Casey Estep: The Phenomenology of Prayer 2

The other major takeaway that I had from The Phenomenology of Prayer was the idea of "disinterested delight" which we talked about some in class. The idea that God delights in me so much that He is already delighting in me before I even turn to delight in Him is incredibly fulfilling. I also love the idea of the inverse side of this disinterested delight. That I can be so preoccupied in my delight in God that I am not concerned with anything else, even performance for Him. If the entire focus of my life was on God, I truly believe that I would life the fullest life that I possibly could. This however, is not always the case. I feel like a control freak sometimes. I often catch myself trying to mold God into whatever I want to do in life, rather than being entirely focused on Him and following His will for me.

I love the analogy of disinterested delight that Professor Redick gave in class. The image that he painted in my mind was one of a husband and wife both sitting by a fireplace reading. The husband wants to lay his eyes on his beloved, his beautiful wife. But when he looks up, his wife is already looking at him. This is the beautiful way that God interacts with us. This is also a dream of mine to experience moments like that with my future wife.

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