Category Archives: Spiritual Formation

Daily Riches: The Constant Purification of Motive (Richard Rohr and Thomas Keating) *

Posted on by under approval addiction, Ego Issues, Loving Union with God, Obscurity and Secrecy, Spiritual Formation

“Whenever you perform a religious action publicly, it enhances your image as a good, moral person and has a strong social payoff. Jesus’ constant emphasis is on interior religiosity, on purifying motivation and intention. He tells us to clean the inside of the dish instead of being so preoccupied with cleaning the outside, with looking good (Matthew 23:25-26). The purifying of our intention and motivation is the basic way that we unite our inner and our outer worlds. (Please read that twice!) All through the spiritual journey, we should be asking ourselves, “Why am I doing this? Am I really doing this for God, for truth, or for others? Or am I doing it for hidden reasons?” The spiritual journey could be seen as a constant purification of motive until I can finally say, “I have no other reason to do anything except love of God and love of neighbor.” Richard Rohr

“In the Near East, centuries ago successive cultures built new cities on top of the last ones. … The ruins of these ancient cities built one on top of the other are called “tells.” The spiritual journey is like an archaeological dig through the various stages of our lives, from where we are now back through the midlife crisis, adult life, adolescence, puberty, early childhood, infancy. What happens if we allow that archaeological dig to continue? We feel that we are getting worse. But we are really not getting worse; we are just finding out how bad off we always were. That is an enormous grace. … What happens when we get to the bottom of the pile of our emotional debris? We are in divine union. There is no other obstacle.” Thomas Keating

“Be careful not to practice your righteousness
in front of others
to be seen by them.”
Jesus in Matthew 6:6

Moving From Head to Heart

  • “Am I really doing this for God, for truth, or for others? Or am I doing it for hidden reasons?” Do you regularly ask yourself these questions?
  • Have you experienced the “enormous grace” or sifting through your “pile of emotional debris?”
  • What practice can you adopt to help you focus on “interior” religion?

Abba, may all that I do be only for love.

__________

For More: The Human Condition by Thomas Keating

_________________________________________________

In these “Daily Riches”  my goal is to give you something of uncommon value each day in 400 words or less. Thanks for your interest. When you find it useful, please share!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

 

Daily Riches: Marriage and Spiritual Formation (Eugene Peterson and Jean-Pierre de Caussade) *

Posted on by under Obscurity and Secrecy, Spiritual Formation

“There is something deeply flawed in me that separates me from the God who wills my salvation; that ‘something’ seems to be located in and around my will. …The relation of God’s will and my will … is the question. The way we answer it shapes our humanity in every dimension. …a few years into marriage, I was surprised to find myself at the center of what has turned out to be the richest experience yet in my will and God’s will. I had supposed when I entered marriage that it was mostly about sexuality, domesticity, companionship, and children. The surprise was that I was in a graduate school for spirituality–prayer and God–with daily assignments and frequent exams in matters of the will.” Eugene Peterson

“Everything helps me to God.” Jean-Pierre de Caussade

“I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do
I do not do, but what I hate I do.” Romans 7:15
“My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.
Yet not as I will, but as you will.”  Matthew 26:39b

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • You don’t have to attend seminary for training in the life of faith. If you’re married, that is your “graduate school for spirituality.” Do you think about marriage that way?
  • Marriage is 24/7/365, so disappointing behavior, annoying habits and character flaws are obvious. Our divine “assignment” is loving without restraint, forgiving with abandon, returning good for evil–and other terribly difficult things. Are you accepting these “daily assignments?” What are the specifics of what this looks like in your home?
  • “Everything helps me to God.” You don’t have to be married. God will use something–life with a spouse, alone, with children, with parents, in a church, in a workplace–as your “school for spirituality.” Look around. Married or not, how is God working to shape you at the very heart of who you are in whatever school you’re in?

