Meditations

But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Matthew 6:33

“You have given me peace, and I am beginning to see what it is all about. I am beginning to understand. Because You have called me here not to wear a label by which I can recognize myself and place myself in some kind of a category. You do not want me to be thinking about what I am, but about what You are. Or rather, You do not even want me to be thinking about anything much: for You would raise me above the level of thought. And if I am always trying to figure out what I am and where I am and why I am, how will that work be done?”

Thomas Merton (1915-1968) in The Seven Storey Mountain (New York: Image, 1970) 509-510.

Our fishing retreat in Outer Mongolia was a rigorous experience. We caught lenok (Siberian trout) and enjoyed good fellowship. When you take a long trip you not only learn new things about yourself, but you learn about who you are and why you are even here to begin with, or why any of us are here for that matter.

In the latter part of our journey, my son, Sammy, and I realized that it has not been about us and never has been about us, but it’s all about God. This gives us a secret, a clue to the generous life. Focus on God, align with His reign and right ways, and everything else takes care of itself.

In that sense, we don’t have to strive, wear labels, advance ourselves or worry about all the trivial matters the world fusses over. And we don’t even have to try to be generous. We have to try to get out of the way so God’s generosity is revealed through us.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:8-10

“What is “grace”? It is God’s own life, shared by us. God’s life is love. Deus caritas est. By grace we are able to share in the infinitely selfless love of Him Who is such pure actuality that He needs nothing and therefore cannot conceivably exploit anything for selfish ends. Indeed, outside of Him there is nothing, and whatever exists exists by His free gift of its being, so that one of the notions that is absolutely contradictory to the perfection of God is selfishness. It is metaphysically impossible for God to be selfish, because the existence of everything that is depends on His gift, depends on His unselfishness.”

Thomas Merton (1915-1968) in The Seven Storey Mountain (New York: Image, 1970) 207-208.

This trip is a gift of grace from God to my son, Sammy, and me. We get to be gifts for others because of His gift, His grace toward us. It’s our privilege to guide for the group.

Generosity is not about getting money in order to give it. It’s about realizing we are undeserving of love and getting lavished with it by grace in order to dispense it. My hope is that Sammy and I return to the States changed in order to do the good works God has prepared in advance for us.

What about you? I have invited you on this “Seven Storey Mountain” journey with us not for the scenery but to expose selfishness for what it is, contradictory to the perfection and maturity God desires for us. Sometimes we have to step away from the norm to see it.

Take five minutes. Revel in the “infinitely selfless love” of God. In this world filled with exploitation, lavish it on someone generously to give them life today.

Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Matthew 5:48

“There is only one vocation. Whether you teach or live in the cloister or nurse the sick, whether you are in religion or out of it, married or single, no matter who you are or what you are, you are called to the summit of perfection: you are called to a deep interior life perhaps even to mystical prayer, and to pass the fruits of your contemplation on to others. And if you cannot do so by word, then by example. Yet if this sublime fire of infused love burns in your soul, it will inevitably send forth throughout the Church and the world an influence more tremendous than could be estimated by the radius reached by words or by example.”

Thomas Merton (1915-1968) in The Seven Storey Mountain (New York: Image, 1970) 507.

We have reached the summit of our international journey, so this statement is fitting for today as we are on retreat and fly fishing in a remote part of Outer Mongolia. Tomorrow we will begin our long trek home. We aren’t scheduled to get back until next Tuesday, but we will head in that direction.

Life is about heading in a direction. Jesus charged everyone toward perfection long before Merton. Perfection in the biblical sense is all about pressing toward maturity. Undoubted on our journey, God has been trying to teach us things, to perfect us. What will we learn? We don’t know but we resolve to be attentive learners.

Want to see generosity through the Church that influences the world far beyond what words can describe? I do. Then let’s not just trek toward perfection. Invite others to join us on the journey. As we mature and grow, God has plans for us to do that we cannot comprehend.

The coolest part of this journey is we don’t have to “do” anything. God wants us to “be” perfect. In short, when we align ourselves with every aspect of His design for life, all heaven will break loose and nothing can contain the power of God’s love at work in and through us.

