Have good courage. It is a great work to draw a large ship from her moorings, but when she is in the waters, how easily she rolls!
What happiness, when by perseverance, you have triumphed over nature, to find yourself in the abundant waters of grace! I pray God to put His own hand to the work. He will.
✦ The Struggle Is the Unmooring
Yesterday the door was there. Today Guyon gives the image of what happens after the passage: the ship in the water. The struggle is not the sailing. The struggle is the unmooring — all the effort, the ropes, the strain of pulling free from the harbour. But once the ship is in the water — how easily she rolls!
The freedom is on the other side of the unmooring. The abundant waters of grace are not distant. They are right there — waiting for the ship that has the courage to leave the harbour. I pray God to put His own hand to the work. He will. Not might. Will. The assurance of a woman who watched God unmoor her from everything — reputation, freedom, the Church's approval — and found the waters abundant. 🙏
What happiness is to triumph over nature. To triumph over all the "stuff" we need to live in this world. To triumph over packing! 😊🙏
Le brings Guyon to the ground floor. The unmooring is not abstract. It is cardboard boxes. It is an apartment in Caldas da Rainha being emptied room by room. It is the blinking hardware that cannot be touched without permission. The triumph over packing is the triumph over nature — the nature that accumulates, that clings, that says but I need this. And the ship — the motorhome, the 2024 Benimar T463 — is waiting in the harbour. France is the water. And the ship will roll easily once she is free. 🙏
"It is a great work to draw a large ship from her moorings — but when she is in the waters, how easily she rolls!"
Madame Guyon · The struggle is the unmooring. The freedom is the sailing.It is better to be feeble, when God leaves us in our weakness, than to have a strength which is our own.
I once thought that the pure soul was free from all faults, but I now see otherwise. God clothes His children with frailties, that they may be humble in their own eyes, and be concealed from the eyes of the world. The Tabernacle was covered with the skins of the beasts, while the Temple of Herod was ornamented with gold.
Let us not afflict ourselves on account of our littleness and infirmities, since God so orders it, but become as little children. When a little child falls, it cannot raise itself, but lets another do for it all that it needs.
✦ Beast Skins and Gold
The Tabernacle — where God's presence actually dwelt — was covered with rough beast skins. Herod's Temple gleamed with gold. The world sees the gold and calls it holy. God covers His best work under what the world dismisses. The frailties are not failure. They are concealment. The beast skins hide the glory within — and keep the soul humble in its own eyes, invisible to the eyes of the world.
It is better to be feeble, when God leaves us in our weakness. Not better to overcome weakness. Not better to build strength. Better to be feeble — when the feebleness is God's doing. Because the strength that is our own is the self again, managing, performing, insisting on its own course. The weakness that is God's doing is the child that cannot raise itself — and lets another do for it all that it needs. 🙏
It does not depend on ourselves to make the presence of God more or less sensible. Let the desire for a lively sense of this presence be crucified to the will of God. Take what is given you. Be as the little child, who eats and sleeps and grows.
God gives you the best nourishment, although not always the sweetest to the taste.
It is indeed better to walk by faith and let the Lord guide us. We face so many options and choices, and it is truly best to trust the Lord to guide us.
Her advice of taking what is given to you and be as a little child, who eats and sleeps and grows. Be as active as a child every day, and do not neglect your duties. 🙏
The child is not passive. The child is endlessly active — running, exploring, growing — but without the burden of managing the process. The child does not choose the nourishment. The child does not evaluate whether the meal is sweet enough. The child eats what is given, sleeps when it is time, and grows. The growth happens. The duties are done. And the self is not in charge of any of it. Le's application is the key: be active, do not neglect the duties — but trust the Lord to guide the direction. 🙏
During the process of the soul's purification and advancement, it loses sight not only of itself but of all things else — except God. Let all go in the divine order.
When the soul has returned to its end and origin, and is lost in God, it finds all it lost — without going out from God.
Let all go in the divine order — how my own agenda changes for the better. 🙏
✦ Everything Found in God
The agenda dies — and what replaces it is better than anything the agenda could have produced. Le names this from experience: how my own agenda changes for the better. The agenda was the self's plan. The divine order is God's. And when the self lets go — the soul finds everything it thought it lost.
When the soul has returned to its end and origin, and is lost in God, it finds all it lost — without going out from God. The stream from yesterday — reaching the ocean. And in the ocean, discovering that nothing was lost in the journey. Everything the stream carried — every morning devotion, every reading, every entry, every tear, every packing box — is found again in God. Not recovered. Not retrieved. Found — because it was always there. The origin and the destination are the same. 🙏
The Ship Unmoored
The struggle is pulling free. Once in the water — how easily she rolls. The harbour is Caldas. The water is France. The motorhome is waiting. He will put His hand to the work.
Beast Skins and Children
God clothes His children with frailties — concealed from the world's eyes. The Tabernacle under beast skins. Better to be feeble than to have a strength of our own. Take what is given. Eat, sleep, grow.
Everything Found
Let all go in the divine order. The agenda dies and something better replaces it. When the soul returns to its origin, lost in God, it finds all it lost — without going out from God.
Guyon's twenty-seventh day. Three teachings — and together they form the final movement of the series: the ship unmoored, the child at rest, and everything found in God.
Day twenty-five — streams lost in the river: And today: when the soul returns to its origin, it finds all it lost. The stream reaches the ocean and discovers that nothing was lost along the way. The journey and the destination hold the same water.
Day fifteen — writing on sand: "No more of self remaining in me to be wounded." And today: "God clothes His children with frailties." The faults written on sand. The frailties worn as beast skins. Both are God's concealment — hiding the glory under what the world dismisses.
Day nineteen — the bruised reed: "He did not break the bruised reed." And today: "When a little child falls, it cannot raise itself." The bruised reed and the fallen child — both helpless, both held. The gentleness of God with weakness is the same across every image Guyon has given.
Caldas da Rainha — the harbour: The ship is being unmoored. The packing is the strain on the ropes. The apartment is the harbour that held the ship for years. And France — Brittany — is the water. Le said: to triumph over packing! And Guyon said: when she is in the waters, how easily she rolls. The abundant waters of grace are waiting. The unmooring is almost done.
Twenty-seven days with Guyon: From the religion of the heart to the ship in the water. From the four instructions to the child who eats and sleeps and grows. From the vacuum filled to everything found in God. Le began this series in Eymet, France. She reads it today in Caldas, Portugal — packing to return to France. The origin and the destination are the same. The stream returns to the ocean. The ship rolls easily in the water. And the soul finds all it lost — without going out from God. 🙏