problems with hope.
Much as we are at home in nature and cling to it, we are never completely
at home in it, and nature itself is designed to raise our thoughts to the spiritual
world. Our spirits grow and are nourished in nature’s nest, but it is a nest that
we are destined to outgrow and leave. In one of the prayers in our Liturgy
we ask “that we may stay our souls on Thee...and that with the passing away
of these earthly things we may come unto Thee, and receive the life of Thy
heavenly kingdom.” The ever-changing world of nature presents us with a
perpetual challenge to take that prayer seriously.
Beyond the Natural
In limited ways human art and science can “improve upon nature,” but nature
is basic; without it we would have nothing to work with, nothing to improve
upon. It is the same with our own natural character; imperfect as it is, it is
what we have to work with. But both nature generally, and our own human
nature, have within them a potential for something higher, which can only be
achieved by working from spiritual principles within the bounds of natural
order.
Clay is clay, but it can still be molded into
forms of grace and beauty. Our humanity will
always be finite and imperfect, but it can be
molded into forms which bear the stamp of the
Divine Potter Himself and reflect something
of His infinite and perfect Humanity.
Our natural lives are imperfect and
incomplete so that we, with the Lord’s help, can
complete and perfect them. This requires that
we acknowledge our imperfection and also
the Divine Humanity of the Lord, in whose
image we are to be remolded. The defects in
our character will have served their purpose
when we see them and turn to the Lord for
help in overcoming them. Then they will fade
from view as the Lord’s Spirit transforms our
lives so that more of the light and beauty of
His Divine Humanity can shine through our
words and deeds.
The
relative
incompleteness
and
helplessness of human beings at birth,
compared to other creatures, is actually