from the pages of Patrick's
Personal Spiritual Journal
(un-retouched)
Eldridge says I must fight for my heart
That the Enemy primarily attacks my heart because he knows what it can do. The fight rages on My fatigue increases And giving up begins to look more appealing What is needed is still To slow To quiet To appreciate To enjoy If I can do these four things every moment of everyday, my soul will be saved But as soon as I stop, the tide begins pulling me away—out to the maddening sea, where eventually I will drown
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Fault-finding I am.
I love to place a good blame. As long as it’s not on myself. O Lord, where does that come from? Insecurity? Anger? A lack of love? I cannot hope to correct this It is too pervasive Too unconscious Set me free, O God, from laying blame. For everything from war to the driving of a car. My prayer for now is simply to become aware of this darkness And bring it into the light To slow long enough to notice what this tendency is doing to my heart and relationships Unreality is smothered in reality. What we experience as unreality—the
busyness of this life—is rife with reality—the presence of God in this world. They cannot be separated. We cannot truly escape unreality. The tabloids and strife of work will always be with us. We may attempt to limit the amount to which unreality flows into our lives, but it is never utterly turned off. Even if we escape to the remotest desert to pray and fast, unreality will find us because it always maintains an entrance into our consciousness in our own thoughts. Unreality’s yang and bane is always present in reality’s yin. However, even in the immersion of unreality, we cannot escape reality altogether. Indeed, thought of pain, love and loneliness will ever live with us. Reality and unreality have an adverse relationship—like quarrelling roommates. Blessed are the poor in spirit
Should poverty be a goal? Aren’t we to help the poor? Aren’t we to help them not be poor? And yet, somehow the poor are blessed. Poverty means forced humility. It means I must wait for food stamps. It means when someone gives me money it’s not a token gift. It means having to pray. It means I have a need to trust. When I am flat on my back, as the saying goes, I can only look up. As long as I have anything I can call my own I will resist dependence upon God. The more I have to my credit, the more I will trust my self. But in that place when I realize I have nothing-or that I at least recognize that I lack something, I will be more inclined to call out for help. And calling out for help not only to God, but to his people. A life lived independent of God and my fellow man is the road to hell in this life. Indeed, to need is a grace. |
Rev. RieckePatrick is Routine Revelation. These are entries from his personal spiritual journal. Most entries were written several years before they were published. For more on Rev. Riecke, click here. Archives
February 2018
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