As I return from a hiatus rooted in both a summer break, and my wife, Gem’s, slow recovery from severe sciatica, I’ve been reviewing some recent reading. Here’s a powerful paragraph highlighting the deep reality of grace at the root of our own spiritual transformation:
“…the observation has been made that most of us seem to assume that union with God is attained by laboriously ascending a ladder of virtues, which finally fashion our holiness and make us fit for him. In truth, the reverse is far more accurate: the great saints and mystics have been those who fully accepted God’s love for them. It is this which makes everything else possible. Our incredulity in the face of God’s immense love, and also self-hate or an unyielding sense of guilt, can be formidable obstacles to God’s love, and are often subtle and unrecognized forms of pride, in putting our ‘bad’ above his mercy.” (Thelma Hall, r.c. Too Deep For Words. New York: Paulist Press, 1988, p. 29.)
Seeing my own powerlessness in times of Gem’s overwhelming pain has reminded me that my life and my work are pure gift, received continually from the hand of a generous God. This is a reality I forget more often than I’d usually admit. In ways both subtle and overt, I try to earn God’s favor. But favor, by very definition, is unearnable.
Great spiritual transformation comes as the fruit of a man or woman who has radically and fully accepted the truth of God’s immense love for him or for her. Not “God loves me because…” or “God loves me if…” or “God will love me when…” but simply “God loves me…period.”
May you sense the Spirit of God pouring out His love into your heart in this good day He has made.
[...] Read more of this post at “Love as the Only Starting Point” [...]
“Love as the Only Starting Point” quote you used is very very powerful. I especially like your definition of Great Spiritual Transformation: “The fruit of a man or woman who has radically and fully accepted the truth of God’s immense love for him or her.” WOW – if I could only allow myself to be daily loved by Jesus – what would change in my fruit?
I have wrestled with the concept of what true “transformation” is for the past 8 years. I have come to the conclusion that I may not be able to always see it in myself. But the effects seem to draw others. I hear people say – “wow, that is something I want.” I reflect on what I have said and I discover I have only shared what God has done in and for me that day. Thank you for sharing because it encourages me to keep myself “immersed” in Jesus love moment by moment.
Thank you, Sheryl, for your response. I resonate with your conclusion that we rarely see the transformation that occurs in our own lives. (If we are confident in obvious changes, I wonder if it isn’t a bit too self-conscious). Amen to remaining immersed in Jesus.