Every time you close another door–
be it the door of immediate satisfaction,
the door of distracting entertainment,
the door of busyness,
the door of guilt and worry,
or the door of self-rejection–
you commit yourself to go deeper into your heart and thus deeper into the heart of God.
This is a movement toward full incarnation.
It leads you to become what you already are–a child of God;
it lets you embody more and more the truth of your being;
it makes you claim the God
within you.
Have you ever read Joyce Rupp’s book, Open the Door? Has all sort of door imagery in it. I think I will take it with me on my silent retreat this weekend. Your comment reminded me of it. Thank you!
I pick out these quotes as much for me – what I need to be reminded of – as for my readers. You wrote about stop the pleasing – I know I often need to stop the busy work but your words of pleasing really jump out to me. mmmm, need to pray about that. Thank you for sharing!
You are such a good friend to always leave encouraging notes here. I need to close a few doors right now as March is such a busy month for me and i am having difficulty focusing. I know my silent retreat this coming weekend will help! Thank you always for your kind words, friendship and prayers
Powerful imagery. I see doors of temptation, enticingly cracked open, just begging a peek. But when I shut those doors, I am able to move deeper into the heart of God. WOW! Thank you, Jean for sharing yet another zinger-of-a-quote!
An excellent excerpt to give myself permission to just STOP… stop the busy work, stop the pleasing, stop the distractions from allowing myself to process and feel, stop trying to be something and just be me. Be blessed.
Thank you, dear Jean! Those doors have a tendency to swing open again so unnoticed!
Blessings
Mia