New habits, new ways of thinking, new virtues…these become different as you age, more difficult. It’ not that age brings rigidness, or loss of ability to change, but rather, after diligently practicing what one knows is good to do, making the changes one can make, after a while the easier ones have been done. And the remaining needed changes are those that are the most difficult. The changes that one does not have the strength to plow through, the ones that one does not understand how to address, the changes that are bogged down in difficult circumstances and relationships, that are tied tightly to personal disorders. As the years go by and one continues to grow, the really difficult changes are those that are moved to the forefront simply because the quick and easy ones have already been done. It is in those places where life’s journey is too rugged to go it alone, and sometimes even your best friend can’t help. Life becomes less a matter of competence, and more a matter of saying yes to the Holy Spirit. God himself can walk with you in those places that are too rugged to traverse. When human strength does not suffice, and the impossible is encountered, the Holy Spirit moves in a a compliant soul to make the impossible possible. And it is also in those places where one falls in love, experiencing the prayer of silence that personal competence cannot break into. It becomes a romance. The bridegroom has always been there, but when the busyness is over, and the end of personal competence is reached, then the journey becomes the story of a romance. “For your Maker is your husband—the LORD Almighty is his name—” (Isaiah 54: 5)
New habits, new ways of thinking, new virtues…these become different as you age, more difficult. It’ not that age brings rigidness, or loss of ability to change, but rather, after diligently practicing what one knows is good to do, making the changes one can make, after a while the easier ones have been done. And the remaining needed changes are those that are the most difficult. The changes that one does not have the strength to plow through, the ones that one does not understand how to address, the changes that are bogged down in difficult circumstances and relationships, that are tied tightly to personal disorders. As the years go by and one continues to grow, the really difficult changes are those that are moved to the forefront simply because the quick and easy ones have already been done. It is in those places where life’s journey is too rugged to go it alone, and sometimes even your best friend can’t help. Life becomes less a matter of competence, and more a matter of saying yes to the Holy Spirit. God himself can walk with you in those places that are too rugged to traverse. When human strength does not suffice, and the impossible is encountered, the Holy Spirit moves in a a compliant soul to make the impossible possible. And it is also in those places where one falls in love, experiencing the prayer of silence that personal competence cannot break into. It becomes a romance. The bridegroom has always been there, but when the busyness is over, and the end of personal competence is reached, then the journey becomes the story of a romance. “For your Maker is your husband—the LORD Almighty is his name—” (Isaiah 54: 5)
Thanks Woody… always profound.