__________

For More:  The Contemplative Pastor by Eugene Peterson, and my
Downward Mobility at Home

_________________________________________________

The “Daily Riches” from RicherByFar are for your encouragement as you seek after God, and as he seeks after you. My goal is to give you something of uncommon value each day in less than 400 words. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it with others. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

Daily Riches: Knowing Self, Knowing God (John Calvin and Thomas Merton) *

Posted on by under Contemplative Prayer, Learning Your Proper Place, Spiritual Formation

“… true and sound wisdom, consists of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves. But while joined by many bonds, which one precedes and brings forth the other is not easy to discern. In the first place, no one can look upon himself without immediately turning his thoughts to the contemplation of God, in whom he ‘lives and moves’ [Acts 17:28]. …the knowledge of ourselves not only arouses us to seek God, but also, as it were, leads us by the hand to find him. Again, it is certain that man never achieves a clear knowledge of himself unless he has first looked upon God’s face, and then descends from contemplating him to scrutinize himself.”  John Calvin

“If I find God I will find myself and if I find my true self I will find God.” Merton

“Contemplation is also the response to a call … from Him Who has no voice, and yet Who speaks in everything that is, and Who, most of all, speaks in the depths of our own being….”  Merton

“I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord.
They will be my people, and I will be their God….”
Jeremiah 24:7a

Moving From the Head to the Heart

Calvin insists that “sound and true wisdom” consists in essentially two things – knowing ourselves and knowing God. We must know ourselves intimately to know God properly, and we must know God intimately to know ourselves properly.

  • Are you devoting as much effort to knowing yourself as you are to knowing God? Can you imagine truly knowing one and not the other?
  • Have you been “aroused to seek God” or “find” him in a new way through “scrutiny of yourself?”
  • Are you responding to the “call from Him Who has no voice, and yet Who speaks in everything?”  Do you try to listen for his voice “in the depths of your own being?”

Abba, lead me, as it were, by the hand into a deeper experience of knowing myself … and you.

__________

For More: The Institutes by John Calvin

_________________________________________________

The “Daily Riches” from RicherByFar are for your encouragement as you seek after God, and as he seeks after you. My goal is to give you something of uncommon value each day in less than 400 words. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it with others. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

Daily Riches: The Embarrassment of Being Ourselves (Henri Nouwen, Harold Fickett and Philip Yancey) *

Posted on by under Embracing Losses and Limits, Humility, Patience with Yourself, Spiritual Formation

“The internationally renowned priest and author, respected professor and beloved pastor Henri Nouwen wrote over 40 books on the spiritual life. He corresponded regularly in English, Dutch, German, French and Spanish with hundreds of friends and reached out to thousands…. Since his death in 1996, ever-increasing numbers of readers, writers, teachers and seekers have been guided by his literary legacy … in over 22 languages.”

“In his review of Nouwen’s book The Road to Daybreak, Harold Fickett wrote that he found it disappointing to read that the same problems described a decade earlier in [Nouwen’s] The Genesee Diary–deficient friendships, unrequited love, hurt feelings at perceived slights–continued to plague Nouwen. Fickett went on to explain, ‘It’s disappointing in exactly the same way it’s disappointing to be ourselves–the same person with the same problems who learns and then must relearn again and again the basic lessons of religious faith. Nouwen does not spare himself or us the embarrassment of this perennial truth.’” Philip Yancey

“My eyes are ever on the Lord,
for only he will release my feet from the snare.
Turn to me and be gracious to me,
for I am lonely and afflicted.
Relieve the troubles of my heart
and free me from my anguish.
Look on my affliction and my distress
and take away all my sins. …
do not let me be put to shame,
for I take refuge in you.”
Psalm 25:15-20

Moving from Head to Heart

  • Like Nouwen, Fickett and Yancey, are you “the same person with the same problems” you had ten years ago? Welcome to the human race!
  • It’s “disappointing to be ourselves”, but what can we do? We can give up and live in shame, or be one “who learns and then must relearn again and again the basic lessons of religious faith.” Can you accept your bad track record and refuse to give up?
  • Can you be honest with others about the need for God’s grace in your life, not “sparing” them your embarrassment, to encourage them?

Abba, today I will take refuge in you.

