I was reflecting this morning on my own personal search for an authentic (Christian) spiritual life. I have come to appreciate the necessity of a positive “mind-set” that must support this journey. I have realized that I must nourish a spiritual attitude if I am to progress in my spiriual life. There are several quesitons that I have continually asked myself over the last few years:
- How do people feel when they are with me?
- Am I really present, to God, aware that He is living “in” me right now?
- What does my daily behavior say about the person that I really am?
I have discoverd that the answers to the questions, (if I am honest with myself) reveal a great deal about how I am progressing in my spiritual life. The answers reveal how well I know, love, and share my life with others and most importantly with Jesus.
I am convinced that my spiritual mind-set (my attitude) is the atmosphere in which my prayer life is discovered and developed. It is in this life of prayer that my search for an “authentic spiritual life” both begins and ends. My own search for a truly Christian spirituality did not start is some exciting or exotic place. It simply started and continues in my own heart.
The more that I discovered how to live an ordinary life the more at ease and open I was to experiencing God’s presence in every day and in every moment of my life. In this journey of finding my “true self” I found a better understanding of God, or in contrast the more I discover the “truth” of Jesus the more I discovered the “true me.”
How I approach life (my “spiritual attitude) determines to a great extent what I am able to both give and to receive. When I am able to let my defenses down and become vulnerable, ordinary, even transparent, then the Spirit of God, can both be received and can shine through my life.
So, this morning ask this question again; “Do people sense the Holy Spirit flowing through us when they are in our presence or are they crippled by our need to control, our pressure on them to love us in an unhealthy way, our failure to communicate? Are they overwhelmed by our unrelenting negativity?”
These are good questions to check our “spiritual mind-set.” The awareness of God’s Presence that is developed in prayer is not possible in our hearts, in our lives if we are filled with preoccupation with many things, or worry about our image or any number of other distractions.
The beauty of nature and the simple gifts that each day brings, the joy of each human encounter will go by unnoticed if our minds are elsewhere.
I am praying that today I will pay a little more attentions to my friends (Bishops that are with me today), go on a walk with one of them or just relax with a cup of coffee.
In all that must be done today I don’t want to miss the gifts of these moments. Over the last several weeks, I must admit, my mind was filled with worries, at times even unnecessary concerns. But this morning, in my own personal time, the Lord reminded me; A healthy spiritual attitude changes this, it softens the soul.
So Lord, I pray that you help me (and maybe others) to be more spiritually sensitive, thus helping us to better able to both receive and to share God’s love.
Blessings Q
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