitude

“We are so accustomed to relying on words to manage and control others. If we are silent, who will take control? God will take control, but we will never let him take control until we trust him. Silence is intimately related to trust. The tongue is our most powerful weapon of manipulation. A frantic stream of words flows from us because we are in a constant process of adjusting our public image. We fear so deeply what we think other people see in us that we talk in order to straighten out their understanding. …One of the fruits of silence is the freedom to let God be our justifier. We don’t need to straighten others out. …God can care for us–’reputation and all.’” Richard Foster

“…much that happens in solitude and silence ends up being ‘for others’—as paradoxical as that may seem. Our speech patterns are refined by the discipline of silence, because growing self-awareness enables us to choose more truly the words we say. Rather than speech that issues from subconscious needs to impress, to put others in their place, to compete, to control and manipulate, to repay hurt with hurt, we now notice our inner dynamics and choose to speak from a different place, a place of love, trust and true wisdom that God is cultivating within us. Over time we become safer for other seeking souls, because we are able to be with them and the issues they are dealing with without being hooked by our own anxieties and fears. We are comfortable with our humanity, because we have experienced God’s love and compassion in that place, and so it becomes very natural for us to extend love and compassion to others in their humanity.” Ruth Haley Barton

“Better is a handful of quietness
than two hands full of toil
and striving after the wind.”
Ecclesiastes 4:6

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • What is more natural for you, “a handful of quietness” or “two hands full of toil?” Why would quietness be “better?”
  • Have you ever chosen silence, allowing God alone to be your “justifier?”
  • Are you increasingly safe for others because you have “experienced God’s love and compassion in that place” of silent solitude?

“Lord, it is nearly midnight and I am waiting for You in the darkness and the great silence.” Thomas Merton

For More: Invitation to Solitude and Silence by Ruth Haley Barton
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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek after God and he seeks after you. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it. My goal is to share something of unique value with you daily in 400 words or less. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

“I practice daily what I believe; everything else is religious talk.”

Daily Riches: Hitting Bottom, Engulfed in Darkness (Barbara Brown Taylor, Brennan Manning and Richard Rohr)

Posted on by under Desolation's Gift, Downward Mobility, Embracing Losses and Limits, Loving Union with God, Spiritual Formation

“I have learned things in the dark that I could never have learned in the light, things that have saved my life over and over again….” Barbara Brown Taylor

“When we have hit bottom and are emptied of all we thought important to us, then we truly pray, truly become humble and detached, and live in the bright darkness of faith. In the midst of the emptying we know that God has not deserted us. He has merely removed the obstacles keeping us from a deeper union with Him. Actually we are closer to God than ever before, although we are deprived of the consolations that we once associated with our spirituality. What we thought was communion with Him was really a hindrance to that communion. …The theology of the dark night is simplicity itself. God strips us of natural delights and spiritual consolations in order to enter more fully into our hearts.” Brennan Manning

“The path of descent is the path of transformation. Darkness, failure, relapse, death, and woundedness are our primary teachers, rather than ideas or doctrines.” Richard Rohr

“…God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness.” Hebrews 12:10

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • We might think we want a “deeper union with God” until we learn what God does to “remove obstacles” that hinder that. He may empty us of “all we thought important”, and leave us feeling deserted and deprived of pleasures we depend on. Our usual consolation in God’s presence and gifts may evaporate. Is your desire for deeper union with God greater than your desire to escape this painful “path of transformation?”
  • Imagine how confusing and unpleasant this can be, especially for someone who is unaware of this necessity. Are you aware of the likelihood that such an experience is in your future? If you minister to others, are you warning them?
  • We have probably learned and perhaps teach others that learning “doctrines” is the key to spiritual formation. Is this your approach? Can you see why this approach is not enough in itself? If so, what are the implications for you? For your ministry?

Abba, help me to want you more than the other things that compete for your place. Sustain me in the journey to deeper union with you.

For More: The Signature of Jesus by Brennan Manning
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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek after God and he seeks after you. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it. My goal is to share something of unique value with you daily in 400 words or less. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

“I practice daily what I believe; everything else is religious talk.”