But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin. 1 John 1:7

“In one sense we are always traveling, and traveling as if we did not know where we were going. In another sense we have already arrived. We cannot arrive at the perfect possession of God in this life, and that is why we are traveling and in darkness. But we already possess Him by grace, and therefore in that sense we have arrived and are dwelling in the light. But oh! How far have I to go to find You in Whom I have already arrived!”

Thomas Merton (1915-1968) in The Seven Storey Mountain (New York: Image, 1970) 507-508.

In our proverbial “Seven Storey Mountain” journey, my son, Sammy, and I have traveled to one of the more remote parts of the earth for a retreat and fly fishing together with six Christian brothers. We get to guide for the group. Join us in asking God for favor as we go after lenok, amur grayling, and taimen.

I am typing this in Tsetserleg, Mongolia. It was an long trek out here which included a Mongolian Camel ride (hence the new header photo). We will be fly fishing and staying in a “ger” (also known as a “yurt”) four hours north of here. More amazing than the scenery and the experience has been the fellowship with the saints on the journey.

And I am confident we have arrived not because of what some map or GPS says, but because we possess God by grace. We have taken hold of life in Him. There is however that sense that we never arrive, this side of heaven, because as we walk in the light, it reveals our sin. Thankfully the blood of Jesus purifies us from all we confess to Him.

As we spend time with the Lord today we invite you to join us. Not physically of course, but get alone. Ask God to shine the light of Christ on you. Let Him penetrate every corner of your heart, soul, and mind. Whatever the light shines on that is not Him, clean it out. Confess any sin or idols you possess and ask Him to fill you with the fulness of His love.

Do this and you cannot help be generous because no human can contain the matchless goodness of God!

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Philippians 4:6

“It is a kind of pride to insist that none of our prayers should ever be petitions for our own needs: for this is only another subtle way of trying to put ourselves on the same plane as God – acting as if we had no needs, as if we were not creatures, not dependent on Him and dependent, by His will, on material things, too.”

Thomas Merton (1915-1968) in The Seven Storey Mountain (New York: Image, 1970) 300.

My son, Sammy, and I feel the collective support of about 50 people who sent us on this journey through their financial support and many more who uplift us in prayer. We feel the matchless love of God surrounding us as we are totally dependent on Him each step of the way. It fills us with peace.

Sadly, many people, often wealthy folks, have not taken hold of this peace because they are too proud to depend on Him for anything. They try to sort life “on the same plane as God” acting as though they have no needs. We have learned that when Christ is all we have, He’s all we’ve ever needed all along.

Right now, should all go according to schedule, we will head about as far away from home as ever, in just about the most remote place Sammy and I have ever traveled. We will retreat for a couple days in a “ger,” also known as a “yurt,” spending time with brothers in Christ and enjoying the creation of the Father. Sammy and I get to help everyone catch trout on fly rods.

We will go after three species in the trout family: lenok, taimen, and amur grayling. Would you pray with us, specifically for a great catch, an unforgettable outing like the “153 fish” day recounted in John 21:11. Should God grant us this petition and provide, we will make a video to share with you and the world to celebrate God’s extravagance and generosity.

For they loved human praise more than praise from God. John 12:43

“The logic of worldly success rests on a fallacy: the strange error that our perfection depends on the thoughts and opinions and applause of other men! A weird life it is, indeed, to be living always in somebody else’s imagination, as if that were the only place in which one could at last become real!”

Thomas Merton (1915-1968) in The Seven Storey Mountain (New York: Image, 1970) 400.

My son, Sammy, and I got to climb the Great Wall yesterday, making some unforgettable memories with some great people! The trek and the views were breathtaking. I hope you are enjoying the insights from The Seven Storey Mountain along the way. They pertain to life and what we live for.

For the applause of whom do you live? Some live for praise from their spouse. Others do it for their parents or children. The famous tend to live for praise from the crowds. A few, however, live for God. The only way to grasp the generous life is live for the One who gave you life as a gift to be enjoyed and shared.

