tension

We all live in tension ... Between the present and the future, the present and the past, what is and what could be. I've definitely been living in tension lately. I've also been trying to be present to the now, but when that now is tension filled ... it's tricky.

We watched a video at our groovy vacation house of a presentation by Spritan Father Anthony Gittens from the Religious Formation Conference Congress last summer. I'd like to share some quotes from his presentation that I will be reflecting on for a good bit to come:

If 'faith' were a verb, then 'hope' would be its future tense; hope is today's faith carried into tomorrow. ... In grammar, the future tense suggests the tension - necessary, inevitable - between what is now and will be tomorrow. To be human is to live, not in stasis or equilibrium; that's for fossils. To be human is to live in
tension, constantly exercising (flexing and releasing) our spiritual and pastoral muscles. Tension is good and Godly, vital and virtuous, unless it is fearful and crippling; good tension is a response to the Divine disturbance and leads to deeper commitment to God's mission.