We all have times of frustrations. Times when we are struggling to make a decision about life but the direction we should take is muddled with complications or confusing options. Most of us keep muddling over our problems. The more we contemplate, the more distant seems the answer. One of the great contemplative writers is Henri Nouwen. I have a book called The Heart Of Henri Nouwen. In reading it I found a story of just such a time in Nouwen's own life. It is hard to imagine the writer described as the greatest spiritual writer of modern time finding himself bogged down in problems.
He tells he had an opportunity to speak with Mother Teresa. Struggling with many issues in his life at the time, he decided he would seek Mother Teresa's advice. After sharing the complicated problems he was facing, Mother Teresa's looked at him and said, Well, when you spend one hour a day adoring your Lord and never do anything which you know is wrong...you will be fine!"
Nouwen said he realized she had "punctured my big balloon of complex self complaints and pointed me far beyond myself to the place of real healing."
Sometime we need to put down our stewing over things and just seek God's presence. For me it is now the joy of a simple walk with my dog just adoring the beauty of creation.
Perhaps for you it is simply sitting watching a river or stream flow before you. Mentally being drawn out of ourselves into the gentle flow of water. Mother Teresa was right. When we get out of ourselves and become absorbed in God, afterwards things suddenly make sense.
Enjoy this lovely cool weather and find yourself physically and spiritually renewed.
Pastor,
Pam