Finding Your Life's True Direction

Finding Your Life's True Direction

Ever read a book that is so insightful and brilliantly written that it makes your mouth drop open with every page? I felt  that way about the Anais Nin Diaries, and, I should say I feel that way about the Bible in a broad sense. And Rilke’s Book of Hours slays me. Oh, and Madeleine L’Engle’s Walking on Water. Well, now there’s another, My Bright Abyss, by Christian Wiman. It is poetic prose, sub-titled, Meditation of a Modern Believer. This book makes me think, makes me feel, makes me want to write.

I looked him up. He is a poet. Has taught at Stanford; has many more books which I will check out. As I was reading about Wiman, I came across this:  

In a 2009 interview with Bookslut editor Jessa Crispin, discussing what he hopes readers might take from his work, Wiman stated, “I have no illusions about adding to sophisticated theological thinking. But I think there are a ton of people out there who are what you might call unbelieving believers, people whose consciousness is completely modern and yet who have this strong spiritual hunger in them. I would like to say something helpful to those people.”

Reminds me of the verse in Mark’s Gospel, chapter 9, verse 24: “I believe; help Thou my unbelief.”

So, I’ll share a poem with you by Wiman, the lines that preface the book:

My God my bright abyss

into which all my lining will not go

once more I come to the edge of all I know

and believing nothing believe in this:

Every time I read those lines, I find another nuance. So I read on. Check this out: 

 “There is nothing more difficult to outgrow than anxieties that have become useful to us [  ] as explanations for a life that never quite finds its true force or direction [ ].”  (p 10) 

 Seems like most days I am in conversations about how to live a life that “finds its true force.” You know, that feeling that you’re on the planet for a reason which only you can quite fill? And the subsequent feeling that you’re not quite filling it?

Belief and unbelief go hand in hand when it comes to living your life's purpose, too. 

I don’t guess I’d ever thought of the way anxieties are the excuse for not “making it.” Anxiety is easily cloaked, buried even deeper than the infamous “fear of failure/fear of success” syndrome.  Anxiety over bills, anxiety over rejection, anxiety over anxiety.

Which reminds me, I left a great book off the “wow” list:  The War of Art, by Steven Pressfield. Same idea about finding your true direction and the myriad ways we resist finding it.

Just some thoughts. 

Hope you enjoy.   

Worship Write!

Welcome to our new blog!
I say "our" because it is not MY blog, it is for you, too. I hope to share in some meaningful dialogue about worship, writing, and all things rightly related to them. There is a beautiful phrase in Christian liturgy, "It is right to give our thanks and praise," and "worship write" intends to play on that idea.

Please join this blog, and join the conversation.
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Just click on "comment" at the bottom of a post to share your thoughts and see other comments.

Let's have fun thinking some meaningful things through together.
Write on!

"My heart overflows with a goodly theme; 
I address my verses to the king; 
my tongue is like the pen of a ready scribe."
Psalm 45:1

Why Worship?

I've been thinking about worship a lot lately, why I worship, why people worship, why it matters. The answers seem obvious until you really turn your attention to it and search for honest answers. The best place to do this is, of course, at church. Just pay attention with a little more light on the subject. You might be surprised what you see, or feel.

Church is an eternal action. I take it very seriously. It is, for me, the most important thing I do every week, and I can't exactly explain why; and if I could, it wouldn't be the magnificent mystery that it is. I know that God is with me everywhere all the time. I rejoice in the Lord always and pray without ceasing. But no matter what is going on in life, what mood, what anything, I sense God in a unique way when I worship with the church. I don't always leave "feeling better," I don't leave with all my problems solved, but I always leave knowing that it was "right to give our thanks and praise."

I discovered a theologian, Marva Dawn, a couple of years ago, and she inspired me to think the church thing through in a new light. I should be more specific. It's the music. Worship through music. Why is such a natural and beautiful gift from God such a controversial thing, when it is so easy to simply give that gift right back to God with hearts full of praise? How hard can it be? But "worship wars" have been part of church angst since Gregorian Chant.

I like this that Marva says: "Instead of asking what kind of music will appeal to the world around us, we must ask, What will enable us most deeply to dwell in God's Word? What will best express that Word? How will the Word's beauty and mystery, its infinity and generosity be best conveyed?"

Good questions, Marva.
I find that the more I "dwell in God's Word" the more I long to worship and the less I care about all those things people bicker about.

I will sing to the LORD, because he has dealt bountifully with me. - Psalm 13:6