Recollection: Ushering Us into Stillness

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.” (Philippians 4:6 NASB)

Recollection is the gentle re-gathering of our thoughts and refocusing or our attention on the Lord’s reality in our lives. This inner reorientation does not happen by chance—it is intentional.

Such recollection is not the absence of craziness going on in our lives. It will never happen if we wait for all of our problems to first be resolved.

Rather, we learn to recollect ourselves in the midst of demands, frustrations, deep disappointments, and a plethora of life’s concerns. Recollection is the riveting of our focus on the Lord, his love and his provision—precisely in the midst of our anxieties. Recollection takes our anxieties and releases them to the Lord. “Be anxious for nothing,” we are commanded.

Stillness
As we consciously recollect ourselves on a regular basis, we will more and more often experience a phenomenal inner stillness.

That is what the next verse of Philippians 4 promises, “And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

The more we practice recollection the more we will encounter such stillness. We may not necessarily experience it all the time—and we cannot try to “work it up”—but we will experience God’s peace and stillness.

We cannot create that stillness; however, we can cultivate it. Just like the flowers in our back yard—I cannot create the blossoms, but I can cultivate the plants so that in due season they bloom. So also in my life, I can cultivate recollection and stillness. In time, that inner peace will blossom.

Inner stillness is an inner calmness. It is a place where we rest in God, “for in him is eternal stillness.” [1]

Inner stillness is like a garden in the midst of a hectic city. The summer I lived in Paris, I used to visit a number of little parks or gardens near the school where I was taking classes. Even though it was in the middle of a bustling city, there was calmness, focus, quietness—despite the din of traffic that surrounded that place.

So God offers us stillness in the midst of all our life’s challenges—if we will but enter that inner garden that he offers us.

[1] Johannes Tauler Predigten: Vollständige Ausgabe, edited by Georg Hofmann (Freiburg: Herder, 1961), p. 150.

© 2011 Glenn E. Myers

Recollection: Returning to the Inner Sanctuary

How often we as believers try to live out the Christian life pretty well on our own strength. We have a few moments with the Lord in the morning—reading a bit of Scripture and praying for the events of the day. Then, in effect, we leave God behind and do the best we can to handle what life throws at us for the next twelve hours.

Recollection
If I hope to walk in the peace that Jesus promises us as his followers, however, I need to periodically return my focus to him throughout the day. I need to recollect myself, gathering my scattered attention in order to attend to God’s presence. I need to re-connect myself with the Lord and the inner peace he offers.

Even in the midst of many things demanding my attention, I can gently shift my awareness on the Lord’s love for me—only if for a moment—renewing my connection with him while fulfilling all of my responsibilities.

“A practicing Christian must above all be one who practices the perpetual return of the soul into the inner sanctuary,” asserts Thomas Kelly. “There is a way of ordering our mental life on more than one level at once. On one level we may be thinking, discussing, seeing, calculating, meeting all the demands of external affairs. But deep within, behind the scenes, at a profounder level, we may also be in prayer and adoration, song and worship and a gentle receptiveness to divine breathings.”[1]

Timeouts
To aid my focus on the Lord throughout the day, it is helpful for me to take periodic breaks. These are seldom convenient. In fact, it is in the most hectic times that I need these respites the most.

That is how a “timeout” functions in sports. When the team is hard-pressed and harried is precisely when the coach calls the timeout. Ironically, we have the sense to institute timeouts in the games we play, but most of us fail to incorporate similar timeouts into the real world of our lives!

Radical believers who have gone before us have recognized the need for such times to pull back from the demands of the day. During the Middle Ages, many who wanted to live a genuine Christian life became monks and nuns. In the convent they followed the rhythm of ora et labora (prayer and work) established by Benedict of Nursia. Amid their manual labors, they would pull apart seven times each day (and once in the middle of the night) to go into the chapel to hear God’s Word and pray. That rhythm kept them from becoming consumed by the work at hand.

