In this book from which I am sharing this week with my CASA family, Maria and I ask the writers or pray-ers to share some of the thoughts behind their writing. Ken Sehested of North Carolina writes (and is quoted in the book before his words “Invitation to Spiritual Shoppers”):
Ken Sehested responds to a note from a parishioner about the hard first Christmas after the death of her husband. “It doesn’t surprise me at all that the holidays are tougher than you thought they would be. This is not at all uncommon when you’ve suffered such a loss. No doubt you already know this, but you should neither bless nor repress that ache. Just turn to it and say: ‘I see you there, Mr. Boogeyman. Stay as long as you like, but you’ll get neither a plate nor a bed here:’”
Invitation for Spiritual Shoppers:
Attention, spiritual shoppers. There are no discounts.
No sale prices. No fifty percent off summer specials,
no bonus miles, no pre-inventory clearance or back-to-school savings.
There are no shortcuts to faith, no money-back guarantees,
no lifetime warranties or last-minute deals.
Every minute is your last. There are no wading pools.
The depths are deep and turbulence is standard.
Where there is no vision, the people shall perish.
Where no wisdom, only sorrow and anguish.
But joy awaits every lover’s consent to be wed to Beloved’s intent.
Though failure is frequent, pardon is bountiful.
If you want a God-soaked life, move to the margins.
Plant sequoias. Find an eroded field and stake your soul on its reclamation.
Synchronize your hope to an abandoned child’s heartbeat.
Set your sights on the interest from millennial investments.
Say o’er the clamor of all merchandising madness:
Life is not had by what is possessed,
but only by what has been promised.
