Life is Wonder-full
"The devil can quote Scripture for his purpose; and the text of Scripture which he now most commonly quotes is, 'The Kingdom of heaven is within you.' That text has been the stay and support of more Pharisees and prigs and self-righteous spiritual bullies than all the dogmas in creation; it has served to identify self-satisfaction with the peace that passes all understanding. And the text to be quoted in answer to it is that which declares that no man can receive the kingdom except as a little child. What we are to have inside is a childlike spirit; but the childlike spirit is not entirely concerned about what is inside. It is the first mark of possessing it that one is interested in what is outside. The most childlike thing about a child is his curiosity and his appetite and his power of wonder at the world. We might almost say that the whole advantage of having the kingdom within is that we look for it somewhere else." ― G. K. Chesterton
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Dear Kate,
"I was born to truly live!" declared Princess Kaguya, coming upon a deep realization of her identity, which speaks about her past pilgrimage and future fate, "destiny" in the most present tense--being fully present within the many tensions of life, answering to calls that are more than obligations, longings not mere obsessions, dreams that exert demands, almost always incompatible with each other, paradoxical in nature.
A popular hymn begins this way:
I serve a risen Savior
He’s in the world today.
and ends like this:
You ask me how I know He lives?
He lives within my heart.
The conclusion is foregone, for this is what sandwiched in between:
I know that He is living
Whatever men may say.
So God works for me (in both senses of the word). What's in my heart--my concerns, my fears, my desires--is the "world" to me, and that's where God is. How consoling and convenient. Say what you will about me and my "blessed assurance," but I am going to Heaven and I know it. (I don't wish Hell on others but that's their choice.) "Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it." I am childlike in my "faith," and that, Jesus said, is a good thing. I don't question life because I don't question God. God is good to me and that's all that matters. (If I don't feel He is, I will sing the confusion out of me.)
What did Chesterton call those who practice a private religion to cultivate an "inner peace," a proprietary access to God? "Pharisees and prigs and self-righteous spiritual bullies." They say they love the Creator but otherwise don't care much about the wonder work that is His Creation, curiosity not in their appetite. They "love" music but must stay on the strict diet of a rarefied playlist, controlled by the latest technology to answer to their little heart and ever narrowing mind. They have fun too, as much as they would allow themselves to, like a Picasso making an entire career out of a Blue Period.
You ask me how I know I lives?
I live within my heart.
Is that you? Is that me? It's easy to tell, actually.
Ask ourselves, do we love God's Creation, most of all, our neighbors? If yes, how? Where is joy in our life? I am not saying now we must cultivate some joy to make sure we aren't "spiritual bullies": this is not a prescription. I am just asking, as is now, where is your joy? what is it about? Where's the humor in your life? I am asking for a description, a self-portrait.
Life is wonder-full. Do you believe that? Can we trust God on that?
Yours, Alex
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