You and I can do something very similar. We have our own copies of the Bible today, so we don’t need to meet in one place to hear Scripture read. Instead we can pull apart at coffee break or lunchtime to read a Scripture passage. During nice weather we can take a walk by ourselves outside to talk with the Lord. We can stay seated at our desks and close our eyes for a few moments to review a Bible verse we have memorized.

Just like a timeout in the middle of a sports game gives the team a brief rest and refocuses their attention, so several brief times of recollection throughout the day help us tremendously to renew our attentiveness to the Lord. They help to center our minds and to restore peace in our hearts.

Recollection in Practice
For myself, I have found a combination of a couple timeouts during the day, along with a continual “return of the soul into the inner sanctuary” help me to recollect my inner self. When I do so, I find myself walking in peace during the most hectic of days.

As Isaiah 26:3 (KJV) promises:
“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.”
______
[1] Thomas R. Kelley, A Testament of Devotion (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1941, 1992), pp. 8-9.

© 2011 Glenn E. Myers

Passionately in Love with Jesus

So many believers have gone before us who were passionately in love with Jesus. Not only the martyrs of the early church, but throughout the Middle Ages, Reformation and beyond, a great cloud of witnesses has gone before us.

Let me name a few of the highest peaks along a mammoth mountain range of faith. These are men and women who served God in their generation and passionately loved the Lord with all their hearts:
- Irenaeus
- Origen
- Augustine of Hippo
- Pseudo-Dionysius
- Gregory the Great
- Anselm of Canterbury
- Bernard of Clairvaux
- Hildegard of Bingen
- Francis of Assisi
- Thomas Aquinas
- Bonaventure
- Albert the Great
- Meister Eckhart
- Dante Alighieri
- Hadewijch
- Mechthild of Magdeburg
- Gertrude the Great
- Johannes Tauler
- Jan van Ruysbroeck
- Richard Rolle
- Catherine of Sienna
- Julian of Norwich
- Teresa of Avila
- Thomas à Kempis
- Francis de Sales
- Blaise Pascal
- Desiderius Erasmus
- Martin Luther
- Johann Arndt
-Francois Fenelon
-Madame Guyon
- Jonathan Edwards
- John Wesley
- Søren Kierkegaard
-A. B. Simpson
-A. W. Tozer

Many of these in the Middle Ages were referred to as “mystics.” They had an intimate, inner faith and experienced the Lord in a personal way. We would simply call them passionate believers!

This blog is dedicated to introduce these believers to today’s Christians. It will take some years, but I hope to run a series of articles on each of these men and women.

Several recent books helping to bring these bygone saints alive to contemporary readers that I would highly recommend are:
- Streams of Living Water: Celebrating the Great Traditions of Christian Faith. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1998. ISBN: 0-06-062822-7.
- Foster, Richard and Gayle Beebe. Longing for God: Seven Paths of Christian Devotion. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2005. ISBN: 978-0-8308-3514-0.
- Jones, Cheslyn, Geoffrey Wainwright and Edward Yarnold, eds. The Study of Spirituality. New York, NY: Oxford, 1986. ISBN: 019-504170-4.
- Leng, Felicity. Invincible Spirits: A Thousand Years of Women's Spiritual Writings. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2007.
- Myers, Glenn E. Seeking Spiritual Intimacy: Journeying Deeper with Medieval Women of Faith. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2010. ISBN: 978-0-8308-3551-5.
- Sittser, Gerald. The Adventure: Putting Energy into your Walk with God. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1985. ISBN: 0-87784-335-X.

© 2011 Glenn E. Myers

Walking with God

Throughout Scripture, life with the Lord is frequently referred to as a “walk.” As such, our spiritual journey offers many twists and turns along the way.

Although we often assume we know what is ahead, our certainty is an illusion. Many unexpected bends in the road await us. Although we make plans—and need to do so in life—we must also negotiate the many modifications to our agendas that arise. Life is an adventure.

“The mind of a man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.”
(Proverbs 16:9 NASB)

In the midst of the uncertainty—the wilderness venture we call life—we can still move forward with confidence, however. Is it possible for us to wander off the path? Of course!

