Absurd Living
I was reading the book “Spiritual Direction: Wisdom for the Long Walk of Faith” which was compiled posthumously from classes and lectures given by Henri Nouwen. He points out early in the book that “the word absurd includes the word sardus which means ‘deaf.’” Absurd living is living from within ourselves, deaf to the voice of God’s Spirit. Some of us react from our gut, some of us are driven by emotions, some of us actually think and use our mind to guide our actions. It doesn’t really matter which part of us ultimately controls our actions – if we aren’t Spirit controlled we are living “absurd” lives.
So often when I ask people how they are doing with God they reply apologetically, “I’m just so busy, I can’t fit Him in my schedule,” and they proceed to give me their daily schedule. They are right, ours is the age of the hectic. I know it is so hard to keep our hearts and minds on God. To live in His presence throughout the day is a challenge. There are so many activities, so many issues that crowd our mind, distracting our focus; so much preoccupies the space ‘within.’ It is hard for us to hear God because most of us don’t have a lot of ‘sheer silence’ in which to hear Him, so we operate absolutely deaf.
Two sayings came to my attention in the space of a few minutes this week. The first was, “If the devil can’t make you bad, he makes you busy.” The next was “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.” Two extremes – two paths leading to the same end – life lived without God.
Nouwen goes on to point out that obedience includes the word ‘audire’ which means ‘listening.’ Lately I have been amazed at the number of times the Bible speaks of the “eyes and ears of our heart.” It refers to having eyes but not seeing and ears but not hearing. I have been asking God to develop my eyes to see and my ears to hear His voice. Obeying a God who is Love is freeing. I don’t want to be so busy that I can’t hear His voice. He is the reason I live. He is my number one priority. I don’t want to live an absurd life.
Living and Listening
