Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Discovering The Sweet Richness Of Life

Today's reading was so refreshing.  "Converted persons are where God is, and from that place everything matters: giving water, clothing the naked, working for a new word order, saying a prayer, smiling at a child, reading a book and sleeping in peace.  All has become different while all remains the same."

This Lent season has been difficult for me.  I said I want to be asking the question, "Is it worth it?", but I have found myself so busy as a pastor, a student, a father, a husband, a friend and all of the other obligations I have in life that I have not taken the time to stop and ask that question.  To be honest most of the time I get so wrapped up in my "real life", you know the day to day stuff, that I never get to work on my spiritual life.     

Then I read Nouwen saying that to live in God allows life to take on a different dimension.  To live in God is to find the true order of things.  I am reminded of something I heard Rob Bell say, "Everything is spiritual."  In Nouwen's words, "It all matters".  I read this passage early this morning and the day already has taken on a sweet richness.  

The sandwich I made for my wife this morning is no different then the one I made yesterday, but it is completely different. 

The conversation with my colleges I had this morning is no different then the one I had last week but it is completely different.  

The phone call I made to a friend minutes ago is like a million I have made in the past, but it is completely different.  

There is a sweet richness and a depth in this day knowing that it all matters, and it is all God's.  I am thankful.    

4 comments:

  1. Great post Ken! Would you say you are practicing the presence of God more today in a Brother Lawrence sort of way...doing little things for God? Or is something else happening?

    On a related note, why do you think we sectionalize our lives: physical, mental, spiritual, relational, financial, etc.? Why isn't it all simply life?

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  2. Thought-provoking post, Ken. I keyed in on "Nothing can be unimportant." For just a second there I felt as though I was in literary theory discussing the existentialists, but the beauty of this passage is that it is, in many ways, the opposite of their arguments. I had never really thought about it in quite that way, but the results were impressive. After reading and studying this morning, those rote household tasks that annoy because they must be done over and over again weren't quite as annoying. I suppose I did laundry and washed dishes out of love. It wasn't all about me anymore because God exists and therefore the world doesn't turn around my dislike of washing dishes. How is it that affirming a two word sentence makes such a difference? I can't begin to say, but it will come to the ultimate test when I get around to the bathroom. : )

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  3. Ken, this is so beautiful. Thank you.

    Keith, I also keep returning to the unity/partitioning question. I think for me the 10-minute silent prayer that Nouwen describes is part of getting to know and accept the different parts of me. Journaling also, sometimes parts of me that I wasn't aware of come out in this format.

    I see a close link between the silent prayer and the Bro Lawrence sort of practicing God's presence...as though in the silence I get practice in how to enter that place of God's presence (like many others through the ages I imagine this as an inner room where God and I meet). Then throughout the day that place is connected with my attention. The practice in the silence strengthens the practice at other times.

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  4. I don't know why we compartmentalize our lives? but I know it is exhausting. For me it is not about doing anything different or being motivated differently, it is the knowledge that what ever it is I am doing God is present in. That presence of God, or the knowledge of that presence adds a flavor to life that I don't notice when it is all about me.

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