Rainy Day Reading

We got some rain in the MetroPlex for the first time in a long time and I imagine it'll stick around today...that's the way it looks, anyway.

This put a mild damper on the traditional July 4th celebration stuff in my brain. Baseball games were delayed. Fireworks stuff got pushed back. Overcast just didn't seem right for a pool party, etc.

So, Tracy and I caught a movie and browsed at the mall. Then we ate out and watched a movie at home. Nice day, all in all. Not traditional in any manner...but nice.

And I read. I came across this little thought-provoker from Eugene Peterson. He's good at that, and in this case he's discussing the nature of the spiritual life and the importance of "rest"--and part of this rest includes the idea of "wonder."

On why our tribe tends to be poor at "rest" as we lack "wonder":

"Without wonder we approach life as a self-help project. We employ techniques; we analyze gifts and personalities; we set goals and assess progress. Spiritual formation is reduced to cosmetics.

Without wonder the motivational energies for living well get dominated by anxiety and guilt. Anxiety and guilt restrict; they close us in on ourselves; they isolate us in feelings of inadequacy or unworthiness; they reduce us to ourselves at our worst. Instead of being formed by the Spirit that hovered over the waters and raised Jesus from the dead, we are malformed into lives of moral workaholism or pious athleticism."

On how we try to "fix" our spiritual life:

"We have become consumers of packaged spiritualities...God is packaged as a product; God depersonalized and made available as a technique or a program. The Christian market in idols has never been more brisk or lucrative."

*pours cup of coffee & waits*