New Year’s Darkness

In the daily devotional A Year With Thomas Merton, the reading for today is entitled New Year’s Darkness. Merton writes about the darkness of January and the fact that it had not only been snowing in Kentucky, but the snow mixed with rain made it seem even more dark. But, he finishes the entry by commenting on the peace he also senses in the darkness. He concludes that he would be “foolish to leave such peace with no reason.”

Can we find peace in the midst of darkness?

That’s a question I’ve been asking myself over the past few months. In the midst of darkness when it seems God is no longer speaking or giving direction, can we actually find peace? I have to say the answer is “yes”. But only if we know our peace comes from God at all times. The mystics called it the dark night of the soul. When God is in the refining process of the saint. How we respond to such a dark night determines how long the dark night will last. Or at least that’s what I used to think. Do we respond with despair? Do we respond with anguish? Do we respond with peace? I’ve come to the conclusion that the dark night of the soul might also be a safe place. After all, since we know God will never leave us nor forsake us, we can also find great peace and comfort that even in the darkness, He is faithfully watching over us.

Read the rest of this entry

In Search of Balance

In Seminary I had a Professor once explain balance as something very hard to find and achieve. While we all want balance and are in search of balance, finding such balance is very difficult.

The professor explained it this way….

“It’s like being on a boat,” he said. “You have everyone gathered to one side of the boat looking over the edge at something fascinating when suddenly the boat begins to pitch to one side.” Why does this happen? “Because everyone is on one side of the boat. As a result, there is no balance at all, and the boat begins to take on water.”

As a result of the situation, “Everyone screams and they suddenly run to the other side of the boat in an attempt to bring balance. While one would think we understand that balance comes from the middle, no one stops in the middle of the boat.” Actually, the opposite takes place! “Everyone keeps running to the other side of the boat in an attempt to stop the tipping sensation.” Of course simply running to the other side of the boat does not bring balance. “Actually,” declared the Professor, “in the search for balance, the boat suddenly starts to pitch in the other direction.”

Read the rest of this entry

Withdrawing To Get A Better Look

Dandelion Fluff

Have you ever looked at the life cycle of a dandelion? Those incredible yellow flowers, or weeds, which spring up all over the grass as soon as spring arrives. To some people, they look pretty. To others, they’re a menace to be weeded out and discarded forever. The first life of the dandelion consists of that little yellow flower that just seems to never go away.

Then, for those that do survive the first cycle of life, the dandelion suddenly and magically turns into nothing more than fluff. On the surface, this fluff looks very harmless. When a wind comes along, the fluff is blown away and the dandelion is never to be seen again.

At least for a season…

Read the rest of this entry

This post is taking part in Randy Elrod’s Watercooler Wednesday!

Over on Randy’s Cultural Watercooler discussion for today he asked the question – What book or author has had the greatest influence on you?

First off Randy, that’s really a tough question for a preacher! There are so many and so little time or space to tell you of them all! But, before I tell you who my favorites are, yes, I have managed to whittle the list down to two, your question reminds me of a similar question once asked of a class at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky.

I don’t remember which class it was, but I do remember the professor. In a class studying Wesleyan Theology, Dr. Steve Harper once asked the question – If you were in the midst of being exiled to an island in the middle of nowhere, what one book would you take? Of course in a class of second and third year Seminary students working on their Divinity degrees, those who wanted to appear really spiritual said — the Bible! But, that was too easy. Dr. Harper’s question truly did start me thinking about what author, and what book, could truly continually feed my soul and spirit if I found myself on an island in the middle of nowhere.

Would I take John Wesley books? Or would I take something totally different?

Read the rest of this entry

I was reading another entry in my A Year with Thomas Merton book today entitled “Bearing Witness to the Resurrection.” It’s a great entry where Merton talks about where he finds happiness, and where he is most happy. In this particular entry Merton said he is “happier than he’s ever been” while singing in the choir. He goes on to say he can hardly “hold himself in place, expecting every moment to be his last.”

Merton also points out that when he’s at his toolshed hermitage he is “always happy and at peace, no matter what happens. For here, there is no need for anyone but God.”

