January 5: Abiding in Christ gives us a Quiet Heart
Contemplation is born from the ‘cave of the heart’. Ilia Delio
Gregg’s Reflection
All who obey His commandments abide in Him, and He abides in them. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit He has given us. (1 John 3:24)
God needs nothing more from us than a quiet heart. Meister Eckhart says that when we rest in God, He accomplishes in the soul “such secrets and divine deeds that no creature can serve them or even add to them.
For most of my life, I was busy of mind and heart — entirely focused on doing. I believed the lie that my worth was based on proving myself to God. I had what the psalmist would call a divided heart: yearning for God on one hand, yet believing I had not done enough to be worthy. The result? No amount of success ever gave me a quiet heart.
Now, I see that all goodness flows from surrender to God’s love. Contemplation, as Ilia Delio writes, is “the vision of a heart centered in God by which one sees the depth of things in their true reality.” It is born from the cave of the heart, where doing gives way to being, and where God’s still small voice can be heard.
Scripture
All who obey His commandments abide in Him, and He abides in them. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit He has given us.
1 John 3:24
Ancient Writing
The divine nature is repose and God seeks to draw all creatures back to him again to their origin which is repose.
Meister Eckhart, in Matthew Fox, Christian Mystics, p. 137
Modern Writing
Contemplation is born from the ‘cave of the heart’… centered in God.
Ilia Delio, Christ in Evolution, p. 133
Journaling Prompts
- What robs your heart of quiet?
- How does abiding in Christ quiet the inner noise for you?
- What might you lay down today to rest more fully in Him?
- How hard is it for you to step back from doing and experience the rest of being?
👉 Go deeper into this week’s theme:
Read the full Week 1 reflection: Abiding/Resting in God