As the outgoings of life proceed from the living man, while we live in ourselves, we have a strong will and eager desires, and many fluctuating states. But in proportion as our will passes into the will of God, the desires which are the offspring of the will are subjugated, and the soul is reduced to unity in God.
✦ Reduced — Not Diminished, but Concentrated
June 6. The anniversary. Eighty-two years ago today, the ramps dropped on this beach and the Yes was spoken with the whole body. Le stands on Sword Beach on the very day — and Guyon writes about the soul reduced to unity in God.
That word reduced is not what we expect. We think of reduction as loss — something made smaller, diminished, lessened. But Guyon means the opposite. The soul is reduced the way a sauce is reduced in cooking — the water boils away, and what remains is concentrated, essential, pure. The fluctuating states evaporate. The eager desires that pulled in a hundred directions are subjugated — not destroyed but brought under one will. And what is left is unity. One soul. One will. One God. Everything unnecessary burned away.
While we live in ourselves, we have a strong will and eager desires, and many fluctuating states. This is the interior weather of the soul that has not yet passed into God's will — storms, calms, storms again. The fluctuation is exhausting. And it is the sign that the soul is still living in itself, still operating from its own centre, still generating its own weather. But in proportion — there is that phrase again — as our will passes into His will, the weather changes. Not because the circumstances change. Because the centre has moved. The soul is no longer generating its own storms. It is resting in His will — and His will does not fluctuate. 🙏
"The soul is reduced to unity in God."
Madame Guyon · Not diminished — concentrated. Everything unnecessary burned away.As the soul advances in the life of God, its natural or selfish movements decrease; and it depends less on mere emotional exercises, and there is really less variation of the emotions.
Emotions become exhausting to the soul — tossed to and fro by the waves. 🙏
✦ Below Where the Waves Reach
Le reached for Ephesians 4:14 instinctively — tossed to and fro — and on a beach, with the Channel in front of her, the image could not be more physical. The waves are right there. The same water those young men crossed eighty-two years ago today. The sea does not care about your feelings. It tosses what it tosses.
And Guyon says simply: as the soul advances, the tossing decreases. Not because the waves stop. Because the soul is no longer on the surface. It has gone deeper — below where the waves reach. The surface of the ocean is violent. Ten metres down, it is still. The same ocean. The same water. A different depth.
The emotional life is not destroyed — Guyon does not say the feelings disappear. She says the soul depends less on them. The feelings still come. But they are no longer the measure of the spiritual state. The soul that once rose and fell with every emotional wave now rests at a depth where the fluctuations cannot reach. Reduced to unity. The concentrated soul. The still depth. 🙏
Rest assured, it is the same God who causes the scarcity and the abundance, the rain and the fair weather. The high and low states, the peaceful and the state of warfare, are each good in their season. These vicissitudes form and mature the interior, as the different seasons compose the year.
Each change in your inward experience, or external condition, is a new test, by which to try your faith and love; and will be a help towards perfecting your soul, if you receive it with love and submission.
You receive it with love and submission because you are grateful to God for the opportunity of learning and growing in grace. 🙏
✦ The Same Hand in Both
Guyon made peace with everything. Not by pretending the scarcity is not real. Not by preferring the abundance. By seeing the same hand in both. The high and the low, the peaceful and the warfare — each good in their season. The way winter is good for the soil even when it looks like death. The way the Channel crossing was terrifying — and necessary. The way the scarcity formed what the abundance could not.
These vicissitudes form and mature the interior, as the different seasons compose the year. Without winter, no spring. Without scarcity, no capacity for abundance. Without the low states, no depth to hold the high. The seasons do not compete. They compose. Together they make a year — and together, the vicissitudes make a soul.
And Le's response is the key that unlocks it: grateful for the opportunity of learning and growing in grace. Grateful for the scarcity. Grateful for the warfare. Grateful for the low states. Not in spite of them — for them. Because each one is a test that perfects the soul. Not punishment. Not random difficulty. A season. Part of the year that makes the harvest possible. 🙏
Reduced to Unity
Not diminished — concentrated. The water boiled away, the essence remaining. Eager desires subjugated. Fluctuating states resolved into one will, one direction, one God. Everything unnecessary burned away.
Below the Waves
The surface is violent — ten metres down, it is still. The soul advances not by stopping the waves but by going deeper. Depending less on emotions. Resting at a depth the fluctuations cannot reach. The still depth. The concentrated soul.
Seasons Compose
The same God causes scarcity and abundance, rain and fair weather. The seasons do not compete — they compose. Together they make a year. Together, the vicissitudes make a soul. Received with love and submission — grateful for the opportunity.
Guyon's eleventh day. June 6 — the anniversary of D-Day — and the journal written from the beach where the Yes cost everything. The location demands reverence. The text demands honesty. Together they demand depth.
Nahum 1:12 — where this journal began: "Though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more." The foundation scripture. Affliction has God-appointed limits. And Guyon today: the same God who causes the scarcity and the abundance. The affliction was not random. The scarcity was not abandonment. Both were seasons — appointed, limited, purposeful. The journal began with this truth in Caldas da Rainha. It arrives again on Sword Beach, confirmed by three centuries of Guyon's witness.
Day three — His own immutability holds me: The immutable God does not fluctuate. And the soul that has passed into His will begins to partake of that same steadiness. The vicissitudes of experience come and go — but the will of God does not change. The centre has moved. The soul no longer generates its own weather. It rests in His — and His will is still.
Ezekiel 34:26 — A chuva virá, no tempo certo: The rain has an appointed season. And Guyon: the different seasons compose the year. The scarcity is a season. The abundance is a season. Neither is permanent. Neither is the whole story. The rain comes in its time — and every day of waiting was part of the composition.
James Smith — "Every trouble is intended to endear Jesus to your heart": From the Espira-de-l'Agly entry, the tight road in the foreign city. And Guyon today: each change in your inward experience is a new test, by which to try your faith and love. Not punishment — perfecting. The trouble endears. The vicissitude forms. The season matures what a permanent summer never could.
Le's testimony — tossed to and fro by the waves: Standing on Sword Beach, with the Channel in front of her, Le described the emotional life as the surface of the ocean — violent, exhausting, tossing. And Guyon's answer: go deeper. The soul advances not by calming the surface but by descending to the depth where the fluctuations cannot reach. The still centre beneath the storm. The same ocean. A different depth.
The men of June 6, 1944: They felt the vicissitudes. They were terrified, seasick, shaking. The emotional surface was as violent as the Channel itself. But their will had passed into something larger — the mission, the cause, the Yes. The feelings fluctuated wildly. The unity of purpose held. That is what Guyon describes: not the absence of vicissitude but the soul so reduced to unity that the vicissitude cannot displace it. The waves come. The depth holds. The Yes endures.
Eleven days with Guyon — and every season of the journal has been named: the religion of the heart, the walk by faith, the immutability, the vacuum filled, the joy in persecution, the liberty of the bird released, the eagle and the dove, the voice of the Shepherd, the unction of grace, the continual Yes, and now the vicissitudes received with love and submission. The seasons compose the year. The journal composes the soul. And the same God who sent the scarcity is sending the abundance. 🙏