April 1, 2008 10:28 AM
Elisabeth Elliot on dying to self
Proof that something profound doesn't need a lot of words. This one could keep you thinking through many loads of laundry:
Die QuicklyTo hold onto something with a desperate grip is not the way to die. Death is a painful process, and restoratives offered to the dying wretch bound to his wheel only prolong his agony. There are times when the thing to do is simply to die. I am thinking, of course, of dying to the self. We clutch so tenaciously to our rights, hopes, ambitions, something to which God has perhaps said a plain no. If would-be comforters offer us consolation and sympathy, if they assist us to strengthen our grasp when it should be loosened, they do not love us as God loves us. The way into life is death, and if we refuse it we are refusing Him who showed us that way and no other. The love which is strong as death is not only willing to save the beloved, it is willing to seem, if necessary, pitiless, insensitive, unloving, if that is what will help the beloved to die--that is, to be released from the bondage of self, which is death, and thus enter the gateway of life.
Archbishop Fenelon wrote to the countess of Montberon, "You want to die, but to die without any pain.... You must give all or nothing when God asks it. If you have not the courage to give at least let Him take."
As always, I'd like to encourage you to include Elisabeth Elliot in your morning reading. She gives you a lot to think about during the day. Subscribe to her daily devotions here. You can also see a bunch of my favorites here.
Posted in Inspiration | Permalink
Comments
I used to think that the best way to "die to self" was to be a missionary in a hostile foreign land. Thought motherhood was the "easy life."
Then I had kids.
And there are times I actually have to say out loud, "Die...die...die..."
(Not to them, of course! To me! To "self!")
And it's usually over having to do some mundane task for the kids when I'd rather be sleeping/eating/resting/blogging/living.
Whodathought.
Posted by: Stretch Mark Mama | April 1, 2008 12:21 PM
