News and a personal reflection

I think I've run out of interesting ways to say "Hello." Suggestions are welcome.

I got a letter in the mail yesterday telling me I have received a scholarship for one third of my tuition for all three years of my PhD research. This is very exciting because we're trying to pay for my education without selling our souls to the student loan sharks! I still have several other scholarships that I'm waiting to hear from as well.

I really feel at this moment that life is really good. All our needs are being met, my work is progressing, and I am aware of myself growing and changing in many different ways.

I'm reading a book at the moment that is causing me to do some serious reflection. It's called "The Inner Life" by Thomas a Kempis, a medieval writer. He says some things which are very hard. I was tempted at first to write it off as the kind of asceticism that is so prevalent in our stereotype of pre-Reformation Christianity, and while popular in many religions, has no basis in the Jewish and Christian scriptures, where God consistently affirms and celebrates the physical world in all of its pleasure and sensuality and power. However, I continued reading; and I'm beginning to wonder if I was misunderstanding his message. I'm just going to quote a few of the things that have made an impact on me and are causing me to reexamine my own "inner life":

"It is wise not to be over hasty in action, nor to cling stubbornly to our own opinions. ... Take counsel of a wise and conscientious man, and seek to be guided by one who is better than yourself, rather than to follow your own opinions."

"The eye is not filled with seeing, nor the ear with hearing."

"True peace of heart can only be found by resisting the passions, not by yielding to them."

"We could enjoy much peace if we did not busy ourselves with what other people say and do, for this is no concern of ours."

"Judge yourself, and beware of passing judgment on others."

"Keep yourself a stranger and pilgrim upon earth, to whom the affairs of the world are of no concern."

"Keep a clean conscience, and God will mightily defend you."

As I'm reading over it again to glean these quotes, I'm realizing that none of this is really earth-shattering advice; but for whatever reason his writing style is really grabbing me personally, maybe just because it's old and obscure, leaving it free from the misinterpretations of sentimental, entertainment-seeking church folk on the one hand and systematic theologians on the other that the Bible has undergone. (That's another topic though)

I've posted these quotes for the benefit of fellow Christians, but also for fellow, non-Christians, because much of the wisdom seems to be self-evident. Any reactions are welcome and appreciated, just post a comment.

I'll leave you with one last quote that has really affected me; my immediate thought upon reading it was "This is who I want to be!" My hope is that the person I am in the process of becoming will be of benefit to those around me, and ultimately be part of God's incarnational redemption of whatever corner of the universe I happen to inhabit...

"He who walks by an inner light, and is not unduly influenced by outward things, needs no special time or place for his prayers. For the man of inner life easily recollects himself, since he is never wholly immersed in outward affairs. Therefore his outward occupations and needful tasks do not distract him, and he adjusts himself to things as they come. The man whose inner life is well-ordered and disposed is not troubled by the strange and perverse ways of others; for a man is hindered and distracted by such things only so far as he allows himself to be concerned by them."

Until next time,

Chris