Daily Riches: Faith (Nadia Bolz Weber, Romero, Tillich, Stott, Packer, Edman, Bounds, LLoyd-Jones, Yancey, Cook, Brueggemann, Merton, Willard) *

Posted on by under Faith and Doubt

“Catholic theologian James Allison [talked] about how we think faith is about striving – keeping parameters, calling people out for not having it right, spiritual practices, doctrinal purity… whatever – but that really faith is about relaxing. Specifically, relaxing in the way we do when we are with a friend who we know for certain is fond of us. We don’t have to strive around them and we somehow still become our best self – funny, spontaneous, free. Allison suggests that faith is trusting so much that God is fond of us that we just …relax”. Nadia Bolz Weber

“Faith consists in accepting God without asking him to account for things according to our standard. Faith consists in reacting before God as Mary did: I don’t understand it, Lord, but let it be done in me according to your word.”  Oscar Romero

“Faith is the courage …to accept that God loves me as I am and not as I should be, because I’m never going to be as I should be.”  Paul Tillich

J. I. Packer – “self-abandoning trust in the person and work of Jesus”
Raymond Edman – “trusting in the dark what God told you in the light”
Martin Lloyd-Jones – “the refusal to panic”
Philip Yancey – “trusting in advance, what will only make sense in reverse”
Bob Cook –  “expecting God to act like God”
Thomas Merton – “convinced of the reliability of God”
Dallas Willard –  “confidence grounded in reality”
Walter Brueggemann – “openness to wonder and awe in glad praise”
Oswald Chambers – “unutterable trust…which never dreams that He will not stand by us”
Martin Luther – “permitting ourselves to be seized by the things we do not see”
John Stott – “a trust which reckons thoughtfully and confidently upon the trustworthiness of God”

“Though He slay me,
yet will I trust Him.”
Job 13:15a

Moving From Head to Heart

  • Can you relax with God like you do with your best friend?  Does he love you “as you are and not as you should be?”
  • Are you “seized by” things unseen? trusting what will often only make sense later? refusing to ask God “to give an account?”
  • Can you “abandon” yourself to God like Martin Luther, Oscar Romero and Job did? If not, why not?

Abba, I will trust in you. Only you have the words of life.


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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek after God and he seeks after you. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it. My goal is to share something of unique value with you daily in 400 words or less. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

“I practice daily what I believe; everything else is religious talk.”

 

Daily Riches: Sit Down and Let the Dust Settle Around You (Eugene Peterson, Vincent Roazzi and Rick Warren)

Posted on by under "Being" with Jesus, Awareness, awe and wonder, Busyness, Hurry Sickness, Stillness

“When we’re in full possession of our powers—our education complete, our careers in full swing, people admiring us and prodding us onward—it’s hard not to imagine that we’re at the beginning, center, and end of the world, or at least of that part of the world in which we’re placed. At these moments we need … to quit whatever we’re doing and sit down.
When we sit down, the dust raised by our furious activity settles. …We become aware of the real world. God’s world. And what we see leaves us breathless: it’s so much larger, so much more full of energy and action than our ego-fueled action, so much clearer and saner than the plans that we had projected.” Eugene Peterson

“If you do not control your ego, your ego will control you. If you do not have a plan for your ego, your ego will have a plan for you. You can be the master of your ego, or you can be its slave. It’s your choice.” Vincent Roazzi

“Activity and productivity are not the same thing.” Rick Warren

“When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought,
‘Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.’
He was afraid and said, ‘How awesome is this place!
This is none other than the house of God;
this is the gate of heaven.’”
 Genesis 28:16,17

 Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Do you get caught up on the flurry of activity around you? Do you get manipulated by admirers? by others “prodding you onward?”
  • Are you learning to “sit down” and let “the dust raised by your furious activity settle”, so that you “awake from your sleep” to the real world – God‘s world?”
  • How much of your activity for God do you think could be “ego-fueled action” that leads to plans that are neither clear nor sane? Do you have “a plan for your ego?”

Abba, I will not hurry through the day, with my adrenaline pumping, striving and pushing in a way that makes it impossible for me to be aware of the real world, of what you’re doing, and of what you want from me. Deliver me from my addiction to motion, activity and supposed progress. Help me in the course of each day, to sit down and let the dust settle around me.

__________

For More: Leap Over a Wall

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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek after God and he seeks after you. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it. My goal is to share something of unique value with you daily in 400 words or less. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

“I practice daily what I believe; everything else is religious talk.”

