AtQ – Pure in Heart

A Journey of Transformation

How in the world can we look upon our own hearts without seeing the reality of our ineptitude? How can we look upon our ineptitude without desiring something different? How can we do this and not be crushed by the hardness of it all? In a word, love. Love is what bid Jesus to come, and show us that there is a different way. Love is what bids Jesus to continue to advocate for us – to continue to say, “Follow me” – and to be there for us. The journey of going deeper into the idea of a pure heart, our own heart even, is the journey of seeking the reality of a world formed in love.

One of the tenants of spiritual formation in light of Jesus’s teachings is the idea that we do this thing together with God – with someone who profoundly loves us. In engaging in spiritual formation in relationship there are things that we can do, and things only God can do. A key part of the journey is learning who can do what. We have the power to choose what we do with our day to a large degree. We may be able to choose where to walk or drive, what to eat and drink, and what things to attend to, for example. We have large degrees of access to our thoughts and our bodies. While God is the only one that can transform our will. If we try to directly affect our own will, we may find that things will get worse, not better. Instead, we may engage in spiritual disciplines to position ourselves to be more readily available to work with God – to indirectly affect our will. More on that below.