Blessed are those who Hope

 

I decided to try to do my Lectio Divina on the daily readings. Today's readings are Jeremiah 7:5-10; Psalm 1; and Luke 16:19-31.

My way of doing Lectio is to circle the words that speak to me as I read. The following words are the words I circled in today's reading: seeks, heart, desert, change, trust, tree, fears not, fruit, understand, hope, delights, season, fade, chaff, kept, bosom, crossing and listen.

Seeking is a lifelong endeavor. It begins with the heart. In the beginning, we experience dryness and doubt, a sort of desert, which happens in any kind of change. With time and trust, we set roots down into our soul, like that of a tree. We learn to fear not when things don't go our way, and rejoice when we see fruit.

Understanding is not the goal; hope is, the ability to delight in what we have, as life is full of seasons, and it is hope that will sustain us even when we fade or feel like chaff.

Because God is kept in our bosom until we reach the crossing. We just need to listen to our heart to be reminded of these things. 

What is my spiritual worldview?

In another era...

Funny how even assignments can become material for self-reflection. In answering a question for a summer course, I had to address my cultural spiritual worldview.

I used to see my spiritual worldview as having the all-encompassing spirit that held everything safe. My spiritual world had a Divine Being who would never allow me to be tested more than I could bear, who would make my yoke easy and my burden light. When life progressed, and my Divine Being did not protect me from the very “evils” I imagined, I went through a very dark period. During that period my spiritual world became transformed. I dropped my expectations that my Divine Being would save me, and realized that my journey is to walk in a world full of very human individuals who make all sorts of choices. I stopped expecting my faith be a shield from overwhelming pain, and began to see that it was good for me to walk in the valley of darkness. I began to realize that neither God, nor church, nor other human beings were there so that I would be protected.

Since that time, I see my spiritual world in a different light. My Divine Being is not there to shield me if I am good. No, my God is the One who makes meaning to all that happens in my life. I have come to accept that I am not self-sufficient in my faith, but in need of the assistance of good philosophy, a social network of like-minded friends, and a healthy life style. It is this spiritual world view that permeates everything that I do. It makes a homework assignment a moment of self-reflection, a beautiful day a reminder to praise God, the sight of one struggling person an invitation to reach out. It is a spiritual world view that attempts to see beyond the veil of this temporal life. When I step out, when I take a chance, I pierce that veil, and God becomes more real for me. This is my spiritual worldview. This is my journey.