My heart is not proud, Lord, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. But I have calmed and quieted myself, I am like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child I am content. Israel, put your hope in the Lord both now and forevermore. Psalm 131
“Those who enter this contest must renounce all things, despise all things, deride all things, and shake off all things, that they may lay a firm foundation. A good foundation of three layers and three pillars is innocence, fasting, and temperance. Let all babes in Christ begin with these virtues, taking as their model the natural babes. For you never find in them anything sly or deceitful. They have no insatiate appetite, no insatiable stomach, no body on fire; but perhaps as they grow, in proportion as they take more food, their natural passions also increase.”
John Climacus (579-649) in The Ladder of Divine Ascent 1.10, translated by Archimandrite Lazarus Moore (Harper & Brothers, 1959) 3.
I’ve been praying the Psalms at the divine hours this Lent and Psalm 131 has touched me deeply. Then just yesterday I found a beautiful connection between this Psalm and the words of John Climacus in his classic work, The Ladder of Divine Ascent, which is basically an ancient book on Christian spiritual formation.
We must enter and run the race of the Christian faith with innocence, fasting, and temperance like a contented child. Think about it. A baby does not fret about things that only the mother can supply. Likewise we must not worry ourselves with things that only our Heavenly Father can sort for us.
Let us be contented people, who trust in the Lord and not in ourselves. Without such contented innocence, disciplined fasting, and holy temperance, we will certainly not exhibit Christian generosity. This Lent and beyond let us abandon pride and find hope that frees us to become content conduits of divine blessing.