The metaphor that occurs to me is that of preparing cooked pudding. When all of the ingredients for the pudding are in the pot it goes on the stove top and you stir, and stir, and stir some more. As the pudding nears completion it thickens and becomes a rich, thick, and very delicious liquid. It begins to boil under the surface. If you stop stirring the pudding begins to boil with large pops and spurts. I've never seen a lava spout rise up out of the ground, but I suspect this looks like a mini eruption.
What does pudding have to do with spiritual life? It feels to me as if as long as we keep ourselves busy (stirring the pot in this metaphor) that our lives just keep putting along without leaving much time for the movement of Spirit. When we stop stirring and sit quietly, listening, praying, Spirit has the opportunity to bubble up within us; to grab our attention; and to feed us in ways that we had not yet recognized needed to be fed.
Since coming home from the first School of the Spirit's Participating in God's Power (SOTS PGP) residency, there has been much bubbling up. The call to ministry that has been with me for forty some years has never left me and I am reminded of that. Perhaps, then, it should not come as a surprise to me that a strong tug toward the work of chaplaincy has re-emerged. My years of serving the men at New York State's Eastern Correctional Facility as their outside facilitator for the Quaker Worship Group there and serving that group as Spiritual Director bubble up. To what end? Time will tell. Things are turning.
Simple Gifts - a Quaker/Shaker hymn
Tis a gift to be simple, ’tis a gift to be free
’tis a gift to come down where you ought to be
And when we find ourselves in the place just right
‘Twill be in the valley of love and delight.
When true simplicity is gained
To bow and to bend we shall not be ashamed
To turn, turn will be our delight
‘Till by turning, turning we come round right.
