I have been thinking about walls. I woke up today dreaming of one in particular. I was going around and around and around it, looking for the gate in, because inside was the "interior cloister." But somehow the gate was hidden. My first thought was "oh no... am I outside the will of God?!" I really didn't think so. Not in the sense of serious sin, anyway.
But then I thought of what it truly means to be a cloistered heart.
"The word cloister speaks of total consecration..." I wrote some years ago. "Compromise does not fit well in a cloister, nor does lukewarmness, nor does complacency. The cloistered life is absolute."
Compromise. Lukewarmness. Complacency. Have these crept into my life? After all, I live in the world. I interact with it daily. And "the world is persistent in its tugs on the heart trying to live for God..."
Being one who is called by God to live in the world, am I ever at risk of becoming too attached to the multitude of distractions it offers? As I spend time with others, when I look at a newspaper or movie or TV, am I in danger of being infected by attitudes that are in actual conflict with the will of God? These are, of course, rhetorical questions. I think we know the answers all too well.
Over the next few days, I would like to look at some of the things that can wall us off from growing closer to God. More importantly, I hope to find the way to get through those barriers. I know "walls" have been a theme here for the last week or two. That was unintentional on my part.
I'm beginning to think it may not have been unintentional on God's.
"The Good Lord willing and Internet connections don't fail," I'll see you back here tomorrow. No matter where we are on the journey, we can have stronger faith, deeper prayer, more zealous love, greater virtue, higher joy. With such blessings as these available, why would we want to spend one more minute lazing around in the tepid waters of lukewarm faith?
God is calling each one of us into the FULLNESS of His love.
Let's go in.
"Ask, and you will receive. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened to you. For the one who asks, receives. The one who seeks, finds. The one who knocks, enters..." (Mathew 7:7-8)
Painting: Karl Julius von Leypold, Wanderer im Sturm
This is part of a 'mini'-series' of posts on walls. To continue in chronological order, click this line.
