Wednesday, July 13, 2005
On Fecundity
Visit me at my new website - anniecrawford.com
I learned a new word! Fecundity means fruitfulness. Here are a few more thoughts from Nouwen's Lifesigns. After reflecting on two posts, one I found from Marla and another from Anita, much of what Nouwen writes on fecundity convicted me about my attitudes toward blogging. Here I creating a blog to nurture mothers and myself as a mother, yet it is so easy to become addicted to the computer and loose the very fruitfulness which I endeavor to cultivate!
It is not only our sense of homelessness, but also our doubts concerning our ability to give life that cause us so much suffering. Much pain in the world today is directly caused by this deep sense of worthlessness. Countless people experience their existence as dull, boring, stagnant, and routine. . . But fortunately, some men and women have a deep sense of their value - precisely because they are in touch with the life-giving quality of their existence. Their joy brings forth joy, and their peace brings forth peace. They make us aware of the holy contagiousness of life.
Fear not only prevents intimacy, it also thwarts fecundity. . . . The Spirit of God is a creative spirit, always expressing itself in new life. When that spirit is extinguished by fear, we cling to what we have and thus stop moving and growing.
Sterility is one of the most obvious responses to fear. When we feel surrounded by threats, we close ourselves off and no longer reach out to others, with whom fruitful relationships might grow. ... Thus we regress into self-created protective patterns and become sterile. Many people experience themselves as sterile, even when they have children, a job, money and significant success in life. We often hear remarks such as: "I know people are suffering, but there is nothing I can do about it." This is the voice of death. It expresses a sense of uselessness and doubt that gradually extinguishes the desire to grow.
Being bored while being busy is an ominous symptom of spiritual illness.
When fear dominates our lives, we worry about our value as persons and become easily preoccupied with products.
But when our value as human beings depends on what we make with our hands and minds, we become victims of the fear tactics of our world. When productivity is our main way of overcoming self-doubt, we are extremely vulnerable to rejection and criticism and prone to inner anxiety and depression. Productivity can never give the deep sense of belonging we crave. ... Some of us might be productive and others not, but we are all called to bear fruit; fruitfulness is a true quality of love. (John 15)
The great mystery of fecundity is that it becomes visible where we have given up our attempts to control life and take the risk to let life reveal its own inner movements. Whenever we trust and surrender ourselves to the God of love, fruits will grow. Fruits can only come forth from the ground of intimate love. They are not made, nor are they the result of specific human actions that can be repeated. Neither predictable nor definable, fruits are gifts to be received. It is precisely this quality of gift that distinguishes fruits from products. Let me describe three aspects of the fruitful life: vulnerability, gratitude and care.
It is not only our sense of homelessness, but also our doubts concerning our ability to give life that cause us so much suffering. Much pain in the world today is directly caused by this deep sense of worthlessness. Countless people experience their existence as dull, boring, stagnant, and routine. . . But fortunately, some men and women have a deep sense of their value - precisely because they are in touch with the life-giving quality of their existence. Their joy brings forth joy, and their peace brings forth peace. They make us aware of the holy contagiousness of life.
Fear not only prevents intimacy, it also thwarts fecundity. . . . The Spirit of God is a creative spirit, always expressing itself in new life. When that spirit is extinguished by fear, we cling to what we have and thus stop moving and growing.
Sterility is one of the most obvious responses to fear. When we feel surrounded by threats, we close ourselves off and no longer reach out to others, with whom fruitful relationships might grow. ... Thus we regress into self-created protective patterns and become sterile. Many people experience themselves as sterile, even when they have children, a job, money and significant success in life. We often hear remarks such as: "I know people are suffering, but there is nothing I can do about it." This is the voice of death. It expresses a sense of uselessness and doubt that gradually extinguishes the desire to grow.
Being bored while being busy is an ominous symptom of spiritual illness.
When fear dominates our lives, we worry about our value as persons and become easily preoccupied with products.
But when our value as human beings depends on what we make with our hands and minds, we become victims of the fear tactics of our world. When productivity is our main way of overcoming self-doubt, we are extremely vulnerable to rejection and criticism and prone to inner anxiety and depression. Productivity can never give the deep sense of belonging we crave. ... Some of us might be productive and others not, but we are all called to bear fruit; fruitfulness is a true quality of love. (John 15)
The great mystery of fecundity is that it becomes visible where we have given up our attempts to control life and take the risk to let life reveal its own inner movements. Whenever we trust and surrender ourselves to the God of love, fruits will grow. Fruits can only come forth from the ground of intimate love. They are not made, nor are they the result of specific human actions that can be repeated. Neither predictable nor definable, fruits are gifts to be received. It is precisely this quality of gift that distinguishes fruits from products. Let me describe three aspects of the fruitful life: vulnerability, gratitude and care.
