John 21... a letter to a friend

A lot of the NewTestament is mail. I find the form very helpful and useful. It gives what we share a sharp focuss... love flowing to someone(s) in particular. Stepping back sometimes it also is clear that others might bennefit from reading someone elses mail...

Dear Friend,

You have written a lot here. It seems clearest to me to point us back to the scriptures. Let’s go back to John 21. Let’s separate out Peter’s journey from our own. There is an interesting sub-text here... The Apostle John also went fishing to be with Peter... For him the activity was part of the whole... His love for Peter and for God. For Peter it was a regression to what he knew verses what he was called to...

General principle: The spiritual life works in a meaningful opposite directions to human development. In human development we become more independent, resourced and less constrained by others. In spiritual development love constrains us to be more and more true... To God, Ourselves, and others... We willingly take on a life that itself is defined by love.

I do not know anyone who wanted to learn to live in God’s love that did not have seasons of wandering.
It is space to refocus and discover what really satisfies...

Jonah, Paul, Peter, Ruth... All were true to their passions and held them in tension with their relationship with God.

You can see this played out in a whole different vein in the life of Eric Little and rather well played out in the Movie, “Chariots of Fire”.
Bono, in U2, says that his lyric writing is based on striving for emotional honesty.

Now the Questions...
When you go to work... Can you invite God to go with you? Can you feel God’s pleasure? Try it even as you pursue your passions. Ask, Seek, Knock... Discover if the same creative Spirit that spurred George Washington Carver on in his work... Might do the same in you.

A suggested Spiritual Exercise:
In the morning say a short prayer inviting the Trinity: God, Jesus, and The Holy Spirit to go with you and to guide you in and through everything in your day. (All of life is a gift and is sacred... [also the Holy Spirit in both Hebrew and Greek is Feminine in gender as a word and in nature in terms of what the Spirit does.])

In the evening reflect on these two questions:
When did God seem most present to me today?
When did god seem most absent to me today?

Concluding thought... Life is organic and revelation unfolds over time. Like a plant feel for the sun while it is shinning and grow towards it.

Thank you for opening up this conversation. I hope and pray that these few words are of some use to you.

Servant One,
John TW
I Thessalonians 5:17-22