Francis Berger
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An Intense Awareness of the Need For Spiritual Learning

12/31/2021

2 Comments

 
The past two years have provided plenty to be negative about, but they have also provided much to be positive about. For me, the most positive aspect has been an intense awareness of the need for spiritual learning.

This awareness has brought many difficulties and challenges to the fore, but it has also given rise to a joyous and exciting re-enchantment with the world. I find I am no longer in a fog when it comes to the primary purpose of mortal life.

At the same time, I feel an increased sense of personal responsibility. Everything I think and do in this time and place matters - not just for this time and place, but for eternity.

But some of the things I think and do will have to be learned and re-learned again and again despite my best efforts to "lock in" what I need to learn. 

Part of my awareness of spiritual learning is the acceptance that learning is a process, not a flipping of the switch. Some lessons can be learned easily. Some lessons take a lifetime. Some will barely be approached. Some will never be completed.

What matters most is the awareness because it is the awareness that allows God to find the openings and opportunities required to facilitate the required learning.

The rest is up to the choices we make when these opportunities arise. 

Note added: This post was inspired by an important and insightful comment Dr. Charlton left on my post from yesterday.    
2 Comments
Genie Hughes
12/31/2021 23:31:29

Thank you for a great year of thoughtful reading! You have helped me - along with others found through Synlogos - more than I can say. I found this quote today, it seems sort of perfect for our times.

"“Although we live in the richest society in the history of the world, we still assume that there is not enough. Not enough life, not enough food, not enough entertainment, not enough happiness. This keeps our economy going. The truth is the opposite. There is too much. We are overwhelmed, and our imaginations can’t take it all in. There is limitless beauty for us to wonder at. There is truth to explore—not just the dimensions of science or the ponderings of philosophy but the depths of poetry and the testimony of history. There is goodness in the human spirit to admire—in great explorers and mighty warriors, in the humble potter or the resourceful mid-wife. Yet there is also the temptation to steal, because we fear that there will not be “enough.” We are generous when we trust that we’ll have enough; we are covetous and anxious because we have lost this trust.”
— Samuel Wells, as quoted in Christians in an Age of Wealth: A Biblical Theology of Stewardship by Craig L. Blomberg.

Reply
Francis Berger
1/1/2022 11:34:36

@ Genie - Thank you! Much truth in that quote from Samuel Wells.

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