The way of resistance

I may have to change the tag line for this blog (again). "Random thoughts from beyond middle age - as I wonder/wander through life" just doesn't seem to fit anymore. I'd like to think I'm not really wandering. I feel like I'm developing a renewed sense of focus; intentionality. Dots are connecting and form is taking shape. I very much like it even though I can't yet put it into exact words. 

I began reading Henri Nouwen's 'The Way of The Heart: The Spirituality of the Desert Fathers and Mothers' this week. This will be one of those books I read again and again.

The prologue begins...

In twenty years we will celebrate the second millennium of the Christian Era [it was written in 1981]. But the question is: "Will there be anything to celebrate?" Many voices wonder if humanity can survive its own destructive powers. ... It seems that the darkness is thicker than ever, that the powers of evil are more blatantly visible than ever, and that the children of God are being tested more severely than ever..."

In this book, Nouwen has taken a look at the spirituality of the desert fathers and mothers in hopes of giving us a way forward. He posits three ways of "preventing the world from shaping us in its image and are thus the three ways to life in the Spirit." Those three ways are: solitude, silence, and prayer.

I intended to post my thoughts from the chapter on Solitude today, but instead would like to introduce the book as a whole and why I chose it.

No one likes when I get political - most of all me! And regardless of what people are saying about the results of the Iowa primary yesterday... I want to be clear that my resistance is not to don trump. It's much more than that and not at all personal. 

I'm not really even afraid, or concerned, about the term "evangelical" being emptied of its religious meaning and turned into a mere political descriptor.

Let's not forget "our struggle is not against flesh and blood..." Preventing the world from "shaping us in its image" has been a thing a lot longer than presidents of the United States have. Politics is necessary, but not all-consuming.

So, my focus on resistance - while it may include certain political candidates (and, really, ALL of them to some degree) - will hopefully not denigrate to name-calling and the like, but lean more toward The Way. The Way of Jesus; The Way of the Spirit; The Way of the Father. Not guided by resistance, but naturally resistant to the forces of evil and systems of injustice at work in the world... as I listen for and open my heart to the still small voice of Eternity.

Fair enough? Of course, those of you who know me know I will need boatloads of grace and I will totally get sidetracked a time or fourteen... It is what it is. But here we go!