Meditations: The Authentic Me
Reflecting on a reading by H.A. Williams
About Meditations:
As I read from my lectionary and other daily readings, such as Streams in the Desert by Mrs. Charles Cowman, and Celtic Daily Prayer, I make a habit of cherishing those truths that speak to my soul. I pray that these words reach your soul, too.
These meditations are a reflection on the content, not the positions and theology of the respective authors. I am not endorsing the views of the authors or the religious traditions they represent.
This excerpt comes from Streams in the Desert, compiled by Mrs. Cowman and published in the early 1900’s.
I took the liberty of styling the prose into a poetic format because of the parallelisms.
The Authentic Me
There is within me
a me
which is both greater than me
and at the same time authentically myself.
One way of approaching this mysterious fact would be
by what is called the paradox of grace.
The more God gives me his grace,
the more I am myself.
The more I discover within me
the greater than me
the more I discover that
the greater than me
is authentically me.
(Tensions, H.A. Williams)
Too often I approach my “quiet time with Jesus” with a grand expectation that God is somehow going to help me become less carnal with each appointment in my prayer closet.
Williams challenges this predisposition. He frames an “authentic me” within each person that is yearning to surface within the well of our soul. A true me that yearns for Christ, His glory and presence.
This reminds me of the “inner man” the apostle Paul speak of in Ephesians 3:16-17:
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.
The “inner being” is our true being. The inner being is the person which is being fed as we spend time in God’s word and presence.
Revisiting my predisposition, I am learning to shift my expectation from “Lord, make me less carnal,” to, “Lord, you are the Bread of Life. Help me to feed on you to satisfy my inner being.”
There are plenty of instances in which I don’t feel like I am “getting something” from my quiet time with Jesus. However, there are plenty of times I sit down to eat a meal and I know that even the least pleasurable meals are nourishing my body. Likewise, my inner self is being nourished despite how I feel about my experience.
Time spent with God is never wasted.
— Justin