"You have to be mistrustful of any language when it's too much on one side or the other. You can't just endlessly wait; you finally also have to do. And then in the doing, the Lord either opens or closes doors; things either happen or they don't. You must be ready to go back to prayer. And if you act before pryerful surrender, the action will be fille with self, manipulation and frenzy. Contemplation and action are equally important in the balanced life. I don't know which comes first; they are two steps in the one essential dance."(R. Rohr "Radical Grace" p. 218)
I tend to be a doer. I get very fidgety when I don't have something to do. When my body forces me to slow down, I can't wait to get going again.
I also know that part of my maturation process has been to take time for quiet contemplation and prayer. By having that regularly scheduled time, I can clear the deck, and be much more open to new beginnings. In all the normal chaos of my day to day routine, priorities become easier to make.
If I spent all of my time just in prayer and contemplation, nothing would get done. And yet without that as a counterbalance to my usually going self, I would burn out or lash out, and neither of those would be pleasant.
So I guess I'll just keep dancing.
Blessings,
Ed
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