Sometimes I dream of joining a monastery or an ashram so that I can completely immerse myself into my spiritual depths without the frustrations of everyday living. A friend once described herself as a "reluctant householder," and though I chuckled at the term at the time, I now have a deeper appreciation for what she meant.
Our spiritual lives lie along a continuum between the potentially uninspiring life of a householder and the fully enlightened being. It is possible to be in "a state of grace" anywhere along that continuum--even the householder has it's times of sacredness. It is equally as possible to feel as though we are out of contact with the divine. We move back and forth along the continuum, sometimes experiencing a deep relationship with the sacred sometimes not. Sometimes we are very aware of our connection with the spirit, sometimes totally oblivious. And I am sure that even in a state of "perfect" grace struggles abound.
We are always on that continuum. The challenge is to know it--to know where we are and to revel in the wonder of wherever we find ourselves--knowing that our divinity follows us everywhere.
The trouble is that life seems to intervene and that the many distractions of our busy lives divert us from making connections with whatever we deem sacred. Unless we abandon all the wonderful things that society and technology have to offer, we we must live with these distractions. As a result we must occasionally distract ourselves from our everyday efforts and ask "am I in a state of grace?"
And you know? When you stop long enough to ask that question, the answer will always be "yes."
Our spiritual lives lie along a continuum between the potentially uninspiring life of a householder and the fully enlightened being. It is possible to be in "a state of grace" anywhere along that continuum--even the householder has it's times of sacredness. It is equally as possible to feel as though we are out of contact with the divine. We move back and forth along the continuum, sometimes experiencing a deep relationship with the sacred sometimes not. Sometimes we are very aware of our connection with the spirit, sometimes totally oblivious. And I am sure that even in a state of "perfect" grace struggles abound.
We are always on that continuum. The challenge is to know it--to know where we are and to revel in the wonder of wherever we find ourselves--knowing that our divinity follows us everywhere.
The trouble is that life seems to intervene and that the many distractions of our busy lives divert us from making connections with whatever we deem sacred. Unless we abandon all the wonderful things that society and technology have to offer, we we must live with these distractions. As a result we must occasionally distract ourselves from our everyday efforts and ask "am I in a state of grace?"
And you know? When you stop long enough to ask that question, the answer will always be "yes."
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