__________

For More:  Soul Survivor by Philip Yancey

_________________________________________________

The “Daily Riches” from RicherByFar are for your encouragement as you seek after God, and as he seeks after you. My goal is to give you something of uncommon value each day in less than 400 words. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it with others. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

Daily Riches: Disappointment in the Church (Dallas Willard) *

Posted on by under Spiritual Disciplines, Spiritual Formation

“Seventeen years of ministerial efforts in a wide range of denominational settings had made it clear to me that what Christians were normally told to do … was not advancing them spiritually. Of course, most Christians had been told by me as by others to attend the services of the church, give of time and money, pray, read the Bible, do good to others, and witness to their faith. And certainly they should do these things. … It was painfully clear to me [though] that, with rare and beautiful exceptions, Christians were not able to do even these few necessary things in a way that … would be an avenue to life filled and possessed of God. All pleasing and doctrinally sound schemes of Christian education, church growth, and spiritual renewal came around at last to this disappointing result.” Dallas Willard

“The average church-going Christian has a headful of vital truths about God and a body unable to fend off sin.”  Dallas Willard

“Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit
but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ.
I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it.
Indeed, you are still not ready. … Are you not acting like mere humans?”
1 Corinthians 3:1-3

Moving From Head to Heart

  • Have you ever felt like you just couldn’t get the Christian life to work? If so, did you ever doubt the faith itself, blame yourself – or blame God? Do you hear what Willard is saying in this regard: “It’s not your fault. You could hardly have done better. No one told you what to do.” Can you dare to accept that?
  • The usual approach “will guarantee that this transformation does not come to pass”, but there is a better approach, whose application will “expel the darkness… little by little.” Can you still believe that God can make you more than a “mere human?”
  • Will you make a new start? embracing untried practices as you seek “a life … possessed of God?” Do you hear God calling you to that?

Abba, help me in my new, better, wiser start.

__________

For More: The Spirit of the Disciplines by Dallas Willard

_________________________________________________

The “Daily Riches” from RicherByFar are for your encouragement as you seek after God, and as he seeks after you. My goal is to give you something of uncommon value each day in less than 400 words. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it with others. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

Daily Riches: What God Must Do to Live In Us (Dietrich Bonhoeffer and John Donne) *

Posted on by under Death Daily, Desolation's Gift, Embracing Losses and Limits, Spiritual Formation

“In life with Jesus Christ, death as a general fate approaching us from without is confronted by death from within, one’s own death, the free death of daily dying with Jesus Christ. Those who live with Christ die daily to their own will. Christ in us gives us over to death so that he can live within us. Thus our inner dying grows to meet that death from without. Christians receive their own death in this way and in this way our physical death very truly becomes not the end but rather the fulfillment of our life with Jesus Christ. Here we enter into community with the One who at his own death was able to say, ‘It is finished.’” Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“Here I never saw myself but in disguises; there, then, I shall see myself, but I shall see God too…. Here I have one faculty enlightened, and another left in darkness; mine understanding sometimes cleared, my will at the same time perverted. There I shall be all light, no shadow upon me; my soul invested in the light of joy, and my body in the light of glory.” John Donne

“We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus,
so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.”
2 Corinthians 2:10

Moving From Head to Heart

  • “Christ in us gives us over to death (crucifixion) so that he can live (resurrection) within us.” What has this meant in your life?
  • These mini-deaths are “free” in that we choose them or submit to them. Have you been able choose to receive these kinds of difficult losses and trials as Christ’s “gift?”
  • “Our inner dying grows to meet that death from without.” How do these words affect your feelings about your own death?
  • Take a few moments to think about your physical death becoming “not the end but rather the fulfillment of [your] life with Jesus Christ.” Sit with that in quietness. What emotions arise from that?

Abba, the experience of death from within is both painful and frightening. Even so, I want to embrace the “deaths” you send my way so that Jesus will live more fully in me. Please help me “die to my own will” as I submit to your will for me when it comes to this “daily dying with Jesus Christ.”

__________

For More: Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas

_________________________________________________

“Let us, on both sides, lay aside all arrogance. Let us not, on either side, claim that we have already discovered the truth. Let us seek it together as something which is known to neither of us. For then only may we seek it, lovingly and tranquilly, if there be no bold presumption that it is already discovered and possessed.” Augustine   My prayer is that these Daily Riches will always be offered and received in this irenic, unpresumptous spirit. Thank you for reading and sharing my daily posts. Bill (Psalm 90:14)

Daily Riches: Spiritual Formation Every Moment, Every Day (J. I. Packer) *

Posted on by under Death Daily, Desolation's Gift, Patience with Yourself, Spiritual Formation

