The people who will help you most, aren't the ones you'd choose
The seventh in a series of posts on companionship and the spiritual journey. Please pass along to those you consider companions on your journey into the fullness of God. As you journey forward, you’ll most likely want to choose your own companions. Who doesn’t? There are scoundrels out there, and who wants to spend a long journey side by side with someone whose personality’s as annoying as a garbage truck slamming dumpsters around outside your window at five in the morning?
I’ve come to learn that those who’ll help you most aren’t the ones you’d choose for yourself. So don’t go looking for your companions. Instead, keep focused on what you seek. Walk in the light that’s given you and remain open to God’s mischief along the way. The Holy Spirit will orchestrate surprise meetings with remarkable people traveling in the same direction. Some of them are already part of your life; you’ve just not yet recognized their gifts for your journey and yours for theirs. If you focus on trying to find the friends you think you need, you’ll miss those God’s already put right under your nose, as well as those God will bring you.
And don’t be fooled by the sometimes strange folk God brings your way; these companions might not fit in well at a dinner party back home, but in the mischief of God, they’re the ones who’ll bring you the comfort, humor, wisdom, safety, and challenge you’ll need along the road to God.
Why the Trinity matters: spiritually and scientifically
In window into What or Who you're partnering with when you open yourself in prayer. Richard Rohr and the Pattern of the Trinity (this is a video; it starts as a black screen here on my blog; be sure to click the play button below): If your browser won't play this film directly from my site, follow this link to the video at Work of the People.
How to find the heart you'll need to meet the God you seek
The sixth in a series of posts on companionship and the spiritual journey. Please pass along to those you consider companions on your journey into the fullness of God. In the previous post in this series I told you that there are two paths into the presence of the God you seek: one path is the path of renunciation. This is the path of the monk; and many have taken it.
The other is the path of loving another so deeply and completely that you are initiated into the love of God.
If you're reading this, you're likely on the second of these two paths.
So, keep this in mind . . .
Key to your spiritual work is your ability to enter more deeply and authentically into the relationships God has or will send your way. They will help you find the heart you’ll need to meet the God you seek. I’m not saying this path is easier than renunciation—it’s not. I’m just saying that it’s a genuine sacred path for folks like you and me. And frankly, history teaches us it’s the safer of the two ways to God.
To be continued . . .
Two paths into the presence of God
The fifth in a series of posts on companionship and the spiritual journey. Please pass along to those you consider companions on your journey into the fullness of God. There are two paths into the presence of the God I’m leading you toward.
One is the path of renunciation—the complete dedication of yourself to the relational life of prayer and service.
The other is the path of loving another so deeply and completely that you are initiated into the love of God.
Both are valid, and both can be vibrant. But for most of us, the second is the best path for us, even if we’ve not yet found our way into the kind of loving relationships we’re looking for.
To be continued . . .