Loading...As I write this in late August, it seems as if the summer has flown by. I had a long list of things I wanted to do, and much to my surprise, I actually did do many of them. And plenty of other things besides. So I am ending the summer with a nice stack of accomplishments and a few spiritual lessons that I can offer to you.
Inspiration and energy rarely came exactly when I wanted them. There were days when I had a clear calendar and the best intentions about tackling something that would require sustained concentration. But more often than not, those were the days when fate or Providence or my own limitations decided that I needed a rest, or at least no more than a day of routine jobs.
Something similar can happen in our spiritual lives. There are times when we are fired up and ready to do the mission of God – or what we imagine it to be – but the Almighty has other plans. For people used to being busy, fallow days can feel like wasted time. But our faith teaches us, sometimes gently and sometimes not so gently, that to value what God values is to surrender a part – ideally all – of ourselves to a timeline that we do not control.
Related to this is the observation that my best accomplishments often came from things that began by chance. Our new grant-funded project with the BU campus ministry (see another item about this later in the newsletter) came about through a combination of events that I could not have predicted. Our upcoming blessing of cyclists and bicycles (see below for this also) was an idea brought to me by someone I see only very occasionally.
I never tire of pointing out that the faithful life requires us to be alert. The action of God is all around us at all times and in all places. How much of it do we miss through distraction or willful looking away? In my scientific life, I learned that I had to kiss a lot of frogs – projects that turned out not to be successful – to find the few that produced something meaningful. In my spiritual life, I feel as if it is by far the smaller sin to jump on quite a few things that might or might not have the Holy Spirit behind them, than to hold out for a sure thing. Won’t you join me?
I can see in hindsight that I had very little time to worry or doubt or second-guess myself this summer. Energy and inspiration bred optimism – not irrational lottery fantasies, but confidence that the work itself would lead me to what was meaningful. I marched boldly into topics of which I had only a hazy understanding – digital video, liturgy that would be inviting to non-Anglicans, church as an on-line enterprise. I learned a lot, made a few mistakes, and discovered others who were also trying to think in new ways. And now, as my stack of completed and progressing projects begins to bear fruit, as I see the energy my efforts inspire in others, my optimism is validated and continues to rise.
Quiet confidence in the faithfulness and providence of God is one of the most challenging parts of the spiritual life. It rarely comes easily. I can’t give you three easy steps to get there. I can’t even write smugly about my own success. But I can say that I take comfort in the fact that God keeps sending me more work, more desire to serve, more wonder at the things that I and others manage to accomplish. And every small success builds my confidence that God is still at work in me and in those around me. On many days, that is blessing enough.
Finally, I found that I did my best work when I kept the deeper purpose in view. I love details and arcane research, and I had plenty of that to keep me entertained this summer. But I was lucky also to have people and the liturgy and the events of the world to remind me that all of what I was doing was directed to the love of God and the love of neighbor. Whenever I called myself – or was called by others! – back to those goals, I found new energy, new creativity, and new peace.
What did you do over the summer? What new hills did you climb? What new vistas were revealed? What products of your labor do you have to lay at the altar as the days get shorter and the nights get cooler? Summer may be ending but, thanks be to God, our joyful labor continues.
Blessings
Howie+
