Seeds & Organic Growth
Tuesday, July 24, 2007 -- Week of Proper 11
(Thomas a Kempis, priest 1471)
"Morning Reflections" is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.
Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117
An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this location -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html
Audio Podcasts of today's "Morning Reflection" and those from the past week are available from http://www.stpaulsfay.org/id244.html (go to St. Paul's Home Page stpaulsfay.org and click "Morning Reflection podcast")
Today's Readings for the Daily Office (p. 976)
Psalms 45 (morning) 47, 48 (evening)
1 Samuel 25:1-22
Acts 14:1-18
Mark 4:21-34
I am drawn to the image of the seed. It is first sown and then quietly, invisibly germinates. Eventually it sprouts, but you usually cannot tell what it will become. Then, with time, it begins to grow and become visible. Finally, it brings forth fruit. Mark combines that metaphor with the related image of the mustard seed, which is very small, yet produces a significant bush. (Though the description of large branches with birds' nests seems exaggerated.)
Most things in the spiritual life have such an organic nature about them. The same might be said for many other things that grow -- health, wisdom, children, even money.
When we begin to embrace the practices of spiritual life, we usually do so quietly, even invisibly. Usually not much happens at first. Spiritual practice needs to become grounded (pun intended). With regular attention to a practice, it begins to take root. The regularity is important. A friend of mine likes to say of prayer, "You've got to show up." The spiritual life needs regular sun and water, consistent care and exercise to begin to grow.
Eventually, a practice begins to have a more substantial reality. You don't have to struggle so much to show up. It comes out of the ground and begins to grow. But maybe you can't see what it is leading you into just yet. You just know that this prayer, this discipline is becoming habitual. It is something you can see is happening.
With time and faithful repetition, a habit grows in strength until eventually it becomes a virtue. The long, slow work begins to yield fruit. You become formed by the prayer or study, and it begins to nourish and enrichen your life. You find that you have new gifts to be of service to God and to God's creatures. You are able to give shade or nurture to others, sometimes so naturally that it is almost out of your own field of recognition. You've grown and become fruitful.
It takes patience and discipline to nurture such organic growth. Farmers are good models for us. For most of us, embracing spiritual disciplines like going to church, practicing some form of personal prayer, studying the scripture and spiritual traditions, or changing a bad personal habit is an organic process that takes time before it really blossoms in a way that is satisfying and apparent. It is easy to get discouraged and give up when the work is tedious and the rewards slow to manifest. Most good things in life are that way, however.
Lowell
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posted by Lowell @ 7:49 AM
5 comments
5 Comments:
Patience and discipline are not things that we in modern America are very good at. Thank you for the thoughts. As someone who has recently started a discipline, and sometimes wondered if it is doing any good, I appreciate the words of encouragement. I like the idea of "showing up." Even on a day when my head or heart is not in it, if I will just show up, I will at the very least be continuing to create a habit, and who knows, something wonderful may happen. Maybe today, maybe down the road.
I agree with Doug's generaliztion about our lack of patience and discipline. It behooves us to look to the underlying causes of these characteristics. I believe that patience and discipline flow from a spiritual life, but the spiritual life cannot really develop without patience and discipline to begin with. Modern life has so many pleasant distractions (the thorns that choke the seed) that children and young adults grow up with undisciplined minds. A recent attempt to introduce meditation at a public school was attacked by some as a bad thing. Prayer and meditation have to be taught to us, and then it is up to the individual to nourish the seed once planted. The schools, the television, the advertisers, the government are not going to do this instruction, and to my mind they are part of the cause of the problem. In my upbringing in the Episcopal Church, we did a poor job with this task. It always seemed that it was supposed to occur through osmosis.
The seed must first die, then growth occurs. For true spiritual growth, we must die to self.
To pewster, the topic of meditation would be the biggest concern. The school systems can't tell kids what to meditate on and therein lies the problem, the focus of the meditation.
In my Sunday School last week, we were talking about the pervasive presence of liturgy in human life, from football games to Rotary meetings. One teacher told how good teachers always begin their classes in some predictable way -- some liturgy of coming to attention and beginning to work together.
I have a friend who is promoting the use of silence as a way to begin class. She says it does wonders for grounding and preparing children to learn. She believes it is also preparing the soil for their spiritual growth.
I'm amazed at the patience and discipline I see in so many things. Watch a child playing a video game. See them learning to play a sport. We can do this with games; how do we help children develop other skills.
Doug should read the quotation from Laurence Freeman for this week. It talks about discipline. http://www.wccm.org/readlist.asp?lang=English
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