Relinquish Everything

He had already relinquished, of his will, because of his need, in humility and peace and without regret, yet apparently it had not been enough, the leaving of the gun was not enough. He stood for a moment—a child, alien and lost in the green and soaring gloom of the markless wilderness. Then he relinquished completely to it. It was the watch and compass. He was still tainted. He removed the linked chain of the one and the looped thong of the other from his overalls and hung them on a bush and leaned the stick beside them and entered it.
—William Faulkner, “The Bear,” in Go Down, Moses, 208

Luke Skywalker had to set his targeting computer aside and rely on the Force in order to destroy the Death Star. The boy in Faulkner’s epic tale had to set aside gun, compass, and watch—the tools of the hunter—or he would never see the Bear. What must I set aside to know God?

So much of my journey is spent relying on tools—my Bible, my library, commentaries, historical and textual critics, philosophers of language and ethics, theologians, and preachers who have gone before. Could I set these aside and still preach? Unlikely. But until I set them aside and clear my mind of all the stimulating chatter, I may be unable to listen.

Elijah fled the wrath of his own leaders and went up to a mountain, where he could not hear God in all the mighty acts going on around him—whirlwind, earthquake, fire. But afterward, the still small voice came to him, admonished him, and sent him back to work.

What will you relinquish today in order to make a still, small, vulnerable place in your soul for God, who like Faulkner’s Bear appears “immobile, fixed in the green and windless noon’s hot dappling, not as big as he had dreamed it but as big as he had expected, bigger, dimensionless against the dappled obscurity”?

Along the Way, I wish you God’s peace on today’s stage of your Lenten spiritual journey. May Christ’s companionship bless you with confidence for the day, comfort you in trouble, and put a spring of joy in your step.