In a beautifully ironic way, the power of ascetical disciplines, meant to loosen the stranglehold of our desires, is not limited to showing us where we are weak and prone to sin. It does not even end at teaching us self-control. By giving us the opportunity to genuinely value what we would otherwise take for granted, asceticism also has the power to enliven authentic gratitude and wonder.
-- Paula Huston, simplifying THE SOUL
Authentic gratitude and wonder. Gratitude and wonder. Gratitude. Wonder.
What a partnership of words...and of ideas. They are seemingly so inter-twined. Ever find yourself in a conspicuous lack of these...gratitude and wonder? I have. The irony is that I so often think that it is the lack of struggle and suffering, of choosing hard habits, that will lead more directly to such things. The experience of life, however, seems to reinforce that it is the chosenness of the harder things in life (me choosing them, they choosing me) that bring me close again to things like gratitude and wonder.
Makes me wonder whether this, among other disciplines, is what is involved in pilgrimage.
