my morning reading

Got stuck on just a few paragraphs. So I will ponder them for awhile. I think it will mean different things to different people. I do not know what it means to me yet but it resonates with what I sense as mercy and meaning and hope.

Thomas Keating paraphrased
Here is what I read.

It is nice to know that we are not expected to succeed the first few times we try to see god, or our way, in the midst of difficulties from within and from without. We miss the first few times or more. When we start sinking, we call for help and god seems to moderate the intensity of the trial so that we can get a brief rest and try again. The "again" for the apostles was jesus' crucifixion and they all sank. Trials always LOOK like impossible situations. We try to accept them but things get to tough. Our faith and trust wither and we begin to sink. We call for help and again god rescues. There is a brief calm. If we continue the journey, the wind and waves start up again. Again we try to find god, to find reason, in the particular difficulty; again we start to drown; he pulls us out (again and again). This is the story of everyone's spiritual journey. The only mistake is to go down and stay down; to sink and not yell for help.

Little by little we are able to hear the still small voice in the difficulty. If we can find him there, we will never lose him. Without difficulties, we would not know the power of god's mercies and the incredible destiny he has for each of us. We must be patient with our failures. There is always another opportunity unless we go ashore and stay there. A No-risk situation is the biggest danger there is. To encounter the winds and the waves is not a sign of defeat. It is a training in the art of fully living, which is the strange art of yielding to god's action and believing in his love no matter what happens.

Taken from book, Awakenings.

Sure I've embedded iPhone one thumbed typos in the typing. I know.