waiting for God to act
https://brianzahnd.com/2017/12/watingforgodtoact2/
... waiting is essential.
For it’s in the waiting that our soul grows quiet, Contemplative, cultivates a capacity for awareness,
by which we can discern what God is doing when he does act.
 |
The ways of God are predominantly
small and quiet. The ways of God are about as loud as seed falling on the ground or bread rising in an oven.
more often found in
trickling tears and
whispered prayers.
We want God to do a big thing, while God is planning to do a small thing
We are in a hurry.
God is not. We want God
to act fast, but Godspeed is almost always slow.
we are not so much waiting for God
to act as we are waiting to become contemplative enough to discern
what God is doing.
God is always acting, because God is always loving his creation.
when we are consumed by anger, harried by anxiety, driven by impatience, we are blind and deaf to what God is actually doing in present moment.
it was pagan stargazers and peasant shepherds who discerned what God was doing. They were not the experts and they were not the reactionaries at the loud center of religious noise; they were
quiet people on the silent edges of contemplative thought.
Gazing at stars
and keeping watch by night
are profound metaphors for
the contemplative life
They were the ones who discerned what God was doing in the seemingly ordinary event of a young
woman giving birth in an
out of the way place.
God is always acting because God is always loving the world and always giving birth to something
become quiet enough and contemplative enough to discern what God is doing in the obscure and forgotten corners, far from the corridors of power or wherever you think the action is.
we want God to act in Washington D.C., but God first acts in the quiet corner of your own living room. God is about to act in your life and in our world. But if you want to discern the actions of God you must learn to first wait in quiet contemplation.
Before you can become
an activist, you must
first become a
contemplative
otherwise you’ll just be a re-activist. And re-activists merely recycle anger and keep the world an angry place. Jesus was a contemplative activist, but never a re-activist.
Comments BrianZahnd.com
"For contemplation is naught else than a secret, peaceful
and loving infusion from God, which, if it be permitted,..
enkindles the soul with the spirit of love."
St John of The Cross.
thank you for this Brian:
//I would suggest that we are not so much waiting for
God to act as we are waiting. to become contemplative enough to discern what God is doing...
...when we are consumed by anger, harried by anxiety, and driven by impatience, we are blind and deaf to
what God is actually doing in the present moment...
...it was pagan stargazers and peasant shepherds who discerned what God was doing. They were not the experts and they were not the reactionaries at the loud center of religious noise; they were quiet people on the silent edges of contemplative thought...
...Waiting for God to act is actually waiting for your soul to become quiet enough and contemplative enough to discern what God is doing in the obscure and forgotten corners, far from the corridors of power or wherever you think the action is...
...Before you can become an activist, you must first become a contemplative; otherwise you’ll just be a re-activist. And re-activists merely recycle anger and keep the world an angry place. Jesus was a contemplative activist, but never a re-activist...//
it has crossed my mind that the focus of most of the blogs I follow recycle anger and resentment regarding the leadership of fundamentalist evangelicals, the Democratic / Republican party and POTUS in particular. I notice that a lot of the people's comments reveal that they are actively engaged in an addiction to resentment. That isn't to say that there's a lot to be angry about!! Recently I've received several indications from several directions, that I consider reliable, first and foremost of which is my own connection to the higher power, that I am spending far too much time and precious attention on such a sterile choice that oppresses me. I've been contemplating 23rd psalm to help me come unglued and refocus my thoughts on how God is in my life and the path he is showing me. He leadeth me in the path of righteousness for his namesake has been something in the sequence that I have been resisting. Allowing God to guide, I think, is to relinquish my control. I resist this!! And yet if I don't then I am on my own and I have a history of being unreliable!!
knock, if you seek, ...
Waiting on God, without
asking,and God will wait on you
No comments:
Post a Comment