Wednesday, August 16, 2006

The spiritual life is not so much progress as it is process

The insane zamboni at the journey has this quote from Mike Yaconelli:
"I am beginning to realize that the spiritual life is not so much progress as it is process. It is not a continuous climb upward as much as it is a continuous climb. It is not the victories that matter so much as the going on after the defeats. The longer the erratic dance of faith goes on, the less you care about what God is doing, and the more you want to know about God. Spirituality is, after all, about intimacy with God."
Here's another quote from the article...
"...getting stuck is not only a necessary part of spirituality, it is a prerequisite to spiritual growth.

Most of the Church considers being stuck a negative, a sin of failure or burn-out, an indication that a person isn’t working hard enough on their spiritual life. It's a report card on personal Bible reading and prayer, and the grade is F. If you feel stuck in your spiritual life, then you aren’t doing something right because no one should be stuck with God.

Nothing could be more untrue. The truth is that everyone should be stuck with God many times because it is the prerequisite to being unstuck.

Being stuck is a great moment. It may be characterized by frustration, loneliness, or detachment, but those things are only the vocabulary of our souls telling us we are in danger. It is the cry of our souls craving for more. It is our longings and yearnings trying to get our attention. It is a summons, a call from within. It is the glorious music of disaffection and dissatisfaction with where we are now. It is the anguish of our interior life pleading with us—not to give up, but to give in. It is the Holy Spirit stopping us dead in our tracks so we can read the words that God has written on our hearts—surrender.

Surrender.

Put your arms around your soul, embrace your anguish, respond to your summons from God. Get ready for the adventure of growing on to the next part of your life. Getting stuck is worth whatever anguish you must go through just so you can hear God say to you, "Hang on, you are about to get unstuck."


Here's a link to the article by Mike Yaconelli:the glory of being stuck

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