I'm forever trying to learn to live with less. Another move, another clean out, and "what can I live without" evaluation. I think this is good. But I think, like anything else, it can go to the extreme.
Having lived within a monastery for many years, I learned how to live with little. But I also learned how to deny myself proper and even necessary needs. To deny your needs may seem harmless enough. But I believe it hardens the soul, instead of making it more sensitive. Fertile ground that is waterless is also fruitless.
In the effort to become spiritually minded persons, we must always remember our humanness. It's amazing when you read some spiritual writers and see the extreme asceticism in their language and practices, and then you read the gospels. Jesus never denied the human. In fact, he stood in stark contrast to the leaders of his time, who made many demands on the faithful, demands that make their lives complicated and difficult.
Perhaps that should be our measure: when I try to simplify my life, I need to watch and see if it really frees me, or if it makes my life more complicated and difficult. Am I headed toward hardness? Or does this letting go make me more human and fruitful?
Ah, isn't the spiritual journey fascinating?
Yes indeed it is, I think sometimes the older I get the worse off I am. I am much more a sinner now than ever, or is it my gaze sees more of my true self than before and my gaze sees more of God's greatness? To truly see oneself is to see our only hope is found in God himself. What freedom that can be, and what grace is afforded to others on this journey, as He is everything and we flawed as we indeed are, are amazingly loved totally. Ah...to remember this when a painful moment arrives next time...
ReplyDeleteI find the same. Perhaps that is why looking back can be both instructive and humbling. We see ourselves with different eyes, and yet we see how far we've journeyed. And the more we see, the more we appreciate the goodness of God. I think too, seeing our flaws and knowing that is not what keep us from God is a great grace...because we give up the pretense of being perfect.
ReplyDeleteWell said, earlier in life I agonized over being right and trying to please others, it's not that I've given up trying that would be making light of His sacrifice and grace but I have found my humanity with it's many flaws coupled with hope and love is a powerful force to help others. I can be less than perfect and still be perfectly loved, I can be honest about the reality of struggle but hopeful at the same time looking unto Him for my strength. Others want to see a gospel that is real and will meet them right where they live admist all the dross and complexity, and with loving care they will begin to rise making their own humbling journey.
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