Words of challenge, words of hope

I'm using a soul-rousing book for prayer lately: The Impact of God: soundings from St. John of the Cross by Iain Matthew. He writes about St. John's call for us to be "inclined" to a certain emptiness of transitory and worldly things. He acknowledges that it is difficult to reach this point in our spiritual lives, and then mentions a few things which can help us along the way.

In order to encourage us, he has us think of what it is like for us to "experience its opposite:"

the weariness of an over-demanding self-image; the claustrophobia of being 'full of oneself'; and the freshness that comes from being told that we do not have to be like that.

IMHO: The beauty of a life of spiritual growth is that if we are attentive, we become aware of God's desire to lift us out of ourselves. In essences, He calls to us saying, "you do not have to be like that; I want more for you and I am here to help you attain it."

This can be hard to hear for those who have grown up with the overemphasized notion that God loves me the way I am. Of course He does. But that love is so great for us that His grace is there to help us with the way I am" part. But for many, those words have been perverted into nothing more than a justification for  remaining right where we are.

Some will quickly quote St. Paul: "by God's grace, I am what I am," but fail to realize that St. Paul speaks these words only after God' grace had touched his life, transformed it, and turned him to a way of life he never would have dreamed possible back on that day when he was holding the coats of those who had stoned St. Stephen to death. Once again, these words are often emasculated and thereby robbed of their power