...stretch into the unknown...

The ‘interior battles’ Teresa [of Avila] describes at this

stage [of moving through the ‘Interior Castles’] might…be

understood as a form of anxiety, produced by a tension

between the desire for the comfort of the known and the now-acknowledged need to stretch into the unknown…

The only real remedy to the difficulties of affective

 stretching is for the soul to cultivate patience and

to accept that it cannot comprehend, at this point, all that is being accomplished in it.”

Entering Teresa of Avila’s Interior Castle,

                          Gillian T. W. Ahlgren

    These are words of hope. I have come back to them time and again when I am uncomfortable or uncertain I now recognize it as stretching. Since I started this blog, I have talked of formation and change on more than one occassion. Sometimes it has been about something that seems so inconsequential, it makes me wonder what the connection is. There are other times, such as now, when I can point to very obvious and clear moments of tension in the unknowing.     
     It begs the question, "What is God doing with me?" I don't know. Is there discomfort and uncertainty in that? You bet! Do I like it? Some days, yes; some days, not so much. There are days I yearn for the comfort of the known because it is uncomfortable being shaped and re-formed. However, there is no going back, I have to stay with it and truth be told, I want to stay with it. Even better, God will stay with it! Once the process has begun, God keeps at it until God can add one more "very good" to the already marvelous creation of me.

"For know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans togive you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11