How an ordinary person awakens to life as prayer. Continued from yesterday . . .

As I looked out beyond the tiny part of the world I was feverishly trying to manage, I saw a world entering a season that was shaping up to be, by all accounts, a period of extreme testing. Around me I saw no shortage of leaders willing and eager to champion great visions and projects and plans—skilled politicians, scientists, activists, and managers, even religious leaders, with plans to guard us from suffering and build for us a future. But there were few I would call wise, few who could be called “great souls.” And those who were, were strange to the eye, formed more by an ancient and durable tradition than by the vicissitudes of a world in transition. They were not enamored with the popular and intoxicated by the latest trend. They were not dazzling experts, effective and efficient by modern standards. In fact, they seemed unmoved by such things. It’s not that they were ignorant of the world around them. On the contrary, they seemed to be the best observers of the world, deeply immersed in ordinary life. They were simply anchored firmly in an alternative reality. And when they spoke, theirs was a voice of wisdom that came from the edge—that is, they spoke for God and lived a life of hope from the margins of society.

“Find them,” the Light whispered. “Learn from them.”

So, granted a sabbatical by my congregation, and given the freedom by my generous family who knew how badly I needed it, I turned my back on what had become of me and set out to become wise.

From my ebook, Returning to the Center: Living Prayer in a Distracting World---The Spiritual Memoir of a Twenty-First Century Christian. Download it here free.

More tomorrow . . .