We have gone through so many different transitions as a family over the last year and a half. I've often felt like a little row boat tied at the end of a dock with a huge storm bearing down. The wind rises and the waves crush. The rope is pulled and begins to unravel under the stress of the storm. The storm passes, the rope remains tied only to look to the horizon and see the clouds re-grouping again. It's easy to succumb to the weight of the differing storms of life and to be pulled from our moorings.
I often, during these times reflect and ask the question, "What does it look like for me to live a whole life, to be whole in the midst of this unraveling?" As I've asked this question on going for last fifteen years, I've been drawn to how the Christian monastic tradition, in particular the Benedictine tradition, chooses to answer it. Benedictine spirituality embraces a particular rhythm of life in responding to how to live.
Recently I've started reading Dennis Okholm's book titled "Monk Habits for Everyday People: Benedictine Spirituality for Protestants." It's a small book and an easy read, but not easy to digest what it haves to offer. The chapter titled "Why Benedictine Spirituality for Protestants?" begins with these words.
Richard Foster has said, "'The desperate need today is not for a greater number of intelligent people or gifted people, but for deep people.' In many respects we live shallow lives, easily entertained by celebrities, trivial pursuits, and consumer products. A deeply rooted spiritual life desired by many, but its cultivation seems to escape just as many. What does such a life look like?"
I long for a whole life, a deep life. One rooted and moored, bearing the storms of life but not unraveling. Often times it is not deep, but shallow. Often time I am wooed away by "trivial pursuits" and desperate measures, allured to build up my false self which is in love with what others think of me, being seen as intelligent and gifted.
I'm drawn to the Benedictine tradition and spirituality as it provides a means and way to stay deeply rooted as others have for hundreds of years. How do you stay rooted to your moorings? How do you cultivate your spiritual life? How do you stay whole as you face the daily realities of life?
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