“Cross-bearing is the long lesson of our mortal life. It is a part of God’s salvation, called sanctification. It is a lesson set before us every moment of every day. It concerns this strange and daunting business of how strain and pain–passion, in the sense of conscious suffering voluntarily accepted–may be transmuted into glory. If life were an art lesson, we could describe it as a process of finding how to turn this mud into that porcelain, this discord into that sonata, this ugly stone block into that statue, this tangle of threads into that tapestry. In fact, however, the stakes are higher than in any art lesson. It is in the school of sainthood that we find ourselves enrolled and the artifact that is being made is ourselves.” J. I. Packer

“Surely it was for my benefit
  that I suffered such anguish.”
  Isaiah 38:17
(King Hezekiah, after recovering from a near fatal illness)

From the Head to the Heart

  • What could you do on a daily basis to be more aware of God’s work in you, “transmuting” you, in “every moment of every day?”
  • What kinds of things keep you from this awareness?
  • Packer reminds us that this is “the long lesson of our mortal life.” Can you be patient with yourself and God during this long, gradual process of “strain and pain” and “anguish?”

Abba, help me to be mindful each day of the ways you’re working to change me through my circumstances – especially when it comes to “conscious suffering voluntarily accepted.” Help me in this school of sainthood.

__________

For More: Christianity: The True Humanism by J. I Packer and Thomas Howard

_________________________________________________

These Daily Riches are for your encouragement as you seek after God, and as he seeks after you. My goal is to give you with something of uncommon value each day in 400 words or less. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it with others as we learn together to find our satisfaction in our unfailingly loving God. (Psalm 90:14) . I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it with others. I appreciate your interest! – Bill

Daily Riches: Your Soul as God’s Dwelling Place (Gordon MacDonald, Parker Palmer and Richard Foster) *

Posted on by under Being and Doing, Change Yourself First, Self-care, Spiritual Formation

“The forming of the soul that it might be a dwelling place for God is the primary work of the Christian leader. This is not an add-on, an option, or a third-level priority. Without this core activity, one almost guarantees that he/she will not last in leadership for a life-time or that what work is accomplished will become less and less reflective of God’s honor and God’s purposes.”  Gordon MacDonald

“Self care is never a selfish act. It is simply good stewardship of the only gift I have – the gift I was put on earth to offer to others.” Parker Palmer

“The desperate need today is not for a greater number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but for deep people.” Richard Foster

“I am the vine; you are the branches.
If you remain in me and I in you,
you will bear much fruit;
apart from me you can do nothing.”
Jesus in John 15:5

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • The first quote is meant for pastors, but isn’t it true for all of us? The problem is, many of us (pastors included) don’t think of the forming of our own soul as our “primary work.” Do you think of this as your most important work, or are you more focused on serving God and others?
  • Can you imagine offering your best self to your marriage, your family, your neighborhood, your church, your country – to anything – without such a focus?
  • Gordon MacDonald and many of us insisted on learning this the hard way. Will you also need to learn by suffering and painful loss, or can you heed these words of warning? Can you make an action plan so that you don’t fool yourself now with merely good intentions?

Abba, I know that you have taken up residence in me already, and that I’ll always be your dwelling place. It’s only whether I’ll be a holy or unholy one, whether an expansive, welcoming one, or a restricted inhospitable one. Help me to welcome you as lovingly as you have welcomed me.

__________

For More: “Cultivating the Soul: Spiritual Formation Can Happen, Without Saying a Word” (article) by Gordon MacDonald

_________________________________________________

“There is nothing new except what has been forgotten.” (Marie Antionette) , and thus “Men more often require to be reminded than informed.”  (Samuel Johnson) The purpose of Daily Riches is to return again and again to a list of critical concepts at the core of the spiritual life. “Therefore, I will always remind you about these things—even though you [may] already know them and are standing firm in the truth you have been taught.” (2 Peter 1:12)  I appreciate your interest! When you find this helpful, please share! – Bill

Daily Riches: The Spiritual Journey is a Series of Humiliations (Thomas Keating and Richard Rohr) *

Posted on by under Death Daily, Ego Issues, Learning Your Proper Place, Spiritual Formation, Suffering and Grace

“The spiritual journey is not a career or a success story. It is a series of humiliations of the false self that become more and more profound. These make room inside us for the Holy Spirit to come in and heal. What prevents us from being available to God is gradually evacuated. We keep getting closer and closer to our center. Every now and then God lifts a corner of the veil and enters into our awareness through various channels, as if to say, ‘Here I am. Where are you? Come and Join me.'” Thomas Keating

“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

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.
Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He lifts up;
and every branch that bears fruit,
He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.”
John 15:1,2 [my trans.]

