Some people are fortunate enough to be overtaken by an experience they call God that is so clear and self-authenticating that no amount of argument to the contrary can really undermine that experience. Having once had the felt experience of God, they have both a yardstick and a lodestone for their slow, stumbling realisation that … Continue reading How to experience God
Tag: pending-review
To you
Dear One, I want you to enjoy your life. I want you to enjoy being alive. Life is full of beautiful and interesting things, and people, and places. There's far more here than you can ever possibly experience. Follow your curiosity. Let it be your guide. Do not worry about making mistakes.Do not worry about … Continue reading To you
Self-improvement; not.
I am sitting in my bedroom where I have a little prayer corner. It is early on Sunday morning. The children are still asleep. Although it is cold outside, I have the window cracked open. I am swaddled in a dressing gown. I am listening to the sounds: a wood pigeon's coo, a crow's caw, … Continue reading Self-improvement; not.
Service
This week a body came for spiritual direction. She was reflecting upon busyness, upon the balance she was seeking in a life of service to God, with space for prayer and contemplation. Amongst other things, she draws and paints. She related an experience she'd had that morning. She had felt anxious about the amount of … Continue reading Service
Living with life’s ups and downs
When one enjoys consolation, let [her] consider how [she] will conduct [herself] during the time of ensuing desolation, and store up a supply of strength as defence against that day.He who enjoys consolation should take care to humble himself and lower himself as much as possible. Let him recall how little he is able to … Continue reading Living with life’s ups and downs
Embattled, not embittered
In recent years I have twice become deeply bitter about how I have been treated by others. I was certainly not without fault – and I was treated unjustly and with a lack of kindness that hurt deeply. In both situations I became angry, and the hurt and anger transmuted into resentment and bitterness… Resentment … Continue reading Embattled, not embittered
Renunciation
The whole thing boils down to this paradox: if you are going to be a hero then you must give a gift. If you are the average [person] you give your heroic gift to the society in which you live, and you give the gift that society specifies in advance. If you are an artist … Continue reading Renunciation
The Slough of Despond
But then comes the dawning comprehension of all that a writer's life implies: not easy day-dreaming, but hard work at turning the dream into reality without sacrificing all of its glamour; not the passive following of someone else's story, but the finding and finishing of a story of one's own; not writing a few pages … Continue reading The Slough of Despond
From resentment to recollection
Whenever I walk in a London street, I'm ever so careful to watch my feet; And I keep in the squares, And the masses of bears, Who wait at the corners all ready to eat The sillies who tread on the lines of the street, Go back to they lairs, And I say to them, … Continue reading From resentment to recollection
Sadness
The body holds deep sadness. The loss of people you love: those who have died; lovers and friends with whom you have fallen out, or lost touch; children who have moved away. The love you never received, that was not forthcoming; and the love you cannot give, your lack of capacity for loving. The loss … Continue reading Sadness