What you must realize, what you must even come to praise, is the fact that there is no right way that is going to become apparent to you once and for all. The most blinding illumination that strikes and perhaps radically changes your life will be so attenuated and obscured by doubts and dailiness that you may one day come to suspect the truth of that moment at all. The calling that seemed so clear will be lost in echoes of questionings and indecision; the church that seemed to save you will fester with egos, complacencies, banalities; the deepest love of your life will work itself like a thorn in your heart until all you can think of is plucking it out. Wisdom is accepting the truth of this. Courage is persisting with life in spite of it. And faith is finding yourself, in the deepest part of your soul, in the very heart of who you are, moved to praise it.
~ Christian Wiman, My Bright Abyss: Meditation of a Modern Believer
Credits:
- Quote Source: My Bright Abyss: Meditation of a Modern Believer
- Source for Photograph of Christian Wiman: datinggod.org.
Amen. Need to mull on this awhile, for first read through I was carried away with thoughts and my mind shouting ‘yes’.
LikeLike
Mull, chew, ponder, come back to it – I’m doing all of the above…and I’m shouting “I Think So!”
LikeLike
Oh pal, please don’t shout – it’s still early in my world… 😉
LikeLike
🙂
On Mon, Jun 9, 2014 at 5:19 AM, Live & Learn wrote:
>
LikeLike
The Indigo Girls said it. “The less I seek a source for some definitive, the close I am to fine.”
LikeLike
Profound by the IGs
LikeLike
yes and the trick is to arrive at that understanding and accept it fully.
LikeLike
Yes…
LikeLike
There have been times when I was disappointed by thinking that I had found “the answer” only to find that it wasn’t. There were people, places, things that didn’t live up to my expectations. It took many years before I realized that the source of disappointment was something that came from me not the object of my expectation. The flip side of revelation is definitely doubt. It’s difficult to accept one wholly and completely without the other…
LikeLike
Jeff, you comment and write my playbook – I’m still learning that it’s within…and your thoughts remind me of another passage in Wiman’s Book:
LikeLike
Yep – one of many questions. Are you pursuing your work or someone else’s? Are you defining who you are or is someone else? The essence is still in the honestly of purpose – not the purpose of pursuing someone else’s approval. We all do need to keep a roof over our heads – but whatever you launch into the world should be yours and yours only. 🙂
This book is on my to-read list…thanks for the lead-in Dave!
LikeLike
Thanks Jeff. I’m about 1/4 in through the book. It is a sipper. And the man is a genius…
LikeLike
Profound words. Time needed to ponder their depths.
LikeLike
Don, I’ve read it 20-25x, and I’m still pondering.
LikeLike
This makes so much sense if it’s the journey and not the destination. If we found the answer early in life, how boring would the rest of it be?
LikeLike
That’s so true Carolann…it is.
LikeLike
Powerful, thought provoking and succinct.
LikeLike
It is Peggy…
LikeLike
“…there is no right way that is going to become apparent to you once and for all.” This rings so true to me, but damn it’s been a tough lesson to learn. I think I spent the first half of my life thinking, “If I can just figure out ‘x’, then all will be in order….” sigh. As Sportin’ Life said, ‘It ain’t necessarily so….’
LikeLike
Yes, Lori, a damn tough lesson for me too…
LikeLike
Reblogged this on On the Homefront and commented:
couldn’t have said it better myself………..
LikeLike
Thanks for sharing LouAnn
LikeLike
Beautiful description of the angst of life. ~ Sheila
LikeLike
It is Sheila, thank you.
LikeLike
Phenomenal….it is !
LikeLike
🙂 It is!
LikeLike