Wonderings--August 10

I wonder, do you feel tranquil today? Peaceful? Is there a sense of a deeper spiritual strength that holds you together? 

While on the surface I suspect that most people would affirm that 'yes' they feel tranquil, peaceful, and strong. But right now, as you read this, as you sit at home, or quietly in a public space, would you agree? Do you feel those emotions right now? 

I suspect that a vast majority of the Christians today do not feel this way. I suspect that we are anxious about much, worried and harried about nearly everything. While on Sunday we confess that we depend and rely upon Christ alone, those words, while easy to confess, and hard to live out. 

So today I offer you the words of Evelyn Underhill. While reflecting on the work of St. John of the Cross she writes these words for every soul that feels itself pressed upon by the local culture: 

"All our action. . . must be peaceful, gentle, and strong. That suggests, doesn't it? an immense depth, and an invulnerable steadiness as the soul's abiding temper; a depth and a steadiness which comes from the fact that our small action is now part of the total action of God, whose Spirit. . . 'works always in tranquility.' Fuss and feverishness, anxiety, intensity, intolerance, instability, pessimism. . . every kind of hurry and worry--these are signs of the self-made and self-acting soul. 

Tranquility, gentleness, and strength, carry us through the changes of weather, the ups and downs of the route, the varied surface of the road; the inequalities of family life, emotional and professional disappointments, the sudden intervention of bad fortune or bad health. This is the imprint of the Spirit on the souls that surrendered to His great action."

God's Spirit is a gift for each of us. It is a gift that helps remind us how the Holy Spirit can be a steading force in our lives. For any Christian who reaches out to God when the hustle and struggle of the day becomes too much will find God offering them something wonderful. 

If you feel that tranquility, peace, and strength are far off, I wonder what might happen as you read Evelyn's words and reach back out to God? 

Blessings