Читать книгу Hear the Ancient Wisdom - Charles Ringma - Страница 35

January 28

A God Seeker

One cannot seek for what one does not know at all. One seeks for what one already knows. We thus seek the God we already know in some way.

Meister Eckhart makes the helpful point that having once tasted the goodness of God our appetite for God increases. He writes: with people seeking God “if they get no taste of divine sweetness, they drag; but if a man lies in wait until he does catch the taste of the divine, ever afterwards he is a glad seeker of God.”28

What needs to be noted is Eckhart’s emphasis on waiting and

seeking. This is insightful because we cannot orchestrate or demand the appearance of God. God is not at our beck and call. God comes in his own way and time.

Waiting and seeking not only point us in the direction of humility, but invite us on the pathways of contemplation. It is a walk of faith. It is prayer in darkness. It is seeing in anticipation. It is living in hope.

When the seeking heart finds, the seeking does not end. In fact, the opposite is the case. The search increases just as love may deepen when the beloved has been embraced. Once having tasted, the longing for more may become insatiable.

As a consequence, there is a certain restlessness about the Christian life. Having come home to the heart of God we seek to enter more fully into the purposes of God. Thus longing and journey are the hallmarks of the Christian way rather than rest and fulfillment.

Reflection

Having found we still seek. Such is the Christian journey.