If God comes to me in the quiet of my soul, I must first stop the clashing inside it and be at peace in Him – rest in Him.
My husband has begun doing a bit more physical exercise than he was usually used to doing. And this means that he has begun to use muscles that he was not really used to using before this time.
And so, in the mornings, when he wakes up to start his day, my husband generally feels a little bit stiff. As he warms up for the morning and gets moving the stiffness in his muscles eases and he is able to get through his day in a relatively more comfortable manner than he starts the day.
And I have been thinking about those pulled muscles and that stiffness in the muscles today as I have been thinking about my spiritual life.
You see, when I exert effort in my spiritual life it can feel as though I am straining my spiritual muscle. Time that I would normally spend doing other things will be focused on God instead. Effort that I would normally spend on other things is instead spent on time with God and prayer. And just as a new physical exercise can feel strange and uncomfortable at first, so too can a new prayer or spiritual exercise. And that strangeness can take some time to become accustomed to. After all, if I have spent my entire life avoiding the diligence and discipline of prayer, it makes sense that a new routine of prayer and sacrifice and fasting and abstinence would feel very uncomfortable.
I read a short phrase the other day and it has stayed in my mind. And it said, “We say life is short – enjoy it. But why do we not say, eternity is long – prepare for it?”
And there is such truth in those words. And all that effort – that training in a spiritual sense – so to speak, results in feelings of such love for God. And those feelings do not shoot up out of the ground unfounded. They spring to life with careful effort and deep concentration. If God speaks to us in the silence of our hearts, I must first make my heart silent and empty it of worldly things so that I can make room for my Beloved to speak.
If God comes to me in the quiet of my soul, I must first stop the clashing inside it and be at peace in Him – rest in Him.
And these things cannot be accomplished theoretically. That is absurd. Instead, I can accomplish such things through deep and considered practice and concentration. I can accomplish such things by making an effort to meet my God in prayer and allowing Him the time and opportunity in my life to make a difference in it.
And I have been thinking about that today. For my spiritual muscles are as weak and stiff as my husband’s physical muscles are. And that means that I have a great deal more work to do to become fit for my Beloved… A great deal more work…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.