Mental Cities
Hans von Balshazar (probably the greatest catholic theologian of the last century) said that the danger for people who live in cities is that they begin to think the world is man-made. Everywhere they look is the towering accomplishments of man or the business of man. I think our lives can become these mental cities that Balshazar warns about. We are busy with so much, worrying or accomplishing so much that we can think of our life as man-made. What can we do? His answer about real cities is that we need to walk in the woods on occasion or visit a field. We need to see that the world is giant and utterly God-made. I think the same can be said about Kris's phrase "margins of silence." We need to carve out time to sit with God in a quiet space or sit with the scriptures in a quiet space and remember that our lives are God-made. That God is the one at work forming us and shaping us and guiding us ... and filling us with life.