Moving From Head to Heart

  • Are you able to think of the Christian journey as “a series of humiliations?”  as a painful cutting away? as a “path of descent?”
  • If the “false self” consists of all the masks we wear, our defense mechanisms and egocentric way of life, can you see why it must be “humiliated” or put in its place? Can you see the need for this in your life?
  • Can you see God’s good behind it (availability, fruitfulness, transformation) and hear his invitation: “Here I am. Where are you? Come and Join me.”?

Abba, thank you for seeking greater intimacy with me – for evacuating and pruning away what hinders me from that intimacy – and from fruitfulness. Here I am Lord, willing to embrace the necessary humiliation and loss to be made more whole.

__________

For More: The Human Condition: Contemplation and Transformation by Thomas Keating

_________________________________________________

Thomas Merton’s goal is his writing is the same as mine in this blog: “The purpose of a book of meditations is to teach you how to think and not to do your thinking for you. Consequently if you pick up such a book and simply read it through, you are wasting your time. As soon as any thought stimulates your mind or your heart you can put the book down because your meditation has begun.” I’m not Thomas Merton (!), yet I hope these Daily Riches will lead you into much life-enriching mediation. – Bill (Psalm 90:14)

Daily Riches: When No One is Applauding (Richard Foster) *

Posted on by under applause, approval addiction, Ego Issues, Humility, Obscurity and Secrecy, Spiritual Formation

“Because our daily tasks afford us constant opportunity to engage in the ministry of small things it is through this work that we become most intimately acquainted with God. … Small things are the genuinely big things in the kingdom of God. It is here we truly face the issues of obedience and discipleship. It is not hard to be a model disciple amid camera lights and press releases. But in the small corners of life, in those areas of service that will never be newsworthy or gain us any recognition we must hammer out the meaning of obedience. Amid the obscurity of family and friends, neighbors, and work associates, we find God.” Richard Foster

“Whoever can be trusted with very little
can also be trusted with much,  
and whoever is dishonest with very little
will also be dishonest with much.”
Luke 16:10

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Do you normally think of your “daily tasks … amid the obscurity of family and friends” as opportunities for important ministry? as opportunities for profound personal transformation? as opportunities to “find God?”
  • Are you content to labor away in obscurity, ministering for God in a way that no one but God will ever notice? What does your answer say about you?
  • Sometimes it’s hard for me when I realize, “I’m invisible. No one notices me. No one is applauding.” Can you relate? Do you think this painful experience can be beneficial?

Abba, I want to live with you as my sole audience, needing only your applause. Deliver me from the worry about what others think of me. Help me to do “small things” faithfully, with confidence that you’re using them to shape my life.

__________

For More: The Challenged of the Disciplined Life by Richard Foster

_________________________________________________

The “Daily Riches” from RicherByFar are for your encouragement as you seek after God, and as he seeks after you. My goal is to give you something of uncommon value each day in less than 400 words. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it with others. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

Daily Riches: Hospitality to the Spirit Within (David G. Benner)

Posted on by under Awareness, Faith and Doubt, God's Grace, Loving Union with God, Spiritual Formation, Stillness

“If transformation is not an accomplishment and is something that must come from beyond the small self that we presently are, where does it come from? I have no better answer than that it comes from God. God, who is both within and beyond us, constantly calls us to be more than we are. All growth, healing and transformation are mediated by this outpouring of the Divine Self. They come to us as gifts, but there is something we must do to accept them. That something is responding to life with a “YES” of openness, acceptance and gratitude and then living with the inner stillness and presence that is part of being a good host to the Spirit of God who dwells within. In a word, it is faith. But remember – faith is much, much more than beliefs. Faith as belief – this being how it has commonly been understood in Christianity since the Enlightenment – is far too weak to transform anything. However, faith involves much more than giving cognitive assent to propositions. It is a whole-person orientation of trusting openness. Faith in God is leaning into life with openness and trust. This is why genuine openness to life is openness to God – and openness to God is openness to life.” David G. Benner

“…let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.” Romans 12 2

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Does your faith in God include responding to him and to life “with a ‘YES’ of openness, acceptance and gratitude?” Consider each of these three traits.
  • Are you “living with the inner stillness and presence that is part of being a good host to the Spirit of God who dwells within?”
  • Is your approach to the Christian life working for you? Is it more and more a moving from “head to heart?” an entering into a kind of spaciousness?

