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This book had my attention in the very first paragraph. It begins with Brother Lawrence's close friend, Joseph de Beaufort, describing Lawrence's spiritual awakening which took place after observing a tree in winter. By all appearances it was a barren, dead thing, ready for the fire. And yet, recognizing the season, he knew it would bud, flower and bear fruit again. This revelation gave him insight into God's character that changed his life. If God could bring this dead thing to life, how much more could he restore men's souls, if only they committed themselves to his care. Thus began his own journey into God's presence.
Being in what has sometimes felt like a dead place in my own life, this image resonated with me, reminding me of God's care and providence even when it is not immediately evident. In the Christian life, as in nature, what appears dead is often only in hibernation -secret happenings are taking place under the cloak of darkness and cold, preparing for new life to unfold. To be sure, it's been a long winter, but winter, by definition, is only a season, and spring will follow...eventually. Until then, there is some hope that I have some secret happenings of my own taking place within me, growth that will break through the surface like the long-awaited first green tips of crocuses in the snow.
In the meantime, according to Brother Lawrence, I should be practicing the presence of God. Or rather, there is no meantime: God himself is the end. Life, death, pleasures, and plans are all overshadowed in the pure joy of pursuing God and God alone, with no ulterior motives. To be sure, there are great treasures to be gained in wholeheartedly pursuing God, but they are trinkets compared to the gift of God himself.
"He sought only God, and not His gifts...Rather than desiring them from Him, he chose to look beyond the gift, hoping to learn more about God Himself." (10)So, he sacrificed his pleasures (dreams?) and received for his troubles wholehearted satisfaction.
If God is the end, he is also the means to himself. God alone can lead us to God. He calls us, leads us and causes us to respond all by his grace. We get to know him by practicing the presence of God until it becomes habit - indeed, "a pleasurable habit" (21) - until we are so used to the comfort and joy of his presence that we feel a sharp and immediate sense of loss when we stray from him. For Brother Lawrence this meant complete surrender to the person and will and love of God.
"He wasn't afraid of dying to self or losing himself in Christ, because complete surrender to God's will is the only secure road to follow. In it, there is always enough light to assure safe travel." (17)
Your mention of the seasons reminded me of a Foreword I wrote for Taylor's annual literary contest magazine for 1987, the year I was its editor. Not that I said the same thing, but just that I was also considering the passing of seasons in another, possibly similar, way. I might have written it better, or more concretely, today (23 years later!), but much of it was dictated by the theme that had been chosen, the order of the works in the magazine, and the choice of the poem "Wild Ducks" by Wallace Stevens as exemplifying the theme--none of which I remember having any say over. Some of the rest is probably (and admittedly) "padding"--my feeling the need to fill out the page (or in this case, half a page), a need, due to my current wordiness, I no longer worry about. (But maybe that was a good thing back then!)
ReplyDelete"FOREWORD
"In Genesis 8:22, the continuation of seasons is established by God, who said, 'While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.' The Preacher echoes this truth in Ecclesiastes, asserting that there is a time for every season as well as a time for laughter and a time for mourning.
"'Migrations to Solitude' has been chosen for the theme of PARNASSUS this year. In his poem 'Wild Ducks, People and Distances,' Wallace Stevens speaks not only of the migrations of ducks, but of people to solitude, through the seasons, from winter to spring. It is with this thought that we have arranged this year's PARNASSUS. As we, ourselves, migrate to places of solitude where we, like the Preacher, can ponder on the nature of things, we are also aware of the passing of time from winter to summer and of our own migration through the seasons. Whether for good or ill, it is often done solo.
"In human experience, solitude can occur in any season, and the seasons themselves can be more than winter and spring--they can be seasons of gloom and happiness, seriousness and lightheartedness. And though we like to picture the flow as being from winter to spring and would like to end there, we are inevitably struck with autumn and reminded that another winter is yet to come, beginning the cycle of life over again.
"As the staff of PARNASSUS, our hope is that you will discern a noticeable flow and order to the magazine, and that in doing so you will find a correlation between it and your own life, one that is common to all people.
"Kevin Moritz
"Editor"
Sometimes I actually wonder how much meaning I had in parts of it, but oh well. For what it's worth...!
Thanks for sharing, Kev - I'll have to look up that poem! :-)
ReplyDeleteSo good... thanks, Becky!
ReplyDeleteThanks for checking in, Maggie! Glad you enjoyed it.
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