I love it when God uses seminary ‘assignments’ to become pathways to closer communion with Him.  When doing some assigned reading I came across this:

“it very often happens that the busy and driven parish priest entirely loses sight not merely of his own spiritual position, but also of this great spiritual landscape in which he is placed; by concentrating all the while on those details of it that specially concern him. He cannot see the forest, because he is attending so faithfully to the trees. It is surely a first charge on his devotional life, to recover that sense of the forest, which gives all their meaning to the trees… The primary thing, I believe, that will be of use is a conception, as clear and rich and deep as you are able to get it, first of the Splendour of God; and next of your own souls over against that Splendour of God”.  Evelyn Underhill

The Splendour of God, how much time have I devoted to thinking about God’s Splendour?  Not much.  My devotional life is so myopic that it centers around myself and my family and not much more.  My focus is on the little grove of trees that surround me and doesn’t widen out to the forest except when there is a major event somewhere in the world that catches the media’s attention.  I am reminded of a question that someone asked me once: “If God answered all of your prayers for the last six months in the way that you would like them to be answered, would the world be a different place?”  My answer now is much like it was then, “Not really”.  My family would be happy and healthy but the world wouldn’t be much better off.  It seems that God intends for me to not only be awakened to myself but the world in which He works as well.

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