Bravely Observe Your Purpose — A Token of Virtue and Great Merit

✦ Without Sorrow We Cannot Live in Love

Yesterday love was flying, running, breaking forth on high. Today love is on the ground — subject, obedient, vile and lowly in its own sight. The song has changed key. The soaring and the kneeling are not two different loves. They are the same love facing two different mornings. And today's morning requires the love that endures — patient, faithful, long-suffering, trusting even when God hides His face.

Never seeking her own. Kempis names the boundary — wheresoever a man seeks his own, there he falls from love. The fall is not dramatic. It is not a crisis. It is simply the turning of the gaze from the Beloved to the self. And in that turning — love is gone. Proverbs 14:1 stands alongside: the wise woman builds her house. The foolish one tears it down with her own hands. The hands that build are the hands that do not seek their own. The hands that tear down are the hands that grasp.

And the closing truth — without sorrow we cannot live in love. Not despite sorrow. Not until sorrow passes. Without sorrow, love has no depth. The sorrow is not the enemy of the love. It is the soil. The roots go down into the dark, and from the dark the love rises — patient, faithful, trusting even when the face is hidden. 🙏

✦ Most Blessed Life

Kempis draws the line — and it is absolute. He who is not ready to suffer all things is not worthy to be called a lover of God. Not some things. All things. The love that yesterday broke forth on high is the same love that today embraces the hard and bitter. The soaring and the suffering are not two different vocations. They are the same vocation, facing two different winds.

Not to be drawn away because of any contrary accidents. The contrary accidents — the transition, the unfamiliar roads, the new language, the discomfort of the unknown — are not reasons to release the Beloved's hand. They are the occasions to grip tighter. The contrary accident tests the love. And the love that is not drawn away — that is the love worthy of the name.

And the testimony transforms the cost into crown: most blessed life to be a lover of God. Not most difficult. Not most painful. Most blessed. The suffering is real. The contrary accidents are real. But the blessing of being called a lover of God — that is greater than every cost the road exacts. 🙏

✦ The Jealous Love of God

As in prosperity I please Him, so in adversity I do not displease. The same love in both seasons. The strong lover is not a fair-weather lover. She does not praise God for the blessings and fall silent in the trial. She pleases Him in prosperity and does not displease Him in adversity. The love is constant — independent of the weather. Independent of the country. Independent of the comfort zone.

The noble lover rests not in the gift, but in Me above every gift. Yesterday: he looks not for gifts, but turns himself to the Giver. Today: in Me above every gift. Christ speaks directly — not through Kempis, but as Himself. Rest in Me. Not in France. Not in Portugal. Not in the transition. Not in the outcome. In Me. Above every gift.

And the jealousy of God — Exodus 34:14 — is not the jealousy that controls. It is the jealousy that protects. The exclusive desire for our well-being. He is jealous for the soul not because He needs her but because He knows what the lesser things will do to her. The gift that replaces the Giver becomes an idol. The blessing that replaces the Blesser becomes a trap. His jealousy is the love that will not let the soul settle for less than Himself. 🙏

✦ The Promotion

Two days ago Le asked: why do I murmur when I know I'm growing in grace? And Kempis answers — with the tenderness of a father and the precision of a surgeon. All is not lost. The sweet affection comes and goes — it is present grace, a foretaste of the heavenly country. But you must not depend on it. The feeling is a visitor, not a resident. The feeling leaves. The love remains.

And the revelation: to strive against the evil motions of the mind is a token of virtue and great merit. Not to win every time. Not to never have the evil motion. To strive. The fight is the merit. The resistance is the virtue. The soul that never had the battle has nothing to strive against. The soul that fights — she is the one being promoted.

The higher level of spiritual growth is not the absence of the evil motions of the mind. It is the recognition that the striving against them is itself the token of virtue. The murmuring is not the failure. The fighting against the murmuring is the promotion. And the promotion changes everything — because the soul who knows the battle is the badge of rank no longer fears the battle. She faces it bravely. 🙏

✦ Bravely, Not Cowardly

Bravely. The word Kempis embedded like a diamond — and the morning found it. Not patiently. Not resignedly. Not wearily. Bravely observe your purpose. The soul who knows the striving is merit does not cower before the vanities of the heart. She faces them as a soldier who knows she has already been promoted.

The rapture is real — the morning before dawn, the burning heart, the closeness to God during the transition. And the fall back to the wonted vanities is also real. Both are real. But Kempis says: you undergo them unwillingly. You did not cause them. You did not invite them. And so long as they displease you and you strive against them — it is a merit and no loss.

Not a failure. Not a demotion. A merit. The vanities come. The evil motions rise. The strange fancies disturb. And the soul — the brave soul, the promoted soul, the lover of God who has learned through thirteen days of Kempis what love looks like on the ground — she observes her purpose. She keeps her upright intentions. She striveth against them. And it is counted to her as virtue and great merit.

Bravely, not cowardly. What a promotion. 🙏