Daily Riches: When the Sacred Becomes Vulgar (F. W. Robertson, Thomas Merton, Bernard of Clairvaux and Brennan Manning) *

Posted on by under approval addiction, Ego Issues, Obscurity and Secrecy

“There are transfiguration moments, bridal hours of the soul; and not easily forgiven are those who would utter the secrets of its high intercourse with their Lord. There is a certain spiritual indelicacy in persons that cannot perceive that not everything which is a matter of experience and knowledge is therefore a subject for conversation. You cannot discuss such subjects without vulgarising them.” F. W. Robertson

“All speech is impertinent, it destroys the simplicity of that nothingness before God by making it seems as if it had been ‘something.’” Thomas Merton

“… they are readier to speak than to listen, eager to teach that which they do not know.” Bernard of Clairvaux

“Do the truth quietly without display.” Brennan Manning

“The kingdom of God is not a matter of talk
but of power.”
1 Corinthians 4:20

 Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • James insists that a man must “keep a tight reign on his tongue” (James 1:26), and that seems particularly difficult in this area where the ego cries out for attention and admiration. Do you find yourself sharing your intimate experience with the Lord as a “matter of conversation?” If so, take some time to consider your motivations.
  • After a conversation, are you sometimes convicted that you were “eager to teach that which you do not know?” If so, again, what does this say about you?
  • Merton says that talking about the “simplicity” of something wonderful between us and God “destroys” it. That’s what’s at stake here – what Robertson calls a “vulgarising.” It’s not hard to see this shortcoming in ourselves and others. That makes this a good time to remember how patient and understanding God is with us in our weaknesses.

Jesus’ family were confused by him because he acted “in secret”, and that made no sense for someone who “wants to become a public figure.” (John 7:3-8) Abba, break my ego-driven want “to become a public figure”, and teach me not to take those rare and precious moments of intimacy between us, and vulgarize them in self-promotion.

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For More: Dancing in the Water of Life by Thomas Merton

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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek after God and he seeks after you. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it. My goal is to share something of unique value with you daily in 400 words or less. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

“I practice daily what I believe; everything else is religious talk.”

Daily Riches: Pray Better (Ted Loder, Arundhati Roy and Dawna Markova)

Posted on by under Contemplative Prayer, Prayer, Social Justice

“Disturb my indifference,

Expose my practiced phoniness,
Shatter my brittle certainties,
Deflate my arrogant sophistries,
And craze me into a holy awareness
of my common humanity
And so, of my bony, bloody need
To love mercy,
Do justly,
And walk humbly with you – and with myself,
Trusting that whatever things it may be too late for,
Prayer is not one of them.”
Ted Loder

“To love. To be loved. To never forget your own insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty to its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple. To respect strength, never power. Above all, to watch. To try and understand. To never look away. And never, never, to forget.” Arundhati Roy

“I will not die an unlived life. I will not live in fear of falling or catching fire. I choose to inhabit my days, to allow my living to open me, to make me less afraid, more accessible; to loosen my heart until it becomes a wing, a torch, a promise. I choose to risk my significance, to live so that which came to me as seed goes to the next as blossom, and that which came to me as blossom, goes on as fruit.” Dawna Markova

“The Lord receives my prayer.” Psalm 6:9

Moving From the Head to the Heart

Only the first of these portions is technically a prayer or, it seems, explicitly Christian. Nevertheless, all three readings strike me as useful resources for praying more wisely, and thus more wildly (or vice versa) as a person of faith. Perhaps this is one of those times when we can learn something from those outside our usual circles of influence:

  • Notice the verbs in Loder’s prayer. Are you’re prayers sometimes “wild” like that? If not, is there good reason to hold back?
  • Notice the values in Roy’s powerful words of determination. Are your prayers often “wise” like that? Can you focus on one phrase and pray from that?
  • Notice Markova’s testimony. Are your prayers filled with such longing? abandon? purpose? Can you lift up your longings to God in prayer right now?

Abba, teach me to pray better than I pray.

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For More: Guerrillas of Grace: Prayers for the Battle by Ted Loder

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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek after God and he seeks after you. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it. My goal is to share something of unique value with you daily in 400 words or less. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

“I practice daily what I believe; everything else is religious talk.”