Abba,  I will stop and look for your gracious work of transformation in me and my world today. Help me to move from my head to my heart. Help me to live in openness to you and to life.

______________________

For More: Spirituality and the Awakening Self by David G. Benner

_____________________________

Thomas Merton expresses my heart for Daily Riches: “If I dare, in these few words, to ask you some direct and personal questions, it is because I address them as much to myself as to you. It is because I am still able to hope that a civil exchange of ideas can take place between two persons — that we have not yet reached the stage where we are all hermetically sealed, each one in the collective arrogance and despair of his own herd.” I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it with others. (Psalm 90:14) . I appreciate your interest! – Bill

 

Daily Riches: Obscurity and Intimacy with God (Richard Foster and Thomas Merton) *

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

“Because our daily tasks afford us constant opportunity to engage in the ministry of small things it is through this work that we become most intimately acquainted with God. …Small things are the genuinely big things in the kingdom of God. It is here we truly face the issues of obedience and discipleship. It is not hard to be a model disciple amid camera lights and press releases. But in the small corners of life, in those areas of service that will never be newsworthy or gain us any recognition we must hammer out the meaning of obedience. Amid the obscurity of family and friends, neighbors, and work associates, we find God.” Richard Foster

“It is in the ordinary duties and labors of life that the Christian can and should develop his spiritual union with God.” Thomas Merton

“Who dares despise the day of small things …” Zechariah 4:10

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • The small daily opportunities we have to obey and serve – doing little things that garner us no applause  – God uses to make us “most intimately acquainted” with him.
  • Are you willing to do without the applause? to purposely choose to stay out of the spotlight? to be relatively invisible? Is God’s approval enough for you? What do your answers say about you?
  • We’re really talking about our inner lives with God and the battle being fought there. What change can you make to what you regularly do, to allow secrecy and obscurity to shape you?

Abba, as much as I hate to admit it, I love the sound of applause. Help me, whether I choose obscurity or have it thrust upon me, to submit myself to its good work in my life.

__________

For More: The Challenge of the Disciplined Life by Richard Foster

_________________________________________________

Thomas Merton’s goal is his writing is the same as mine in this blog: “The purpose of a book of meditations is to teach you how to think and not to do your thinking for you. Consequently if you pick up such a book and simply read it through, you are wasting your time. As soon as any thought stimulates your mind or your heart you can put the book down because your meditation has begun.” I’m not Thomas Merton (!), yet I hope these Daily Riches will lead you into much life-enriching mediation. – Bill (Psalm 90:14)

 

Daily Riches: Patience with Yourself (Shirley Carter Hughson) *

Posted on by under Embracing Losses and Limits, Hurry Sickness, Patience with Yourself, Spiritual Formation

“I am sure than when St. Paul spoke of ‘the fruit of the Spirit,’ he had in mind such processes that as we find in nature. A tree which brings forth good fruit is able to do so because over many years it has been brought under the influence of cultivation, fertilization, sunshine, rain, caressing winds, [and] cleaning from blight, and so it acquires the power to bear good fruit. A farmer cannot get his result by suddenly becoming very busy for a season and doing these things.”  Shirley Carter Hughson


“He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,
Which yields its fruit in its season…”
Psalm 1:3

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Most living things grow “over many years.” We like to be “very busy for a season” trying to achieve quick progress, but nature (and God) refuse to be rushed. Imagine the possible difference between your timetable and expectations for your spiritual progress, and what God is thinking. (There are good reasons why the Christian life has often been called a “journey.”)
  • Fruit comes “in it’s season”, and as a result of years “under the influence of cultivation, fertilization, sunshine, rain, caressing winds, [and] cleaning from blight….” Healthy growth takes both time and work, but is definitely does take time.
  • With this in mind, think about people on the journey of faith. What should be your attitude towards fellow pilgrims? What should be your attitude toward yourself? Can you relax and trust God’s timing? What would be the lessons for where you are now? that you may need to learn before you can move on?

Abba, help me to walk rather than to race, to receive rather than to grasp, and to relax rather than to strive. Help me to step into the flow of your divine life rather than living a frenzied version of my very human life. Help me focus on being with you and trust you for the timetable.

