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Any Fellow Sloths Out There? // Jackson Riddle

To say this reading convicted me would be an understatement. Making the comparison between my own spiritual life, health and journey with that of a beginner is not far off; yes, I grew up in a religious home, so it would seem that I would have everything figured out by now, but in fact it's quite the opposite. Because of my exposure to religious ideas since infancy, I have almost begun to tune out the topics that seem repetitive. Such statements like "Jesus loves you" and "You should be a modern day David to Goliath" lose their significance because I assume I understand all there is to know about them. 

Regarding this week's reading, one thing in particular hit home with me and that's the idea of literal and spiritual sloth-like behavior. I don't know why this is, but if I don't have the pressure of a deadline staring me down, I don't do homework. Instead, I mull around on my phone, my playstation, whatever it is that distracts me from the work that inevitably must get done. Dark Night of the Soul touches on this in Chapter VII, and the line in particular that stuck out to me is "For, as they are so much accustomed to sweetness in spiritual things, they are wearied by things in which they find no sweetness". The truth in this statement is astounding. Just as I am so accustomed to the "sweetness" of my temporal distractions, I also find myself accustomed to a similar sweetness in spiritual things, so much so that I ignore that which lacks in sweetness (Numbers, for example, no thanks). All in all, this reading truly opened my eyes to the level of separation I was allowing to grow between myself and God in my spiritual life. I look forward to reading more. 

Comments

  1. Caroline TuckerApril 12, 2021 at 11:34 PM

    I agree. I also slothfull. One of the things that I heard one time that resonated with me on this point is that if you waste your time you are wasting time that God gave you. This means that you are wasting a gift and a grace when you waste time. To think of slothfulness in this way hurts, as it should. I am constantly reminding myself to use my time wisely.

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  2. Emmett BryantApril 13, 2021 at 9:10 AM

    I think all of us struggle with sloth-like behavior every once in a while. We try to ignore it and pretend we are not, but we all seem to slip into this way of living every once in a while, it just happens. I really like what you said about this work convicting you. It did me as well.

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  3. Logan TurnerApril 13, 2021 at 9:15 AM

    Yeah, I'm with you. Reading that part was like looking into a mirror for me. I am just like you in that I am a very slothful person, doing everything else instead of what I should be doing, but I work at it. I think the point of the reading is so that we come to some sort of realization of ourselves so we may doing something about it.

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