Mission
Yesterday (Friday) I finished reading, a second time, a book that I really enjoy about writing. Anne Lamott is the author of Bird by Bird. One of the things that strikes me is how much you have to invest of yourself if you want to be a great writer - aclaimed by readers and loved by publishers.
Before that I read a book by N. T. Wright called On Earth as in Heaven which has as its theme the kingdom of God and the centrality of Resurrection. Again, I was struck by the attention and dedication that a focus like that calls for.
And yesterday I was looking through my Kindle books to find another book. Dark Night of the Soul by John of the Cross (1584-86), a book which was a gift from a friend and I read in the 90s. John of the Cross spent his life thinking, writing, and teaching about what is necessary to empty one's soul of things of the world to make room for the filling of the soul with God.
I am also struck by how much we humans fight against the focus to which we are called by Christ. What we do is more often tokenism rather than the emptying of the self as Jesus did.