Great imagery, Joe. I've also found breathing, inh...

2008-04-26T14:32:00.000-05:00

Great imagery, Joe. I've also found breathing, inhale & exhale, helpful to picture that process.

Richard Rohr's book Contemplation in Action is a great book along those lines.

Also, Parker Palmer's The Active Life is fantastic.

We're both pointing, I think, toward actions that have their fuel-source located in God's abiding spirit within. I find, however, that compartmentalization in our personal lives tends to wall off God's spirit from reaching all corners of our existence (to a lesser extent for younger generations). Many of us keep our dividers because we would be flooded and overwhelmed if they were lifted. Yet not only does this make us less effective as disciples, but it cuts off God's energy from our actions.

To go back to Parker Palmer, he speaks (in Hidden Wholeness I think) about avoiding attempts to spend our energy trying to "balance"--which evokes the image of juggling--or a hundred individual compartments in life on a scale and you're constantly scurrying and swapping them around, trying to keep the whole thing from tumbling over. Instead, he proposes spending our energy pursuing a wholeness that seeks the center. Silence, solitude, and meditation help us get to the center, which is Christ--who, is our strength. When I do find myself centered in Christ (which is far less frequent than I hope for), compartments are less necessary because my trust is not in my own boundaries and balancing act, but in God's presence. That helps me to live from the inside out, AND be more open and available to engage the world around me.

I always think of the spiritual life like a heart....

2008-04-26T13:56:00.000-05:00

I always think of the spiritual life like a heart. Our spiritual disciplines and personal devotions are like a heart when it turns inward to attract the blood from the body; but in order to function properly, the heart must expel fresh blood. This is action. Action is the fruit of a well-tuned (or pruned, rather) and maintained spiritual life.

Comments on Ministerblog.net: Spirituality vs. Action?

Great imagery, Joe. I've also found breathing, inh...

I always think of the spiritual life like a heart....