Exactly how does a person 'work together with God'? You achieve this by dropping your sense of self and your efforts. The single action of the spiritual path is to reduce self to nothingness. However this annihilation of self can never be brought to completion unless God brings it about.
The whole point of Lectio Divina is to get out of one's head and let God speak. It doesn't matter if I agree with this text or not, it's about gleaning what I can from it. What stood out to me was Reduce Self. No the self that is God-given: my talents, personality, dreams. But the self that elevates my needs and wants above others. I love who God made me to be, and I must develop the gifts he's given me, but not to my own end. This made me think of my kids. Most of the stress I have with them is because they are not doing what I've told them on my time table. I don't get stressed with Macy because her self is not yet conflicting with mine. What would my mothering look like if I could work to their timetables? Would I shout less if I could see myself as their servant?
In sharing, Tim pointed out that the exciting thing is that this is at the heart of God. As much as we want to work with God, he wants even more to work with us.
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