Daily Riches: The Danger of the Spotlight … and Success (Thomas a Kempis, Francis of Assisi, C. S. Lewis, and Gordon MacDonald)

Posted on by under approval addiction, Ego Issues, Humility, Silence

“No one can be a public person, without risk to his soul, unless first he is a private person. No one can be a speaker, without risk to his soul, unless first he is fulfilled when he says nothing. …Who enjoys tranquility? The one who doesn’t take seriously either praise or lack of it from people.” Thomas a Kempis

“Blessed is that servant who does not think himself better when he is praised and exalted by men, than when he is despised and considered simple and good-for-nothing, for what a man is in the sight of God, this he is and no more.” Francis of Assisi

“Prosperity knits a man to the World. He feels that he is ‘finding his place in it’, while really it is finding its place in him.” C. S. Lewis

“There was no weight there [below the waterline in his sailboat]. In  a moment when a well-designed keel and adequate ballast might have saved the ship they were nowhere to be found.” Gordon MacDonald

“So, if you think you are standing firm,
be careful that you don’t fall!”
1 Corinthians 10:12

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Do you need affirmation and approval to be “fulfilled?” When someone praises you, do you “take it seriously?” Assess the level of danger you are in based on your answers.
  • “… what a man is in the sight of God, this he is and no more.” That’s convicting. Is the part of your life which is above the water line and seen by others, kept safe by “weight” below the water line – is there “adequate ballast?” What is your ballast?
  • A “disruptive moment” (MacDonald) is certain to come. Are you preparing yourself for the inevitable? If yes, how?

Abba, help me to focus on who I am in your sight, on having weight, on being ready for crisis. May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope is in you.

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For More: The Life God Blesses by Gordon MacDonald

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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek after God and he seeks after you. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it. My goal is to share something of unique value with you daily in 400 words or less. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

“I practice daily what I believe; everything else is religious talk.”

Daily Riches: When You Fail, As You Must (Kathleen Norris, Richard Rohr, Peter of Damascus, and John of Karpathos)

Posted on by under Desolation's Gift, Downward Mobility, Embracing Losses and Limits, God's Grace, Patience with Yourself

“When I fail, as I must, I can only recall the desert monk who told his disciple, ‘Brother, the monastic life is this: I rise up, and I fall down, I rise up and I fall down. I rise up and I fall down.” Kathleen Norris

“It is always possible to make a new start by means of repentance. ‘You fell … now arise’ (cf. Prov. 24:16). And if you fall again, then rise again, without despairing at all of your salvation, no matter what happens. …should we fall, we should not despair and so estrange ourselves from the Lord’s love. …we should not cut ourselves off from Him…nor should we lose heart when we fall short of our goal…let us always be ready to make a new start. If you fall, rise up. If you fall again, rise up again. Only do not abandon your Physician…. Wait on Him, and He will be merciful….”  St. Peter of Damascus

“Do all in your power not to fall, for the strong athlete should not fall. But if you do fall, get up again at once and continue the contest. Even if you fall a thousand times because of the withdrawal of God’s grace, rise up again each time, and keep on doing this until the day of your death.” John of Karpathos

“The path of descent is the path of transformation. Darkness, failure, relapse, death, and woundedness are our primary teachers, rather than ideas or doctrines.” Richard Rohr

“As a father has compassion on his children,
 so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;
for he knows how we are formed,
he remembers that we are dust.”
Psalm 103:13,14

Moving From Head to Heart

  • The Lord remembers that you “are dust” and need profound compassion. Do you?
  • The danger is “despairing of your salvation … estranging yourself from the Lord’s love” – from your loving Physician! – or just “losing heart.” Even when you fail the same test “a thousand times”, can you determine not to lose heart? to rise again?
  • Failure, including repeated failure, is one of God’s “primary teachers.” Sometimes healing involves a drawn out “path of transformation.” Will you submit to that? What might God be teaching you in your falling down?

Abba, a righteous man falls seven times, and rises again. May I be that man. Never let me abandon my Physician.

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For More: Yes, And … by Richard Rohr

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These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek after God and he seeks after you. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it. My goal is to share something of unique value with you daily in 400 words or less. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

“I practice daily what I believe; everything else is religious talk.”