I am in my second attempt to read Annie Dillard’s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. It is about seeing. As I read, she is teaching me and God is changing me. Here is a sample:
Thomas Merton wrote, “There is always a temptation to diddle around in the contemplative life, making itsy-bitsy statues.” There is always an enormous temptation in all of life to diddle around making itsy-bitsy friends and meals and journeys for itsy-bitsy years on end. It is so self-conscious, so apparently moral, simply to step aside from the gaps where the creeks and winds pour down, saying, I never merited this grace, quiet rightly, and then to sulk along the rest of your days on the edge of rage. I won’t have it. The world is wilder than that in all directions, more dangerous and bitter, more extravagant and bright. We are making hay when we should be making whoopee; we are raising tomatoes when we should be raising Cain, or Lazarus.
That is important. We have not been called to live small. God has made us for adventure. We were called, are right now called, to the dangerous life. And there is this promise that God will be with us through it all.
Matthew 5:3-5 (NRSV) "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth."
The poor in spirit are not disincluded. God will be with them.
Those who are suffering, heartbroken, and whose life is unfair, God has not deserted them.
Those who are meek (not the diddling meek, not the itsy-bitsy, but those who are not arrogant, those who are like Jesus in his willingness to win with love and self-sacrifice) have God with them, and the whole world in theirs.
Don’t waste your days, your minutes, your gifts.
The will of the Creator is that you live!
Thomas Merton wrote, “There is always a temptation to diddle around in the contemplative life, making itsy-bitsy statues.” There is always an enormous temptation in all of life to diddle around making itsy-bitsy friends and meals and journeys for itsy-bitsy years on end. It is so self-conscious, so apparently moral, simply to step aside from the gaps where the creeks and winds pour down, saying, I never merited this grace, quiet rightly, and then to sulk along the rest of your days on the edge of rage. I won’t have it. The world is wilder than that in all directions, more dangerous and bitter, more extravagant and bright. We are making hay when we should be making whoopee; we are raising tomatoes when we should be raising Cain, or Lazarus.
That is important. We have not been called to live small. God has made us for adventure. We were called, are right now called, to the dangerous life. And there is this promise that God will be with us through it all.
Matthew 5:3-5 (NRSV) "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth."
The poor in spirit are not disincluded. God will be with them.
Those who are suffering, heartbroken, and whose life is unfair, God has not deserted them.
Those who are meek (not the diddling meek, not the itsy-bitsy, but those who are not arrogant, those who are like Jesus in his willingness to win with love and self-sacrifice) have God with them, and the whole world in theirs.
Don’t waste your days, your minutes, your gifts.
The will of the Creator is that you live!
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