I was stunned by these words.
“There is nothing to get in the spiritual life; the challenge is to become aware of what we already have.”
Albert Haase in his book ‘Coming Home to Your True Self’
Hadn’t I been taught that if I go to church and read the Bible and pray and serve others that I can grow in my relationship with God? Is that not getting something?
And yet God, who doesn’t lie, tells us that He has already given us every spiritual blessing (Ephesians 1:3). There is nothing left to get.
The uncomfortable realisation I had is that I have a tendency to strive for that which is already mine.
What’s going on for us when we find ourselves in that place?
Jesus’ brilliant parable about the runaway prodigal son (and his brother who stayed home and did all the right things but was just as far away from his Father) in Luke 15 is so helpful for me. Through it, I start to become aware of my heart’s inclination to leave its ‘home’ of relationship with God in search of something that is already available to me at home with Him.
Both brothers in the parable already had everything they needed at home with their Father, yet both left home (the younger physically, the older in his heart) in search of what was already theirs at home.
As Albert Haase taught me, we can become convinced that there is something “out there” that can plug some hole in our heart; make us feel fulfilled and whole.
He says that when we’re in this mode we run after pleasure, praise, power, prestige, position, popularity, people, productivity, possessions, and perfection. Ever been there? Yup, me too. In fact, I keep finding myself running after those things and discovering each time that climbing these never-ending ladders is an unsatisfying, exhausting place to be.
We have all the love and wholeness we are seeking right here at home with the Father, the place of rest.
Albert Haase says that when we are satisfied at home in God we tend to be characterised by being relational, self-giving, unflappable and unthreatened, focused on the here and now, a contemplative approach to life, wonder and awe, trustful surrender, compassion, awareness of being a spoke in the larger wheel of creation, and a passion for peace and justice.
The spiritual life isn’t an exhausting quest to get something. It’s a matter of settling in at home with God and becoming aware of, exploring and enjoying the richness of love and wholeness that is available to us in relationship with Him.
One thing I’ve started doing to help me keep coming back to this place where I belong is having regular times of quiet, still prayer where I imagine myself being embraced by the Father as I approach his house.
That is exactly what will happen each time any one of us wants to return. This experience whispers to my spirit that I am always welcome home, I am completely accepted, secure and loved, and He is where I belong.
Home is where I experience everything my soul is longing for.
Something to think about Em, never thought of this before, that all we need has already been given to us and it is up to us to search for it in ourselves.
I loved reading that too – that the love and wholeness we long for has already been given to us in God himself; that there’s no need to go out searching for it in other places anymore! I tend to think of it more as becoming aware of and enjoying what is already mine in God than searching for it… that language seems to help me experience peace and rest in it.
I love the way you put things❤️ God is our ruby slippers – there all along.
❤️