Under the Circumstances

The desert has a way of quieting my soul like nothing else I have found.

Perhaps it is that the desert is too vast and lonely for anything but prayerful reflection: The nearly hostile emptiness, and the impressive resilience of it is exactly what I need to feel a renewed sense of invitation unto God once I have lost it elsewhere, in the routine of daily distractions. There is truly nothing out there that might lend itself to the soul of a man except God Himself.

It is ironic to me though, that I find any solace in the desert: I live in a society which is so intricately designed to sustain, comfort, and please me; yet it is in a place so contrary to life that I find myself up against the odd suggestion that I am nearing the best experience of it.

It makes no sense at all unless I have first acknowledged that God Himself is what I need, more than any other amenity or prospect. So it is that where I find myself feeling nearest to God, I feel I am where I need to be.

There is a problem with this though: I obviously cannot spend my life alone in the desert - or at least, this would not be a very meaningful Christian life. I have to exist, generally, in the hustle and bustle of society in order to be a reasonably happy and fulfilled person.

What I am finding to be true is that it is possible for me to have the best of both worlds:

The real joy of being alone with God is how easy it is, there, to live in response to Him. What we are in response to God is usually a great thing - it is everything else we respond to that makes us into monsters: traffic, bills, work stress, time schedules, routines, chores, and so on.

I think we generally "are what we are" in response to something else: We generally live "under the circumstances."

What I am finding to be true is that there is an alternative to this, which is living in response to God rather than in response to other people, circumstances, mere emotions, etc., as a regular practice.

The mechanism of isolation is sometimes helpful because it removes just about everything you might respond to other than God, but there is a real joy in discovering that isolation is not necessary for being able to respond to God all of the time.

We have this other asset - The Holy Spirit, who enables us, through a cultivated relationship, to live in response to God throughout our every daily experience.

I have been experimenting with this, and it works wonders:

For a week or so now, when something has been irritating me, or when stress is getting to me, when or I am just really not enjoying a conversation that I am in, I have made it a practice to think "I will respond to the Lord right now, and not to this circumstance."

Suddenly, I find myself completely able to behave appropriately, to be generally happy, and to be truly indifferent to negativity. I am not sure how this works except to say that by the mere suggestion that the Lord is with me, I find myself able to live in response to Him and not to what is around me.

I have heard another Christian explain this as "practicing the presence of Christ," which also emphasizes the promise of Jesus: "Behold I am with you always."