Rousing Up the Spirit
"'Tis hard for us to rouse our spirits up
It is the human creative agony,
Though but to hold the heart and empty cup,
Or tighten on the team the rigid rein.
Many will rather lie among the slain
Than creep through narrow ways the light to gain--
Than wake the will, and be born bitterly."
From Dairy of an Old Soul by George MacDonald
It has been 18 days since I last blogged. Having a hard time rousing up the spirit, MacDonald might say. I won't take you through the maudlin details, but good things must be about to break into the open because the inner battles have been steeply pitched. Dallas Willard says transformation of the heart is nigh unto mental breakdown as ruling ideas get changed, and I must say, there are times when a life of trying to seriously follow Jesus gets to feeling just like that.
That's one of the reasons I love this quote from MacDonald. It goes on...
"But we who would be born again indeed,
Must wake our souls unnumbered times a day..."
If I had to name one thing that surprised me about the spiritual life when I first came to take it seriously, I'd have to name the sheer tenacity of the "old man"--you know, the one we're supposed to take off, let die, bury big time. I think early on I thought that once a particular spiritual battle was done, it was done. But no, the call to discipline is constant, and one I too often ignore. I am amazed (foolishly) that as one door of temptation or trial closes, barely a breath goes by before the next one annnounces itself coming from a completely unexpected direction. Even as I've fought through this season of depression, still I find myself chuckling over the sheer tenacity of the Enemy. Talk about a losing cause.
...God give us the same tenacity for Good.
5:56:54 PM
