a fuse burning toward dynamite

 In God in Search of Man, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote,

The Greeks learned in order to comprehend. The Hebrews learned in order to revere. The modern man learns in order to use.

No one will doubt that the quality of life in the modern world is of a higher standard than at any other time in history; yet, we are more riddled with anxiety, depression, narcissism, and fear than any generation in history. In all of our knowledge and utility, we have lost our hunger for wonder. Our desire for progress has hindered our capacity for glory. We have flattened the world, taken the telescope apart, forgotten how to reassemble it, and can no longer lift our eyes to the stars.

We need to reclaim wonder. We need to create space to encounter glory, but how can we do this? Fr Albert Haase records meeting a Native American Leader name Charlie, who shared with him a 4-step process for becoming aware of the glory of God that is all around us.

1-AWARENESS.

The first question God asks Adam and Eve after they have sinned in Genesis 3:9 is, "Where are you?" This is a question we all need to ask ourselves. We are often so distracted and pulled into the future or the past, that we are perpetually missing the moment. We must still our hearts and be where we actually are. Sometimes it helps to be concrete and specific.

"I am in my kitchen in New York sitting at a small table writing on a laptop. It is early morning. I am 46 years old. It's winter; the heater is on; my wife is here but my children are gone. This is my actual life."

Framing the experience lets you pay attention to what is happening in it. Much like art in a frame, framing moments lets you pay attention to the context and the details. Jim Elliot wrote, "Wherever you are, be all there. Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God."

2-ATTENDING.

What is actually happening around me? Charlie called this "feasting on the banquet of the present moment." What can you see, taste, touch, smell? How can you take it in and appreciate it? This can be a real discipline. We get so familiar with those around us that we can miss the changes happening before our eyes. With an 8-second attention span, our minds often race and miss what is in front of us. But if we are able to be present, something remarkable happens. We begin to observe the glory that is all around us. We see that God is in this place, but we didn’t know it.

Steinbeck wrote about how this kind of glory can emerge in a man's heart if he is paying attention. In East of Eden he wrote,

Sometimes a kind of glory lights up the mind of a man. It happens to nearly everyone. You can feel it growing or preparing like a fuse burning toward dynamite. It is a feeling in the stomach, a delight of the nerves, of the forearms. The skin tastes the air, and every deep-drawn breath is sweet. Its beginning has the pleasure of a great stretching yawn; it flashes in the brain and the whole world glows outside your eyes. A man may have lived all of his life in the gray, and the land and trees of him dark and somber. The events, even the important ones, may have trooped by faceless and pale. And then - the glory - so that a cricket song sweetens his ears, the smell of the earth rises chanting to his nose, and dappling light under a tree blesses his eyes. Then a man pours outward, a torrent of him, and yet he is not diminished. 

This is not comprehension. This is not utility. This is reverence. God will light the fuse that burns toward dynamite. Let’s not put it out with distraction and hurry.

3-ASSESSMENT. 

What does this teach me about God? It's remarkable how often we seek to escape our lives into ecstatic experiences when the voice of God is found most often in our daily experiences. The goal of faith is not to escape the mundane, but to encounter God in it.

Where has he been good to me? How is his mercy revealed at this time? How is his providence at work? How has he been shaping my heart? Who is he forming me into in this season?

4-ADORATION. 

What can I praise God for? How is this experience a launching pad for gratitude? How can I break an entitled spirit by not forgetting the Lord and all his benefits? Frank Laubach wrote, "The most important discovery of my whole life is that one can take a little rough cabin and transform it into a palace just by flooding it with thoughts of God."

Flooding our lives with thoughts of God. Thoughts of gratitude, thoughts of grace, thoughts of worship. That is what transforms the mundane into glory.

Steinbeck goes on to say,

And I guess a man's importance in the world can be measured by the quality and number of his glories. 

Measuring life by glory. Measuring importance by encounter. Refusing the metrics of accomplishment, fame, recognition, or wealth.

Why don’t you take a moment even now and walk through these 4 steps?

God may be lighting the fuse toward dynamite, even while you read.

Cheers.

Jon.

P.S. If you want to read further on how to resist distraction and learn to be present, I have a whole chapter on this in The Burden is Light.