#5. Fri, May 9th
Annie Dillard is one of my favorite authors. I took this quote from her book Teaching a Stone to Talk, and I used it as a reading at my ordination.
“God does not demand that we give up our personal dignity, that we throw in our lot with random people, that we loose ourselves and turn from all that is not God. God needs nothing, asks nothing, and demands nothing, like the stars. It is life with God which demands these things.
Experience has taught the race that if knowledge of God is the end, then these habits of life are not the means but the conditions in which the means operates. You do not have to do these things – unless you want to know God. They work on you not God.
You do not have to sit outside in the dark. If, however, you want to look at the stars, you will find that darkness is necessary. But the stars neither require nor demand it.”
I feel the same way about gratitude. One of my core theological beliefs is that life is a gift and I seek an ever growing sense of appreciation and gratitude because I so love life in the darkness with the stars.