6 Comments:
At 7/13/2005 1:24 PM,
Anita said…
Being bored while being busy is an ominous symptom of spiritual illness.
Interesting statement. I'm going to have to think about this for a while.
I find that I am often bored.My best friend and I have had recent conversations about being bored. She says she can't remember the last time she was bored. And my response is that I can't remember the last day that I didn't experience some sort of boredom. Hmmmm...
At 7/13/2005 4:53 PM,
texashimalaya said…
I am not saying that you should, but if you do have children or adopt or work with them, it is much harder to be bored!
Let me know what your contemplations reveal!
At 7/15/2005 10:51 AM,
Anonymous said…
wow, what a great passage. It really hit home to me, especially these sentences: 'Being bored while being busy is an ominous symptom of spiritual illness. When fear dominates our lives, we worry about our value as persons and become easily preoccupied with products.' I have been struggling through a very dry patch in my walk with God lately, and fear and boredom factor heavily into the cause, I think. I will ruminate on these sentences for a while and pray about them. It's funny, but the more I feel blessed by God (I am celebrating my one-year anniversary on Sunday with my amazing, wonderful husband Brad) the more I'm afraid of losing those blessings. So hard to hold life with an open hand, not clenched tight! And having soaked in a Christian community since birth and four years of Bible college, boredom with spiritual truths is something I'm fighting more and more against. So thanks for the quote and the thoughts!
At 7/15/2005 11:14 AM,
Anita said…
I'm still thinking about the boredom issue... It's been interesting to not that we as kids are encouraged to learn and grow in knowledge from K-12, then college, and maybe even graduate school. But when I went out into the world of working, suddenly I was turn of my brain and just do what my employer expected of me. Why is it as a working adult I am not expected to continue to grow in knowledge. I wonder if some of my boredom comes from that?
I know that children would give me more challenges. But children haven't naturally appeared in our marriage. My husband and I did help out with the kids in one church we used to attend. It was really small and we were always missing out on communion and other activities that went on while we were in the kids classes. We now attend a different small church and have felt very pressured to help out in the Children's Ministry. I've kind of dug in my heals and not gotten involved because it feels like the other families are pushing me to take care of their kids so that they can have a break, not because they think I could contribute to their child's growth. ie: cheap babysitting.
Oy, the issues that are involved with having or not having children. I've thrown up my hands and just said to the Lord, you have to work this out for me because I see no resolution.
We'll see what other thoughts come to me as I continue to think about why boredom seems to so easily creep into my life.
At 7/16/2005 8:00 AM,
texashimalaya said…
Anita - Someone very close to me has struggled greatly with not having children and so I know that it is a very sensitive subject for most people. I amm sorry if my bringing it up bothered you at all.
Margaret - I know exactly what you mean about holding on tighter to your blessings! That is something that really hit me with a hubby and kids too, and is partly why i am reading Nouwen.
I think alot of our culture's issue with boredom is the spectator entertainment that we are around all the time, as well as our overly analytical tendancies which disects everything and makes it much less interesting and magical. I think that is part of why children (healthy ones that don't play too much x-box!) aren't really bored, they aren't trying to figure everything out in a systematic way, they are just enjoying it in an engaged way.
I really recommend Nouwen's "Lifesigns" - it is wonderful for sparking new life and fresh perspective into your spirit and daily life.
At 7/16/2005 2:43 PM,
Anita said…
Annie - It doesn't bother me that you brought it up. Really! And most days I am fine with the whole thing, trusting that God has a plan for us, with or without children.
What is sometimes hard is when folks offer their anctedotal (where's my spell check?) stories of how, just when so-n-so was ready to adopt, the wife suddenly got pregnant. I know they mean well, but truly, why is is such a tragedy that we don't have children if that's what God's plan is for us. Anything other than God's perfect plan would be a tragedy. And it bothers me that the people in our community who want us to have kids, then complain about how hard it is or other negative factors about having kids, expecting (I guess) that we should join in their misery.
You are totally right that kids should be and are a blessing! And if a couple isn't given children, I believe that God has chosen to bless them in other ways.
I truly appreciate your stance on the issue and your willingness to investigate what the Bible has to say about it all. :-)
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