Stillness and Results
At my first School of the Spirit (SOS) retreat last week, someone said they were all about results. I saw myself in that statement. I like to see results. On my list of readings for SOS, it makes me feel good every time I can check one off as read. I admit I first read a few shorter pieces just so there is not a whole unread list facing me and causing anxiety.
But stillness doesn’t produce immediate results. So I tend to put off the times of quiet retreat in my day in favor of the readings or journaling that let me see the fruits of my labor. These stretch me spiritually and teach me, but I think they are not enough alone.
For the capacity to receive God’s love to grow, stillness and listening are important. Patience with myself to sit in the stillness is the harder thing to do. Patience has never been one of my strong points. I have to remind myself to be kind to myself and have some quiet in each of my days. This may require mentally tying myself down on some days! My longing for that peace and stillness is a grace from God that will help me.
5 comments:
It seems like a lot of the workings of Christ in our hearts are not immediately recognizable, but are instead visible when reflecting back over a long period of time. It is difficult to divorce myself from the need for immediate results in favor of the long-term investment, and sometimes I do find myself giving up. The interesting thing is that it seems to take less time to notice the negative changes when I fall away from God than it does to notice the positive changes when I stay aware of God.
With love,
Your hubby
Hi, Ceal.
Glad to know that School of the Spirit has gotten underway for you. You've been chomping at the bit, it seems.
Your post reminds me of words that were given to me over the past two weeks:
Is thee willing? Is thee wiling to be willing?
If we begin to set aside time and space for God to come into our hearts, we must be prepared to receive God and God's love for us.
So if you are being given opportunities to practice patience, then by all means, practice patience. The rest will follow as you ready and as you are willing.
Risk when you are ready.
Do what works for you.
Ask for what you need.
Trust your timing.
Blessings,
Liz Opp, The Good Raised Up
I was a past participant in the School of the Spirit. I hope that it goes well for you.
I have found Centering Prayer to be a very helpful spiritual practice in my life, especially in terms of being open and still so that I could yield to God's work in me. You may likely have heard of Centering Prayer. If not, you could google "Centering Prayer" or "Thomas Keating". It is a simple practice with a very gentle and direct technique for opening to God's presence within.
Making the committment to sit down and do this practice regularly has felt satisfying and like I was accomplishing something. I also felt like I could cross something off my list. But once I was sitting for the 20 minute interval, I also find that God is asking me to be ok with failing at being still and at squandering my time for God. Only as I have learned to be ok with not succeeding or accomplishing stillness during my time of prayer, have I begun to truely yield and be open.
In Peace, Andrew
Ceal,
Sounds like we've got a bit of a type A personality there, right? Same here. There's a desire to have a tangible result. But the results of spiritual practice are subtle and that's a bit frustrating to type A's. We want results we can SEE and we want to see them NOW. It's really the desire for immediate results that gets in the way. The results of spiritual practice are real and observable but they are subtle and take time. The spiritual bottom line is an increase in patience, love, joy, and the other fruits of the Holy Spirit.
Annoying people are a real resource here. If you have some annoying person in your life (and who doesn't?) chart your reactions over time. If you find that over time you go from screaming at them, to making sarcastic remarks to them, to making sarcastic remarks about them but not in front of them, to not making the remarks at all but thinking them, to finally catching yourself starting to think the sarcastic remark and stopping yourself...well, that's progress. Too often we think of spiritual progress in terms of having some nice experience or having some Aha! moment of insight. That's all well and good, but to me the real bottom line is positive change.
Liz: Thanks for sharing the "Is thee willing? Is thee willing to be willing?" The idea of being prepared to receive God is one on which I will reflect and journal.
Andrew: I appreciate the thoughts on forgiving myself for failing at stillness. This seems to allow me to feel more at peace and thus makes it a little easier to be still.
Richard: No I certainly am not a type A personality. :)
Post a Comment