Yet God remains faithful. His love and provision are ever-present. If and when we veer off to the right or to the left, he promises to be the Teacher who comes along behind us to get us back on track. We will hear his voice gently saying, No, “this is the way; walk in it” (Isaiah 30:21).

Therefore we can embrace the path that we are on—as it winds and turns in unexpected directions—knowing that our God is in control. He will hold us, and he will guide us. Above all, as we stay close to him, he will love us along the way.

© 2011 Glenn E. Myers

Recollection: Bringing Focus to the Whole Day

“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.” (Isaiah 26:3 KJV)

How does my morning devotional time relate to my busy, hectic, ADHD day?

Whether we consciously articulate this question or not, it is one that so many of us have. Often we simply “recharge our batteries” during our quite time with the Lord, only to lose our focus an hour later as we become consumed by all the activity of the day. It seems like every day gets out of hand and we switch into “crisis mode,” losing any sense of focus and balance that we gained in solitude with God.

In John 16:33 Jesus tells us that as long as we are in this world, we will have tribulation. There will always be responsibilities and crises that stir anxiety inside of us. The issues is, how can we cultivate being “anxious for nothing” (Phil 4:6)? How can we bring our devotional time to bear on our daily lives of work, family, and responsibility? Here are a few thoughts.

Genuine Connection
The first thing I need to do is truly connect with the Lord at the start of the new day. Some days that happens quite spontaneously during my quiet time—I sense the Lord’s presence, and hear his voice speak to me in his Word.

Other mornings are not quite so easy, especially if I’m tired. Those days it is important to stir myself awake. Reading Psalms and singing several worship songs or hymns helps me to wake up and engage my heart with the Lord.

“Awake, harp and lyre!
I will awaken the dawn.
I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations;
I will sing of you among the peoples.” (Psalm 108:2-3)

The goal is coming into God’s holy presence. “The secret places of the heart cease to be our noisy workshop,” states Thomas Kelly in his little classic, A Testament of Devotion. “They become a holy sanctuary of adoration and of self-oblation, where we are kept in perfect peace, if our mind be stayed on Him who has found us in the inward springs of our life. And in brief intervals of overpowering visitation we are able to carry the sanctuary frame of mind out into the world, into its turmoil and its fitfulness.”[1]

Recollection
Entering God’s presence in the morning is not enough to live a truly God-controlled, God-saturated life. Rather, we need to return periodically to that inner sanctuary throughout the day. We need to re-collect our thoughts and our heart from all the distractions and worries of the day.

This practice of refocusing our heart and mind has classically been called “recollection.” We re-collect ourselves—gathering our scattered thoughts, focusing back on the Lord, re-connecting with his love for us, reminding ourselves that he is in absolute control.

In our multitasking world, recollection is not easy. Although the theory is simple enough to grasp, the practice of daily recollection is much more difficult for most of us. Virtually everything in our contemporary culture militates against maintaining focus. Images on TV come to us at a rate of about one per second. Advertisements clamor for our attention. Email, voicemail and snail mail demand that we respond before tomorrow.

Therefore, we must be intentional if we are going to maintain any type of connection with the Lord throughout the day. “How, then, shall we lay hold of that Life and Power, and live the life of prayer without ceasing?” asks Kelley. “By quiet, persistent practice in turning of all our being, day and night, in prayer and inward worship and surrender, toward Him who calls in the deeps of our souls. Mental habits of inward orientation must be established.” [2]

Persistent Practice of Turning
Periodically throughout the day, I am learning to turn away from all the bustle and demands around me in order to turn toward that inward sanctuary. I’m finding that morning and evening are not enough. If I am to maintain my inner peace with the Lord, I need to jump off the merry-go-round regularly throughout the day to reestablish my focus on the Lord, remind my consciousness of his control and reassure my heart of his absolute love for me.
_____
[1] Thomas R. Kelley, A Testament of Devotion (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1941, 1992), p. 4.
[2] Ibid. p. 11.

© 2011 Glenn E. Myers

Gathering My Scattered Thoughts

Gathering My Scattered Thoughts

Today, O Lord, please help me to gather my scattered thoughts.
Cause me to be centered in the midst of many responsibilities and relationships.

