I recently read a quote by Barbara Crafton, Episcopal priest and prolific writer and retreat leader. She was speaking about the difficult topic of forgiveness, but she could have been referring to any thorny issue on the spiritual journey, anything that asks a lot of us, or that is unclear, or seems fruitless.
She wrote... “You have help... God has lines in this play. The spiritual life is not a project you do all by yourself that you present to God. It’s a thing that God gives to you.”
Then, she concluded with: “The whole of spiritual life is discovering this is true.”
Whether or not you agree with her synthesis, I think her point is key: that we are in a mysterious partnership, a dance of co-creation, where sometimes we take steps toward or away from God, sometimes we are dancing together, and sometimes we’re listening for the music to begin. And how easy it is to forget that we are companioned.
We may feel alone, but we are not. If God does indeed have “lines in your play” these days, what are you hearing? What co-creation are you working on, and how might you make room for your accompanist?
I can easily get caught up in lone ranger control freak territory, thinking I have to do things all by myself. So this quote brought me up short in a good way, and made me pause and wonder.
What is God presenting to me this summer that I need to dance with, to let in? What might be the gift for you, however peculiar or unexpected? Will you receive it? |