“Come on into me,”
Said the man to himself,
It’s a godly invitation,
To a personal and vital health.
I know as a minister myself, by personal example, I need
to draw into myself and plumb my own depths, before I can lead others in that
direction.
So, we need to...
“...
find the courage to enter into the core of our own existence and become
familiar with the complexities of our own inner lives.”
— Henri
J.M. Nouwen (1932–1996)
The contemplative pastor notes that As soon as we feel at home in our own house,
discover the dark corners as well as the light spots, the closed doors as well
as the drafty rooms, our confusion will evaporate, our anxiety will diminish,
and we will become capable of creative work.
In coming to know and appreciate the
polarizing nexuses of our inner beings we come to truly know God – the Lord who
has forgiven us and who for ever loves us.
But we are polarized to this view of
ourselves in the meantime: that there is something entirely unknowable and
unrequited and unacceptable about us.
We search in many places to myriad degrees,
every day of our lives. We search but we do not find; until we look truly inward.
We search and many times we are tempted to
give up. Our spiritual tenacity is tested. We assume the prize of inner
liberation will ever elude us. And it will if we ultimately give up. We will go
on in our search – to ever futile ends – when we keep avoiding the inherent
dichotomy of our persons.
We are good and bad; loving and
hateful; spiritual, yet materialistic... et cetera.
These facts are not to be judged, just understood,
reconciled, and accepted. More glory to God when we understand, reconcile, and
accept what can never be changed about us.
My House | Your House
Until we look deeply into our own house we
cannot understand another’s house. Until I force myself to be truthful about my
own junk I cannot understand, reconcile, and accept another’s.
My house is vital to the understanding of
your house, period. As is yours. If you are to love me, you must know your own
home first.
This is our motive. To know our own houses
is the best gift we could give ourselves, for salvation is the best
gift, but salvation is from God.
***
We need to be creative or life is worthless. Becoming creative is coming into ourselves – to know ourselves – which is to understand, to reconcile, and to accept the good and the bad. If we do this we have hope, purpose, and a reason to exist. When we explore the conundrum of our inner lives, God will give us entrance into life itself.
© 2014 S. J. Wickham.
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