A POWERFUL FRESH APPROACH TO SPIRITUALITY
From the new book, PRESENCE Recognizing the Divine in Your Everyday Life
by Mary G. Jackson
God wants us to learn and grow
As I was writing PRESENCE Recognizing the Divine in Your Everyday Life, I came upon some ideas that seemed to form a foundation for my experience of the Divine. I called these philosophical and spiritual ideas, Concepts. Currently there are 22 concepts that have become the framework upon which PRESENCE is built.
Let’s explore the sixth concept, God wants us to learn and grow. Have you every had the feeling that you are connecting perfectly with learning and growing? I have, and it actually happened in school. I didn’t feel like any connections happened for me in all of high school, or when I fluked out my freshman year in college, or when I went back and had to take all those college “101” requirements. There were still no felt connections when I decided on a major based only on what I thought would be the one I was least likely to fail.
Even though schooling had long been one of my least favorite things, it surprisingly transformed into an exceptional favorite thing. The day I took a survey course in 17th Century British poetry, I began to learn and grow, after which I took every similar course I could. The 17th Century in England was a time of the great leap into metaphysical thinking – a spiritual and holistic way of looking at oneself, the world, and one’s connection with the Divine. These ideas touched me in an emotional, spiritual, and intellectual level that was on fire with excitement, natural motivation, joy, interest, and unabashed enthusiasm.
The door opened so wide for my growth that I felt as if I were becoming a new person with a new reason to live. I wanted to learn, it gave me such joy and purpose. What I have come to know about God wanting us to learn and grow is that the clue to the best path forward is to search for the joy, as soon as you possibly can, and embrace that you deserve the goodness that is abundant and available.