Still on chapter 1 of "How to Pray for Spiritual Growth"

Hello, Companion Mustard Seed Library book readers,

Today something came from Henri Nouwen (Daily Meditations) that mixes nicely with the book we are reading:

"Being broken - Jesus was broken on the cross. He lived his suffering and death not as an evil to avoid at all costs, but as a mission to embrace. We too are broken. We live with broken bodies, broken hearts, broken minds or broken spirits. We suffer from broken relationships. How can we live our brokenness? Jesus invites us to embrace our brokenness as he embraced the cross and live it as part of our mission. He asks us not to reject our brokenness as a curse from God that reminds us of our sinfulness but to accept it and put it under God's blessing for our purification and sanctification. Thus our brokenness can become a gateway to new life."

On page 31 of the book we are reading, the author writes:

"Jesus knows that we have thoughts of vengeance, violence, lust, pride; there is no sense in trying to hide from Him what He already knows. And yet that is what we try to do when we repress our evil thoughts--we are trying to hide them from Him and from ourselves. We do not want to admit that such a thought could come from us. We are afraid to admit that we have the potential for evil. However, if we lose touch with our potential for evil, two dire consequences await us. Our potential for evil will be out of the control of our conscious minds and therefore it will be more apt to be in control of us; and we will also lose touch with our potential for good. In other words, we will not know who we are."

It seems like both of these writings have to do with what do we do with our destructive thoughts. The author of the book then says "If we succeed in repressing the thought, we also repress the tension of this struggle (struggle with "should", "ought" and "must") only for it to reappear at a later time in some action that will relieve the tension and express the thought; that action will be sin."

The next chapter is on the Prayer of Quiet and listening to God. One of the questions the author proposes at the end of this next chapter is "Which inner voices do you hear most frequently? Which are most distracting? Which are most helpful? How do you allow them to control your life?" Do you think these are relevant questions for your faith journey with God?

God bless,
Sharon