Susan LaffertySeasoned servant. Leaving, after spending many years in the dark city by the river. Her parting advice to one of our colleagues is borne out of long experience in the spiritual battle.
Those insightful words reach my ears at a retreat in the Himalayas.
One phrase sticks in my heart. And comes to mind, from time to time.
“Do you want to seem holy? Or be holy?”
Jars filled with water. Outwardly common. Inwardly plain.
Others know what we’re made of. See the flaws. Rough edges. They remember the ordinary ways we walk and talk.
But we surrender. To the One who receives this offering.
Such as it is.
“What’s it like entering a new country and culture. How do you prepare?” Her questions take me back to the early days. Of crossing borders and dwelling in the land.
My reading the next day is Joshua 1-4. God’s people are leaving their wilderness wanderings and entering the promised land.
The context and purpose differs, but in the preparation of God’s people, I find strategic practices. For entering the land.
Whether that land is across the river, across the street or across the ocean.