Then suddenly out of no-where, the entry ends with the sentence – “A fly buzzes on the windowpane!” Did this fly suddenly pull him out of the things and thoughts of God, directly back into what many call the real world?

This got me wondering just how often we find ourselves distracted from the peace of God through daily, and many times the mundane, things of life. A fly buzzing on the windowpane suddenly becomes our excuse for the moment to stop thinking on the things of God.

What is buzzing on your windowpane today taking your attention away from God? Is it a worthy distraction? Or is it best to ignore it, so you can continue pondering the things of God.

A Fellow Sojourner,
Dr. Rus

Thomas Merton, as I’ve mentioned before on this blog, is probably one of my favorite spiritual authors. Merton recognized the dichotomy of writing, and actually being a writer. Many people know how to write, but few really write. There really is a difference between theory and actual practice. It’s like the newspaper editor in the Samuel L. Jackson movie Resurrecting The Champ tells the young sportswriter trying to find his voice. “I see a lot of words, but I don’t see a lot of writing.”

A book containing excerpts from Merton’s thoughts on the vocation of writing was recently released entitled Echoing Silence. What an amazing thought. One wants to write, in order to encourage others along whatever journey they may find themselves on. Whether it’s a journey of joy, adventure, science fiction, or whatever, the writer writes, so one can be entertained, learn something, or be encouraged. However, at the same time the writer often finds himself in the midst of an echoing silence. Just how do the words flow into thoughts, sentences, paragraphs, chapters, and yes, even books.

It’s funny, I find myself in the midst of such an echoing silence these days. While it’s exciting to write and create, it’s at the same time somewhat scary to think I’m hanging my thoughts out there for all to see. Will people like what they read? Will they understand what they read? Will it even make sense?

However, it really is all about the journey we find ourselves on individually. For some, reading helps them along the journey. For others, writing helps them along the journey. Whatever the case may be, in the end, we can find encouragement in knowing that the Alpha and the Omega really does know what’s going on. In the end, He is the Author of Life and He truly is in our corner, even in the midst of what might seem like echoing silence, to run the race which is marked out for us so that we might hear those wonderful words of — Well done My faithful servant. Come, enter into your rest.

A Fellow Sojourner,
Dr. Rus

For years I’ve preached the fact that I do not believe in a separation of what many call the sacred and the secular. I believe such a division is made merely as a human reaction, and somehow flawed attempt, to describe the world as God might see it. However, reality is, God sees the world very differently than we do. As a matter of fact, He sees everything much differently than we do. In Isaiah 55 God declares that “His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts.” When we come to a full realization of what those words mean, then maybe we’ll stop trying to categorize a world where God sees only His creation.

Is everything perfect on this earth? Of course not. But, that does not change how God feels about and sees His creation. We must remember He is the Beginning and the End. That means He sees the world from the end of the story to where we find ourselves in this journey now.

When Thomas Merton transitioned from the monastery to living as a hermit one of his first journal entries pointed to this very same separation I’m addressing here now. On September 11, 1965 Merton writes; “Here, (in the hermitage), I see my task is to get rid of the last vestiges of a Pharisaical division between the sacred and the secular, to see that the whole world is reconciled to God in Christ.”

A Fellow Sojourner,
Dr. Rus

Thomas Merton always seemed to walk a tightrope of complicated thoughts, in the midst of a simple life. That’s probably why he wrote so much. It was a way to possibly un-clutter his mind and sort through all the varied thoughts, ideas and yes, even tensions he found present in his everyday life.

We live in a world of many gadgets, which are in turn supposed to make life simpler. However, I often wonder if we ever do achieve the simple life by adding gadget after gadget into our lives. There was a time when I felt the need to have every new wild and fancy gadget that ever hit the market. In the end however, all this really led to was a life full of toys gathering dust on a nearby shelf. As I journey through this life I’m coming to realize that some of the gadgets are good, and when used properly, they can even help to make life simpler. However, other gadgets are merely toys taking up space, and making noise in an already busy schedule.

In the end, as we journey through each day, we need to look closely at what we’re filling our life up with, and then decide if it’s really making life simple or merely adding to the noise already around us.

A Fellow Sojourner,
Dr. Rus