Quietude, Part 2

...continued from "Invitation to Enter into Quietude," by Brother Gerald Mathison.

...Although you could no doubt take advantage of this life*time to think out and resolve many matters for yourself, you stand a much better chance of having them resolved in much more meaningful ways, as well as countless other benefits for yourself, if you leave all this work up to God. He won't let you down. He asks that you be quiet and receptive so He might have the opportunity to "get a word in edgewise."

As the days of your life* go by, you may at times feel guilty for your inactivity. This is to be expected. However, please do not let such feelings deter you from relaxing and cooperating with God by trying to remain receptively open to Him. We are not encouraging you to do absolutely nothing during your life, but we are suggesting that it is very important that you greatly reduce your activity so you may enter more fully into the relaxed receptivity and peace that a life of faith offers. Perhaps you will find it helpful now and then to refer to one of the gospels (the New Testament books of Matthew, Mark Luke and John) as a means of support in your availability to God. . . . to assist you in your primary objective of receptive quietude, the passive form, the contemplative form, that will allow God to work in you. Rather than you "plugging in" to God, it is God who will be "plugging in" to you. Your ongoing desire to allow Him to come to you and be operative within you is the basic thrust of a successful life.

In what ways can you reduce your activity, letting God "plug into" you?

*I've substituted "your life", "life of faith" or "life" for the word "retreat."