Love not the world neither the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, the charity of the Father is not in him. 1 John 2:15

“That is to say, all men who live only according to the five senses, and seek nothing beyond the gratification of their natural appetites for pleasure and reputation and power, cut themselves off from charity which is the principle of all spiritual vitality and happiness because it alone saves us from the barren wilderness of abominable selfishness.

It is true that the materialistic society, the so-called culture that has evolved under the tender mercies of capitalism, has produced what seems to be the ultimate limit of this worldliness. And nowhere, except perhaps in the analogous society of pagan Rome, has there ever been such a flowering of cheap and petty and disgusting lusts and vanities as in the world of capitalism, where there is no evil that is not fostered and encouraged for the sake of making money.

We live in a society whose whole policy is to excite every nerve in the human body and keep it at the highest pitch of artificial tension, to strain every human desire to the limit and to create as many new desires and synthetic passions as possible, in order to cater to them with the products of our factories and printing presses and movie studios and all the rest.”

Thomas Merton (1915-1968) in The Seven Storey Mountain (New York: Image, 1970) 166-167.

As my son, Sammy, and I travel abroad we get a clearer picture of ourselves and our own society. We see vividly how the things of this world in our own society cut us off from the charity of the Father. Like this closed center gate pictured above, our hearts are closed. Also on our journey we discover people willing to sacrifice all they possess, even their own lives, for the sake of Christ because they have tapped into the spiritual vitality of the charity of the Father.

Being generous is not about giving percentages, calculating gifts, or even selling possessions. It’s about receiving and giving the charity of the Father. Once we do that, everything else amounts to synthetic passions and artificial products. Merton had a keen sense to see all this because he stepped out of his culture. Stepping out of ours gives us clarity too.

Might it be time to take a day off, to have a quiet day of solitude, with no noise to sharpen your senses and restore your spiritual vitality?

For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have. 2 Corinthians 8:12

“Souls are like athletes that need opponents worthy of them if they are to be tried and extended and pushed to the full use of their powers and rewarded according to their capacity.”

Thomas Merton (1915-1968) in The Seven Storey Mountain (New York: Image, 1970) 106.

My son, Sammy, and I are pushing ourselves, and each other, on this international trip. Great athletes push themselves to the limit of their abilities, and they often work out with souls of similar strength to push each other. Do you push yourself in your generosity? Do you let others push you for your growth?

The Apostle Paul told the Corinthians that acceptable giving was linked to two things: their willingness and the limit of what they had. Paul wanted them to push themselves to the limit of what they had, but he would not force them. Giving must be sacrificial (“we one has”), and it must flow willingly.

I can’t make you cheerfully release all you are and all you have to God, but I will push you to that end, because that’s the only giving that is acceptable to God!

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:2-4

“Indeed, the truth that many people never understand, until it’s too late, is that the more you try to avoid suffering, the more you suffer, because smaller and more insignificant things begin to torture you, in proportion to your fear of being hurt. The one who does most to avoid suffering is, in the end, the one who suffers most…This is another of the great perversions by which the devil uses our philosophies to turn our whole nature inside out, and eviscerate all our capacities for good, turning them against ourselves.”

Thomas Merton (1915-1968) in The Seven Storey Mountain (New York: Image, 1970) 105-106.

My son, Sammy, and I have arrived safely overseas. So far we have met with some wonderful people, and though long, the trip has been uneventful and quite peaceful. While abroad, we will undoubtedly experience discomfort, perhaps even difficulties. The human tendency is to label such times as bad, but we must welcome them as vital for our maturity. If we want our generosity to blossom, or our “capacities for good” as Merton put it, then we must not avoid suffering but count it pure joy! Generosity flows by the Spirit through tested characters.

I pray that out of his glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3:16-21

“Our happiness consists in sharing the happiness of God, the perfection of His unlimited freedom, the perfection of His love.”

Thomas Merton (1915-1968) in The Seven Storey Mountain (New York: Image, 1970) 451.

As this posts, my son, Sammy, and I are making our connection to fly overseas. Pray that we can share the happiness with everyone we meet. That’s why we are all here on this earth.

Think of a person right now that you could generously share the happiness of God’s love. Pray this prayer over them that the Apostle Paul prayed it for the Ephesians. Insert their name for “you” each time.