Empower me to step back from the tyranny of the urgent and the empty pursuit of busyness.
Enable me, O God, to re-collect my distracted heart.

Throughout the day let me focus my eyes and inner attentiveness on you.
May I abide in your life-giving nearness that surrounds me in creation and enfolds me in the people with whom you have graced my life.

Please bring wholeness to the fragmentation of my life.
Restore integration to the many activities and demands on my time.

May I be present to you, O Lord,
May I sense the firmness of your abiding love for me that never leaves me or forsakes me.
May I be aware of your sustaining strength that surrounds me in all that I do.

O Lord, help me to remain recollected as I go into the movement of this day.
As I engage with people and tasks, let a deeper level of my being remain ever attentive to you.

Amen.

© 2011 Glenn E. Myers

Augustine Explores the "Double Knowledge"

“Lord, let me know myself; let me know you.”
-Augustine of Hippo, Confessions

In his Confessions Augustine not only tells about the events of his life but he also explores his hidden motives and secret thoughts. His honesty and insight are remarkable! Nothing of its kind had been written before in all of literature, exposing the negatives of one’s inner life and then the transformation process after coming into relationship with the Triune God. In fact, nothing written ever since has matched Augustine’s openness and profundity.

Double Knowledge
Augustine prays, “Lord, let me know myself; let me know you.” This is referred to as the “double knowledge”—knowing the Lord and knowing ourselves. All of Christian growth is based on this double knowledge. John Calvin picks up on this theme in his Institutes and emphasizes it throughout his teaching.

Augustine realizes that he needed to know honestly—not in the superficial way of knowing ourselves that we speak of today that focuses on our abilities and ambitions. Rather, this church father realizes that he needs to understand himself honestly—with all his disordered desires, addictions and driven-ness.

In this brief prayer, Augustine implies: Lord, let me know myself in order that I might know you. The more we really face ourselves—our dark side, our selfishness, our twisted cravings—the more we come to know how much we need a deliverer. We not only need to “get saved” but we need redemption in the here and now. We desperately need to be transformed from the inside out, changing all of those distorted desires into pure, clean ones.

Self-Knowledge
Likewise, the more we come to know the Lord on a personal basis, the more we come to know ourselves. The closer we get to him, the more light shines on us. In the light of God’s truth we see on the one hand that there is more darkness and hidden sin inside us than we had ever imagined possible. Thus knowledge of us leads to knowledge of him leads back to knowledge of us.

On the other hand, we come to know just how valuable and precious we are in God’s sight! Despite all our darkness, God loves us with an everlasting love! If you and I truly understand the depths of our depravity, the thought of his loving us will blow our minds!

Moreover, we are created in his image. As the Triune God exists in three Persons, so we reflect that “threeness.” In particular, Augustine highlights the three main functions of the human soul: memory, understanding and desire. By “memory” he means not only our ability to remember but our consciousness, our personal history and even our personality. “Understanding” refers to our ability to think and reason. “Desire/will/love” is the driving force of our lives. What we desire—what we love and will to have—determines the direction of each day. How fearfully and wonderfully we are made!

Us Today
If you have never read the Confessions, you are missing one of the greatest writings in all of Christian literature. It is really worth your while! Although someone can describe it to you, that is not the same as seeing it for yourself. Reading the Confessions is a great way to grow in the double knowledge—getting to honestly know yourself and God. The process of such self-knowledge is more “caught” than “taught.”

No matter where each of us is in our knowledge of self and God, there is more to learn. God is unsearchable—we will get to know more and more of him throughout eternity and never scratch the surface! Created in God’s image, we also possess and unfathomable depth. There is more to learn of our need for redemption and more to learn of our value and preciousness in his sight.

“Lord, let me know myself; let me know you.” This is our prayer as we press on to grow in the Lord!

Further Reading
There are a great many translations of the Confessions available. Some of the free versions online are in older English and rather difficult for most modern readers to follow. One newer version that I would suggest is Saint Augustine, Confessions. Translated by Henry Chadwick. World Classics. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991.

2011 © Glenn E. Myers