CowPi Journal

Karen at Raw Faith links to piece called Holy Indifference (see Chittister’s full article). I agree with this piece except for one line in the second-to-last paragraph:

Nothing lasts. No single thing can consume our entire life’s meaning. No single thing can give us total satisfaction. Nothing is worth everything: neither past, nor present nor future.

To borrow a line from Aristotle, God is the unmoved mover. He does not change. He does not move toward us. It is we who change (a necessary fact from living within Time). It is we who have to move toward God (with the help of the Holy Spirit of course).

It is in this changing, this moving toward God, that we pass through different phases. It is called growth. And as Scripture says, the branches need to be pruned in order for new growth to occur. It is through our struggles, usually painful to some degree, that the pruning occurs. (Sounds like the cup of sorrow and cup of joy.)

Nothing in these phases of life is permanent except God’s presence. And if we are to grow, we should not cling to these different phases of our lives. We must learn from them, apply it to the present as we hope for the future. I think this was the point of Chittister’s article. That is part, but not certainly all, of what detachment means.

Opportunity is missed by most people, because it’s dressed in overalls and looks like work.

— Thomas A. Edison

The honeymoon is over, definitely. It has been over for awhile. It just took for some time to past before I realized it, before I could label it. Now I can move beyond it.

If you have been married for over a year or two, you know what I mean. Maybe even if you have been in a long term relationship too, but that seems to lack a degree of commitment that marriage has. The first few months or so, you are all excited and giddy. Your heart flutters and your stomach has butterflies of excitement and anticipation. All you can think about, day and night, is your new love. You are in love. You are falling in love. Can you here the music playing in the background? How sweet…gag me 😉

That is the honeymoon period, where everything is sweet and wonderful and everything is right with the world. But, there comes a point in the relationship where that is not enough. The lovey dovey feelings run out of steam and the pressures of the external world start pushing inward on you. As the veil of infatuation lifts, you begin to notice that everything is not alright with the world. There are these little imperfections, inconsistencies, and paradoxes about your lover that you must learn to cope with if you are going to work at keeping the fires of your love alive.

When the honeymoon is over, the real love begins to build, the kind that will last a lifetime and beyond, through hard work and devotion (and help from the Holy Spirit). It is the day after day kind of faith that builds the real, true and lasting love. And that, in the end, is why it is worth it.

Oh Lord, I thank You for loving me.
I shall not cry out to You that I am not worthy
    because that You should love me,
    sinner that I am,
    is an act worthy of You
    who is Love itself.
Oh Lord, I thank You for loving me.

— Fr. Leo Clifford, attributed to an old French prayer

If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape 100 days of sorrow.

— Chinese proverb