“Living a spiritual life requires a change of heart, a conversion. Such a conversion may be marked by a sudden inner change, or it can take place through a long, quiet process of transformation. But it always involves an inner experience of oneness. We realize that we are in the center, and that from there all that is and all that takes place can be seen and understood as part of the mystery of God’s life with us. . . .  Poverty, pain, struggle, anguish, agony, and even inner darkness may continue to be part of our experience. They may even be God’s way of purifying us. But life is no longer boring, resentful, depressing, or lonely because we have come to know that everything that happens is part of our way to the Father” (Henri Nouwen, You are the Beloved).

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All true worship has [a] deep rhythmic movement of man’s service to God and God’s service to man. Man builds a tent, and God fills it with his glory.  Man constructs a church; God’s cloud of providence covers it.  This is no quid pro quo, this rhythm of our service to God and God’s service to us.  It is not a matter of his rewarding our worthiness or our hard work.  It is rather the rhythm of life in God’s system.  He gives, we give, he gives more, and we respond in gratitude (Eugene Peterson in Every Step an Arrival).

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“God wants to give us virtue, but He’s designed us with such terrifying dignity, that we cannot receive—even good things—against our will. As George MacDonald explains, “Man finds it hard to get what he wants, because he does not want the best; God finds it hard to give, because He would give the best, and man will not take it.” We must “have a capacity to receive, or even omnipotence can’t give” echoes C.S. Lewis. The challenging work in the spiritual life is making ourselves ready to receive” (Jonathan Bailey in jonahanrbailey.com  (3/24/9).

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“I’m a ‘contemplative by catastrophe.'”  My wake-up calls generally come after the wreck has happened and I’m trying to dig myself out of the debris. . . . Regret can be turned into a blessing and strengthen our resolve.  Whenever we feel certain that the human soul is no longer at work in the world, it’s time to make sure that ours is visible to someone, somewhere. Those are some of the fruits that can come from being a “contemplative by catastrophe” (Parker Palmer in On the Brink of Everything, Grace, Gravity and Getting Old).

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“The soul lives forever. It is precious beyond imagining. Investing deeply in even a few folk will count for all eternity. Sure, many in today’s religious climate will go on to other “more interesting” topics. We bless these folk and pray for their well-being and growth in grace. But, there are plenty (vast numbers, in fact) who are committed to the long haul. They really want to be like Jesus with all their heart and soul and mind and strength. These are the ones we invest in. And, believe me, investing in these precious lives will take all the energy and all the time and all the prayer and all the weeping and laughing and singing and hoping we can possibly muster” (Richard J. Foster in Renovare Weekly Digest, March 18-22).