Dry Bones

My church has been talking about being in a time of spiritual dryness.  I am puzzled by this because I have not really notice any difference in the church over the past year.  Now that could mean that I am spiritual dead and unresponsive myself, but I somehow do not think that is the case.  Over the centuries spiritual dryness has been defined as feeling separated from God, from lacking a sense of power or purpose in prayer, of going through the motions in our spiritual pilgrimage but lacking real conviction of the eternal.  And there has been multitudes of counsel for how to work through those times.  But how do we know that we are in those times?  Is it declining church attendance, increased family problems in the congregation, decreased giving, lack of motivation to serve?  I still don't know how to gauge the times of spiritual rain and spiritual dryness.  After all, maybe it is just the created ebb and flow of life.

I don't live each day in great spiritual revelation, I do not see miracles happening everywhere around me, my way is not made sure by warrior angels going before me, I do not sense that I come into the throne room of God when I go to church.  But I do my best to be present for those that interact with me daily, I try to be aware of my wife and her needs, I make time for the grandchildren when they come over, I offer a full day's effort for a reduced day's pay at work, I get up each day to confronts its challenges, and I go to bed each night trying to lay down anything that has clung to me from the day's activities.  And I firmly believe that even though my days are predictable, unimaginative, and sometimes downright tedious, that they are lived as faithfully as lies within my power in the presence of God.  They used to call that mundane, from the Latin word for world, mundus.  And it is set against some spiritual ideal of the heavenly realm.  That is where the conflict lies.  We might theoretically be seated in the heavenlies with Christ, but we live day in and day out in a world that is slightly askew and does not yet see Christ reigning over all things.

The challenge is to know the presence of God in the mundane and not just label the tedious times as spiritual dryness.  Solomon said that God has already put eternity in our hearts.  It's hard to imagine spiritual dryness and eternity dwelling as room mates.  I can count on one hand the times that I have really, really felt the hand of God in my life, but that does not mean that I am unaware of Him through the majority of my really tedious days.  We are too quick to hang labels on life when God does not meet our expectations.  I think it is just time to remain faithful in what we do with our lives, and persevere in whatever circumstances confront us.  Life has always been for me one step after the next, it's time to move on.