Mike Paschall . com

This is one good thing that silence and waiting has taught me: our lives are always useable by God. We need not always be effective, but only transparent and vulnerable. Then we are instruments, no matter what we do. Silence is the ability to trust that God is acting, teaching, and using me—even before I perform or after my seeming failures. Silence is the necessary space around things that allows them to develop and flourish without my pushing.

God takes it from there, and there is not much point in comparing who is better, right, higher, lower, or supposedly saved. We are all partial images slowly coming into focus, as long as we allow and filter the Light and Love of God, which longs to shine through us—as us!

+Adapted from Contemplation in Action, by Richard Rohr OFM

Truly beautiful stuff here! Those words, “…without my pushing,” pretty much summarize the whole notion of Jesus’ words: “the kingdom suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.” We struggle with taking our hands off of what we want, think, or certainly know. We probably need more silence… more listening… less talking… less stubborn demanding and insistence that we know better. I know that is definitely true for myself! —MDP