I did not intend this, but I realized this morning that the last three books I have read for pleasure (including the one I am currently reading) have either been biographies or autobiographies. Last August, I read Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee by Charles J. Shields (Lee wrote the pulitzer prize winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird). In September, I read The Grand Slam: Bobby Jones, America, and the Story of Golf by Mark Frost (Bobby Jones is widely considered the greatest golfer who ever lived). Currently I am reading The Seven Storey Mountain, which is the autobiography of Thomas Merton, a Trappist monk.
All three were/are wonderful reads, particularly if you are a Harper Lee fan (which I am) or a golf fan (which I am). With all due respect to Harper Lee and Bobby Jones, however, it occurs to me how different Merton's story is than the other two. While Harper Lee spent her life, or at least her early life, obsessed with writing a great novel and Bobby Jones spent his life, or early life, obsessed with becoming the greatest golfer who ever lived, Thomas Merton, from age 23 on, transfixed all of his energies in experiencing God through spiritual exercises and mystical experience. While Lee's and Jones' biographies focus on their stories and ultimately bring glory to them, Merton's is clearly God's story and merely how he fits into it.
A sobering question I have been pondering: if someone were to write my biography at this stage of my life, would it focus on my pursuits at being a writer or a scholar or some other pursuit? Or would it focus on God and my consuming desire to commune with him. Unfortunately I think the former because those pursuits have truly consumed me, while often I have asked God to fit in their somehow.
I long to think and act like Merton. Like him, I do not want to care whether or not I become a writer or scholar (and for those who have played with me, certainly not a golfer). The only thing I wish is to live for is God and to have all other pursuits fall under that communion.
Dedicated to the living conversation of past and future saints.
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- Jackson
- Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States
- I am a graduate student in Historical Theology at Marquette University. I love Christ, I love the saints, and I love the church.
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5 comments:
Two things...
1) I think the only way for you to get rid of the zodiac thing is to delete your birthday. You should be able to do this on the dashboard under your icon/picture...it will say "Edit Profile." Just delete your birthday and it seems to disappear.
2) You are far too hard on yourself. If I were to help write a biography of your life, I would say the latter. You are a man after God's heart, your wife is a woman after God's heart...and your stories would reflect that.
Let's (you, me, Jules) talk soon!
Love and Prayers,
Julie
Thanks Julie, your kind.
By the way, the book that I told you to read is "Life of Macrina" by Gregory of Nyssa. Sorry it took me so long to get back to you on that.
Jackie-
I in no way meant to say that those things like golf or writing or any other hobby one might have are necessarily bad in themselves. I certainly don't think so, otherwise I wouldn't pursue them. I guess it is more of a matter of a rightly ordered life, that is, what is the overarching purpose of one's life?
For Merton, it was to please God and to commune with him. This aspect was missing in the other two biographies. I think that we find our purpose in our worship and communion with God, for this is why he created us. The hobbies are just that, hobbies. Merton became an incredible writer and wrote many books, but his purpose in life was not to be a writer - it was to live for God and the writing was a result of that relationship.
In the same way, I desire that my writing or scholarship would flow out of my relationship with God. There have been times, more than I care to admit, when that has not been the case. But that is part of all of our growth processes.
Maybe this example might help get at what I am trying to say: I read somewhere that Sam Snead (a golfer) said: "The day I can't play golf will be the day that I die." Conversely, Peyton Manning (a football player) said: "I play football for a living, but I want to be known as a good person."
That is what Merton understood that the others didn't. What his autobiography emphasizes is not that he is a writer or even a monk, but that he is a child of God.
So, by all means, let's keep playing golf!
some rambling thoughts......
WHY do i strive to be first and foremost a follower of Jesus, a child of God? Is it to be known by others as such, or just to BE as such? Is there a fine line here and by asking the question does that reveal a struggle with motives?
Also, if i do "strive", what does that actually look like? Is it through constant prayer for the Holy Spirit to be present and manifest in my life, is it through selfless acts in the name of Jesus, is it through practicing the presence of God every day all day, is it through ministries that become a part of my existence, is it through forgiving others, is it through spending daily quality time reading the Bible, is it a combination of these and other things? am i striving enough? am i striving too much? is striving even the word for what i am supposed to be doing? enough rambling for now..
MomK
Excellent comments everyone. It is these comments that I think are the true goodness of this blog. So often I post something that turns out a bit vague and then the comments of all my readers really helps me to process much better.
Incidentally, if any of you think of it, please pray for me sometime tomorrow. From 9-4, I will be on a spiritual retreat at a monastery. I'm hoping that it will be a good time of renewal and recharging prior to this next semester. I hope that it will also begin a discipline of contemplation and prayer in my life.
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