TRUTH . . . IS PROGRESSIVE
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Increasing maturity eventually brings more truth, the peaceful understanding that in spite of stark evidence to suggest otherwise, everything is going to work out right in the end. There is no big contest. There will be the happy ending we long for. Julian of Norwich's most famous utterance, made many centuries ago, rings down the corridors of time, true as ever: 'All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well'. That lady had great revelation and a father heart. It gives younger followers great encouragement and security to be around those with such firm and quiet assurance. And history has taught us we don't have to be old in years to be mature.

The point is, each stage is OK and is the truth for those involved. We need to know there is something intrinsically very right with us as we grow spiritually. Constantly emphasising mistakes and shortcomings, or trying to force-grow others to see our point of view, leads to a poor sense of self-worth and sadly that seems the main thrust of most religious organisations.

If we just step outside ourselves now and then, we may thankfully observe that we are growing up into a restful and sure knowledge that there is a Heart and an Intelligence behind all things. This constant all-pervading Spirit has been around from the beginning, as John wrote, and is allowing everything to work out for eventual good. It is remarkable how true saints, like Madame Guyon and Dame Julian, found this truth in the midst of persecution and suffering. For this to happen we surely need to be gripped by a sense of an eternal reality, especially when we survey the horror existing in the world today and breaking out like an angry carcinoma across the whole body of humanity.

Even as I write these words I am consumed with personal grief, but I am also undergirded by a sense of ultimate well-being; I know 'Him who was from the beginning', so maybe at long last I am becoming a little father. Let's hope so.

© Maurice Smith 2004

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