Inward Silence
- heartsinger1
- Jul 13, 2020
- 3 min read
"You can die to yourself in the course of your everyday life- you don't need to go into the desert, or on some high mountain to be spiritual." Fenelon
How we like to compartmentalize our lives. Like shut off valves we move from responsibility to responsibility, task to task, checking off each item on our to do list while rarely seeing the thread of spiritual reality woven through our life.
Growing up, Saturday night was bath time. Why? Because we had to be clean for church on Sunday. Rarely do I remember a bath any other day. Personal hygiene only came into play on Sunday.
Sunday was also for talking about God. Praying, singing, learning. No other day did we, as a family, expand spiritual routines past the obligatory prayer at dinner.
Leisure also had a specific time; Christmas and summer. Although, as children, we played throughout the year, my parents didn't break out of responsible roles except for those seasons. And summer was hit and miss. I was eight when we went on our first family vacation. Most of the time we were on our own.
I myself have compartmentalized my life. It's evident in my wardrobe; work out clothes, fancy clothes, barn clothes, everyday hang out clothes. I suppose this is natural and, in the case of the barn, wise to some degree. But my relationship to God, my pursuit of spirituality, should never be relegated to a place, a day or a season.
I think that's the difference between religion and spirituality. Religion has rules, boxes, lines and lists. Spirituality is a fragrance. Once applied it permeates everything I wear, even to my skin.
Fenelon is making the point here. To get to inward silence you must cultivate the inward relationship with God. It isn't contingent on anything exterior; movement, music, or a minister, prayer, practice or another person, sacrifice, singing or exterior silence. To find peace, or inward silence, is to rest in the arms of God as a much-loved child. And this posture is possible no matter what is happening in your day.
Brother Lawrence was a common monk who developed an uncommon relationship with God. His duties were not in a grand cathedral but rather in the kitchen of a Paris monastery. He invited God into his every day activities and God showed up. Brother Lawrence lived with such a calm and peaceful countenance others wanted to know what he was doing. A wee book called, The Practice of the Presence of God was written after his death from a small collection of letters and notes.
Brother Lawrence shares what he did different than other monks:
The account I can give you is: Having found in many books different methods of going to God and diverse practices of the spiritual life, I thought this would serve rather to puzzle me than facilitate what I sought after, which was nothing but how to become wholly God’s. This made me resolve to give the all for the All. After having given myself wholly to God, to make all the satisfaction I could for my sins, I renounced, for the love of Him, everything that was not He, and I began to live as if there was none but He and I in the world.
Am I there? Do I desire to live as if there is none other but God and I in the world? Is it actually possible outside of monastic life?
I have to say, yes. But it won't easy. It takes intentional pursuit. Not just first thing in the morning but rather, a minute by minute turning inward to connect. That's where the peace that passes understanding lives. That's the only way to permeate my life with God.
When living in the undisturbed presence God is truly my consistent reality, I will carry the captivating fragrance of heaven with me to every item on my to do list.
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