“The essential thing ‘in heaven and earth’ is . . . that there should be long obedience in the same direction; there thereby results, and has always resulted in the long run, something which has made life worth living.” -Nietsche
In the flood of new books that come out every day, it’s easy to forget there is life we’ve been longing for in those we somehow missed over 30 years ago. But Eugene Peterson has reformed the way I read the Psalms:
“A person has to be thoroughly disgusted with the way things are to find the motivation to set out on the Christian way. As long as we think that the next election might eliminate crime and establish justice or another scientific breakthrough might save the environment or another pay raise might push us over the edge of anxiety into a life of tranquility, we are not likely to risk the arduous uncertainties of the life of faith. A person has to get fed up with the ways of the world before he, before she, acquires an appetite for the world of grace. Psalm 120 is the song of such a person, sick with the lies and crippled with the hate, a person doubled up in pain over what is going on in the world…”
If you’re a no-nonsense, foundational kind of soul who longs to reestablish the fundamental things, check out A Long Obedience In the Same Direction.
Thanks for this post, Mick. I’d really like to read it. I think there’s great wisdom in this man.
Isn’t that the truth? He’s among my top 5 heroes…I believe history will show him one of our greatest minds.