Monthly Archives: June 2020
“Molding the Material into the Spiritual”
I struggle to believe that anything I do is terribly significant. I have a hunch that you may struggle with that as well.
Here is an excerpt from one of my daily 12-step readings. It is followed by my musings about my day.
“Meditation for the Day
Molding your life means cutting and shaping your material into something good, something that can express the spiritual. All material things are the clay out of which we mold something spiritual. You must first recognize the selfishness in your desires and motives, actions and words, and then mold that selfishness until it is sublimated into a spiritual weapon for good. As the work of molding proceeds, you see more and more clearly what must be done to mold your life into something better.
Prayer for the Day
I pray that I may mold my life into something useful and good. I pray that I may not be discouraged by the slow progress that I make.” (From Twenty-Four Hours a Day © 1975 by Hazelden Foundation.)
I was especially struck by the sentence, “All material things are the clay out of which we mold something spiritual.” Have I done this today? Have I taken material things, and molded them into something spiritual? I ask the question, but can I answer it? My day seemed pretty mundane to me.
- I cleaned and straightened the garage.
- I talked to 12-step friends.
- I listened to about 12 chapters from the Bible.
- I was here when the plumbers came to fix the outdoor water spigot.
- I went out and bought a new riding lawn mower (my first!), a small trailer for the tractor, a water hose, and a reel for said hose.
- I took care of the dog.
- I tried to prop my leg up some.
- I sent out the assignments and challenges for my Hebrew class.
- I did the dishes.
- I wrote out a gratitude list of 50 items.
- I am writing this blog.
How “spiritual” is any of this?
But perhaps I should let God judge my day—and me. I am often my harshest critic. I suspect that God is much more kind and fair to me than I am to me.
The same is probably true of you.
“A Recipe for Stone Soup”
Here is one of my twelve-step readings for today. Since I am trying to learn to cook, I liked this recipe a lot. It is simple.
“Wednesday, June 3
Men will find that they can prepare with mutual aid far more easily what they need and avoid far more easily the perils which beset them on all sides, by united forces.
—Baruch Spinoza
Three travelers stopped in a small town on their way to the city. They had tents to sleep in, but no food or money. They knocked on doors asking for a little food, but the people were poor, with little to eat and nothing to spare.
Cheerfully, they returned to their camp and built a fire. “What are you doing?” asked a bystander, “Building a fire with nothing to cook?”
“But we do have something to cook!” they said. “Our favorite dish, stone soup. We only need a pot.”
“I think I can find one,” said one of the bystanders, and she ran home to fetch it.
When she returned, the travelers filled the pot with water and placed two large stones in it. “This will be the finest soup we’ve ever made!” said the first traveler. “I agree,” said the second, “but don’t you think it would taste better with a cabbage in it?”
“I think I can find one,” said another bystander. And so it went the whole afternoon until, by evening, the travelers had a hearty, fragrant feast, which they shared with the hungry townspeople.
What can I do with help today, that I couldn’t do alone?” (From Today’s Gift: Daily Meditations for Families ©1985, 1991 by Hazelden Foundation.)
There isn’t much I can add to this. I think I’ll go build a fire!
(You can purchase this book from Hazelden Publishing. Hazelden publishes lots of good things. While not overtly Christian or even religious, they are often very helpful, even if you’re not an addict.)
“Seeking God’s Face: Impossible, Difficult and Easy”
Wait a minute! How can something be impossible, difficult, and easy?!
Good question! Glad that you asked. I was meditating this morning on the statement in the Scriptures that we are to “seek God’s face.” I thought that this sounded like a worthwhile goal, and that I ought to do that. In fact, I made it my daily affirmation: “Today, by God’s grace, I am seeking the face of God, no matter how difficult that may be.”
My sponsor responded to my twelve-step affirmation by reminding me that I could see God’s face in the face of my wife or of a child. Good reminder. Sometimes I make things more difficult than they are. It is certainly possible that I am doing that in this case.
However, this whole idea of seeing God’s face—or seeing God—is very problematic in the Bible. Some verses say that mortal man cannot see God. For example, God says to Moses that even Moses would not be permitted to behold God’s face (Exodus 33:20).
Other Scriptures say something very different. For example, Exodus 24:9-11 says that Moses, along with seventy elders of Israel, did see God.
And then, there are verses that encourage, yea indeed command, us to seek God’s face.
“You have said, “Seek my face.”
My heart says to you,
“Your face, LORD, do I seek.” (Psalm 27:8, English Standard Version)
Of course, those who think that the Bible is a hopelessly contradictory book have no problem at all with this. They simply say, “See! We told you so!”
However, those of us who hold the Bible in high esteem (as I do) want to look a bit more deeply. The average person (if such a person exists) may say different things at different times. We may recognize that this does not automatically mean that the person is contradicting him/herself. Perhaps we should extend the same courtesy to the Bible that we give to one another on a routine basis.
Context is everything, as I often remind my students. There are times when it is appropriate to speak of God’s face being inaccessible, and there are times for seeking God’s face.
On the other hand, our default position should be to seek God’s face. Thus, Psalm 105:4 says that we are to “seek God’s face continually.”
Perhaps the most helpful thing is to realize two things.
First, the word “face” in Hebrew, when it is not a literal face, often refers to a person’s presence. Especially, there is the nuance of a person’s gracious presence. In the famous priestly blessing of Numbers 6:24-26, the Israelite priest is to say to the people of Israel,
24 “The LORD bless you and keep you;
25 the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
26 the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.”
A second observation about the idea of “face” is that it suggests how we get to know people. Most of us prefer “face-to-face” meetings, even though in this day of global pandemic, we may not be able to meet face-to-face.
A person’s face is the best way to get to know that person. The eyes, the facial expressions, and above all, the words a person speaks, helps us to know the person.
So it is with us and God. God is already well-acquainted with our faces. We just need to seek God’s face more diligently.
And yes, one way to do that is as easy as seeing God’s face in our daily relationships. Yes, God’s face is mysterious. But then so is my wife’s face, even though I’ve had the privilege of studying it for a very long time.
DOWN TO EARTH BELIEVER
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