DIRECTING OUR FINAL INTENTION TOWARD GOD
THE VOICE OF CHRIST
MY CHILD, do not trust in your present feeling, for it will soon give way to another. As long as you live you will be subject to changeableness in spite of yourself. You will become merry at one time and sad at another, now peaceful but again disturbed, at one moment devout and the next indevout, sometimes diligent while at other times lazy, now grave and again flippant.
But the man who is wise and whose spirit is well instructed stands superior to these changes. He pays no attention to what he feels in himself or from what quarter the wind of fickleness blows, so long as the whole intention of his mind is conducive to his proper and desired end. For thus he can stand undivided, unchanged, and unshaken, with the singleness of his intention directed unwaveringly toward Me, even in the midst of so many changing events. And the purer this singleness of intention is, with so much the more constancy does he pass through many storms.
But in many ways the eye of pure intention grows dim, because it is attracted to any delightful thing that it meets. Indeed, it is rare to find one who is entirely free from all taint of self-seeking. The Jews of old, for example, came to Bethany to Martha and Mary, not for Jesus' sake alone, but in order to see Lazarus.
The eye of your intention, therefore, must be cleansed so that it is single and right. It must be directed toward Me, despite all the objects which may interfere.
- Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ
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Feeling self-sufficient is perhaps the most devastating, distant feeling in the world. But I suppose it forces me to think, which is always good. Thinking is devastatingly... good. (Yay masochism!)
Would You help me comprehend what it means to worship You? Heal my eyes. Today.
I come to You, oh God, in the stillness of my heart
I need Your healing and Your voice in the stillness of my heart
Speak to me and show me who You are
Rescue me with Your unfailing love and mercy
Speak to me and show me who You are
Hold me tightly in Your arms and never let me go
I hear You calling out my name in the stillness of my heart
Your grace is given me again, now I open my heart
I remember singing praises to Your name every day with all my might
How I long to sing to You again
