Month: October 2018

 

Ever notice how a dog can sit for hours on a porch just watching the world go by. There are no existential puzzles to solve, or complex identity narratives to sort out, nothing to prove, and no other place to be. That is a dog that is well fed and belong. The master lives inside. Its that simple.

What about us humans?

I wish it were that simple, but we have self-isolating egos, self-constructed identities, and disordered loves to navigate. What happened to just food and belonging?

What if we took more time each day to just sit on the porch of our lives, accepting our humanity, our position and place in the world, and then began to realize how deeply we already do belong and are loved.

Where is that place where we can hear God say: “I am pleased to dwell with you”?

 

The spiritual life is a practice in being. But when we are restless, we are tempted to flee from our being into only doing and consuming. But such a response is only to throw more logs on the fire of this existential restlessness.

So how do we stay grounded, centered, and at peace? How do we stay connected to God’s presence within us?

It seems to me that we have to embrace the “little deaths” that come to us and not avoid them or narcotize ourselves from them. We need to drink the cup of our real life. To be present to ourself and not escape the scene.

Three beautiful pathways into our own presence and Gods presence are silence, solitude, and stillness. These are gifts that can “wake us up” to the realization that the infinite, burning consumer within us is actually a longing for God in us. The longing is for presence, for a sense of being.

Be careful what you consume, what you use to try and fill your emptiness. begin to see your unrest as a sign or invitation from God to return to silence, stillness, and solitude. And then start to intentionally build these practices into your day.