November 19th 2024

Hi Friends, 

We read it on the first evening of a pastors’ retreat three weeks ago. There we were, in the magnificent setting of King’s Fold, having had a full day and very meaningful engagement with one another. To end the day, each day, we went through a reading and meditation exercise called “Compline” (from the Latin word for “complete” in reference to the completion of the waking day) which has a long history in Christian tradition. On that evening, we read these  words: 

“When we read the lives of the saints, we are struck by a certain large leisure which went hand in hand with remarkable effectiveness. They were never hurried; they did  comparatively few things, and these not necessarily striking or important; and they  

troubled very little about their influence. Yet they always seemed to hit the mark; their simplest actions had a distinction, an exquisiteness that suggest the artist. The reason is not so far to seek. Their sainthood lay in their habit of referring the smallest actions to God. They lived in God; they acted from a pure motive of love towards God. They were free from self-regard as from slavery to the good opinion of others. God saw and  God rewarded: what else did they need? They possessed God and possessed themselves in God. Hence the inalienable dignity of the meek, quiet figures that seem  to produce such marvellous effects with such humble materials.” (The Divine Hours [Volume Two]: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime: A Manual for Prayer; Tickle,  Phyllis) 

How do you decide which things to refer to God and which things to take on as your province? Why are you deciding that at all? As Paul wrote, “In him we live and move and have  our being.” If this is the case, is there any area of our lives where God is not concerned, over which he is not sovereign? If not, then it stands to reason that even the smallest things I face today are an opportunity to live by faith — referring these actions, these fears, these pains,  these interruptions, these opportunities to God. 

Is this not what it means to “live in God?” If Jesus’ words are to be counted upon: “I am with you always …”, then does it not make sense to ask him how to deal with this thing today?  Does it not follow that, since he is with me, I should rest in his competence to deal with this thing, with me, today? 

“Their sainthood lay in their habit of referring the smallest actions to God. … They possessed  God and possessed themselves in God.” “If God is for us, who can be against us?”  questioned Paul. If you have not yet found it to be so, you will find that you cannot live the  Christian life in your own strength. You can only “possess yourself in God.” 

May God give us the conviction of these things to the point that we actually choose to live this way, beginning today. 

Blessings! 

Doug