Buechner: becoming human

Tuesday, September 1, 2009
    Commemoration of Giles of Provence, Hermit, c.710

Meditation:
    And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.
    —1 John 3:23,24 (NIV)

Quotation:
    To do for yourself the best that you have it in you to do—to grit your teeth and clench your fists in order to survive the world at its harshest and worst—is by that very act, to be unable to let something be done for you and in you that is more wonderful still. The trouble with steeling yourself against the harshness of reality is that the same steel that secures your life against being destroyed secures your life also against being opened up and transformed by the holy power that life itself comes from. You can even prevail on your own. But you cannot become human on your own.
    ... Frederick Buechner (b. 1926), The Sacred Journey, San Fransisco: Harper & Row, 1982, p. 46 (see the book)

Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, grant me a heart like Yours.
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