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Thoughts on why we should reflect on our spiritual journeys. . .

Appreciating God and Our Journeys

by Rev. Dr. Lee B. Spitzer

Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. 

From time to time, I've run across individuals who rebel against the notion that Christians should reflect upon their journeys and try to understand their dynamics more fully.  Endless Possibilities strikes them as too mysterious or difficult.  Sometimes, objections such as these mask spiritual laziness, an attitude of anti-intellectualism, or a fear of discovering journeys which will call the person into greater responsibility.   And sometimes, the resistance symbolizes an honest lack of understanding.   This article is dedicated to addressing this problem.

Why Should I Reflect on My Journeys?

There are many reasons for developing a regular habit of reflecting upon our spiritual journeys.  You might not resonate with every one of them, or you might know of others that are not on this list.   Why not share your perspective on the Journey Explorations Discussion web?

First, reflecting on our journeys is a pro-active approach to life.  Too many people live life in a reactive manner.  Our decisions are based not on fulfillling dreams, hopes and calls from God, but on reacting to events, crisis moments and pressures.  Journey reflections encourage us to see the big picture as we realize that each event is linked to others in recognizable ways.  What God said through Haggai to the post-exilic Jewish settlers applies equally well to us today: "Give careful thought to your ways" (Haggai 1:5, 1:7; see also 2:15).

Second, reflecting on our journeys permits us to ask big questions. The pathway to wisdom is through learning how to ask the right questions.  Abraham Joshua Heschel, in God in Search of Man, states this point so well:

Religion is an asnwer to man's ultimate questions.  The moment we become oblivious to ultimate questions, religion becomes irrelevant, and its crisis sets in. . . In the process of thinking, an answer without a question is devoid of life.

Heschel makes it clear that our spirituality can only deepen by promoting the "quest for forgotten questions":

Only those will apprehend religion who can probe its depth, who can combine intuition and love with the rigor of method, who are able to find categories that mix with the unalloyed and forge the imponderable into unique expression.  It is not enough to describe the given content of religious consciousness.  We have to press the religious consciousness with questions, compelling man to understand and unravel the meaning of what is taking place in his life as it stands at the divine horizon.  By penetrating the consciousness of the pious man, we may conceive the reality behind it."

Third, reflecting on our journeys enables us to discover the meaning of our lives. Heschel has already stated this in the previous quote, but I reiterate it because Endless Possibilities teaches that the meaning of our lives is related to us through the themes of our journeys.  If we know the themes that animate our lives, we see ourselves from a divine perspective.

Fourth, reflecting on our journeys encourages us to embrace God's will. Jesus declared, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work" (John 4:34).  Our goal in life is to be faithful to God's call.  God's call leads us to embrace God's will, which gains expression through our journeys.  Reflecting on our journeys promotes faithfulness.

Fifth, reflecting on our journeys elevates our appreciation of God.  As Jeremiah reflected on both his personal and Israel's corporate journeys, he wrote, "Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness" (Lam. 3:21-23).  God's presence manifests itself in an through our journeys, and to have a framework with which to appreciate that presence is quite helpful.  Any one who has ever walked through an art museum understands how knowing the historical and cultural context of an art work helps an observer to appreciate a painting's purpose, structure, message and beauty.   We worship God, because as the Lord of our journeys, he creates masterpieces!

Sixth, reflecting on our journeys reminds us that we do not journey alone. Our journeys are linked together with the journeys of others.    A deepening appreciation of God's design of our journeys inevitably leads to an appreciation of the role that others play in our lives - as well as the role that we play in the journeys of other people.  This mutuality of love and appreciation for one another is nicely reflected in this excerpt from Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians:

But Timothy has just now come to us from you and brought good news about your faith and love.  He has told us that you have pleasant memories of us and that you long to see us, just as we also long to see you.   Therefore, brothers, in all our distress and persecution were were encouraged about you because of your faith.  For now we really live, since you are standing firm in the Lord.  How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you?  (1 Thess. 3:6-9).

From Appreciation To Practice

Exploring our spiritual journeys is not merely some philosophical exercise.  We reflect in order to practice hesed - covenant faithfulness.  Understanding our journeys and their progress may not be "magic" (our understanding does not allow us to manipulate journeys according to our desires), but it is part of what the Bible calls wisdom - looking at life from God's perspective so that we might please God.  As we reflect on and then embrace our journeys, God's blessing will fall upon us:

Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.  (Psalm 84:5)

Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like the wise man who builds his house on the rock.  (Matthew 7:24)

We'd love to have your response to this article! 

To share your thoughts, join SJP's new web-based discussion forum - Journey Explorations. 

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