__________

For More: The Spiritual Letters of Shirley Carter by Shirley Carter Hughson

_________________________________________________

The “Daily Riches” from RicherByFar are for your encouragement as you seek after God, and as he seeks after you. My goal is to provide you with something of uncommon value each day in less than 400 words. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it with others. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)

Daily Riches: The Slow Work of God … In You (Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and Carl Jung) *

Posted on by under Desolation's Gift, Embracing Losses and Limits, Patience with Yourself, Spiritual Formation

“Above all, trust in the slow work of God. We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay. We should like to skip the intermediate stages. We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new. And yet it is the law of all progress that it is made by passing through some states of instability – and that it may take a very long time. And so I think it is with you; your ideas mature gradually – let them grow, let them shape themselves without undue haste. Don’t try to force them on, as though you could be today what time (that is to say, grace and circumstances acting on your own good will) will make of you tomorrow. Only God could say what this new spirit gradually forming within you will be. Give our Lord the benefit of believing that his hand is leading you. And accept the anxiety of feeling yourself in suspense and incomplete.”   Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

“The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine,
even the least of them, you did it to Me.’ ” Matthew 25:40

“What if you discovered that the least of the brethren of Jesus,10171841_10151987010386851_1794316792549983598_n
the one who needs your love the most,
the one you can help the most by loving,
the one to whom your love will be most meaningful –
what if you discovered that
this least of the brethren of Jesus … is you?
Then do for yourselves
what you would do for others.”
Carl Jung

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  • Think of all the ways you are “impatient to reach the end” of something or other. Now think about the inevitably “slow work of God.” Obviously, patience is necessary!
  • It seems to me that Teilhard’s words make a powerful springboard for prayer. Read though what he says slowly. Let it sink in, and see if you can let it turn into prayer, phrase by phrase.
  • Teilhard counsels us to “accept the anxiety of feeling yourself in suspense and incomplete.” Think about “accepting” anxiety, and feeling yourself “in suspense and incomplete.” Can you do that? How will you?

Abba, help me to trust in your slow work in me – to not give up on you, or on me. May I find you in my incompleteness and the anxiety that so often comes when I look in the mirror.

__________

For More: Hearts on Fire by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

_________________________________________________

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

Daily Riches: Measuring a Day’s Success (Dallas Willard, Brennan Manning and John Ortberg)

Posted on by under Loving Well, Spiritual Disciplines, Spiritual Formation

“The aim and substance of spiritual life is not fasting, prayer, hymn singing, frugal living, and so forth. Rather, it is the effective and full enjoyment of active love of God and humankind in all the daily rounds of normal existence where we are placed. …People who think that they are spiritually superior because they make practice of a discipline such as fasting or silence or frugality are entirely missing the point. The need for extensive practice of a given discipline is an indication of our weakness, not our strength.” Dallas Willard

“The Rabbi [Jesus] implores, ‘Don’t you understand that discipleship is not about being right or being perfect or being efficient? It’s all about the way you live with each other.’ In every encounter we either give life or we drain it. There is no neutral exchange. We enhance human dignity, or we diminish it. The success or failure of a given day is measured by the quality of our interest and compassion toward those around us. We define ourselves by our response to human need. The question is not how we feel about our neighbor but what we have done for him or her. We reveal our heart in the way we listen to a child, speak to the person who delivers mail, bear an injury, and share our resources with the indignant.” Brennan Manning

“…love is the fulfillment of the law.” Romans 13:10

Moving From the Head to the Heart

  •  Are you aware of weaknesses in your life and your need for “help to do what you cannot do now by willpower alone?” (John Ortberg’s definition of spiritual disciplines) Are you practicing some disciplines for that reason?
  • Do you measure the success of your day by “compassion [demonstrated] toward those around you” rather than by faithfulness in the disciplines?
  • Rejecting the practice of spiritual disciplines could be evidence of pride, and serious practice of them could be a source of pride. In the next days, take some time to consider this before the Lord.

Abba, help me to do what I cannot do by willpower alone as I embrace life-giving rhythms and practices.

 __________

For More: The Spirit of the Disciplines by Dallas Willard

_________________________________________________

These “Daily Riches” are for your encouragement as you seek after God, and as he seeks after you. I hope you’ll follow my blog, and share it. I appreciate your interest!  –  Bill (Psalm 90:14)