Inside and Outside
Occurrences of grace and inspiration take place within us, but quite often the occasion for these experiences is from without. A word or a glance from someone, the way light strikes a familiar object in a new way, and any number of incidents that we contact through our physical senses are frequently the direct links that open for us graced insights, inspired thoughts and other spiritual interior movements.
Experiences of grace and inspiration are not necessarily accompanied by intense feelings, but they are as important for our well-being as commonplace drinking water and meals. We can take them for granted, but life is much better for us when we notice, reflect and even give thanks for at least some of the frequent helpful connections that take place between the movements inside ourselves and all that is outside. Much of our joy, and many of the causes for gratitude in our lives, originates from our ordinary interactions with the people and events that we encounter every day.
God made us whole persons, beautiful in the complementary interaction of our spiritual selves and our physical bodies. If we give almost exclusive attention to the inner workings of our minds and hearts as if that were somehow the only worthy and valuable part of ourselves, we become separated from the gracious entirety of God’s creation and we become less able to resonate in our spirits with the music of God’s presence that is outside us. Alternatively, if we focus almost all our awareness on the actions and beauty of the world about us, the effects are deadening to our spirits, similar to an extravagant but superficial party in which everything is about appearances and nothing about relationships among those who participate. God composed us of both spirit and body, in a beautiful unity that functions best when we think and act from a conscious acceptance and love for the kind of beings we are.
Even though our bodies will certainly die, we will continue to exist as unique persons of spirit who have an appointed destiny for resurrection of the body. We will not metamorphose into angels or other disembodied spirits when we die. We are a unique form of creation, beautiful as God makes us: spirits enclosed with flesh. God, in Jesus, is fully human, and, having gone through human death, lives with a human body, but one that befits resurrection. His present state is the model for how we are intended to be. The continuation of our “inside and outside” aspects after death is a mystery that is far greater, and of much more significance to us, than all the still unknown workings of the universe. “The resurrection of the body and the life everlasting” resonate deeply within us, whether or not we use those exact words to explain the natural affinity we have for such a truth.
We can reflect upon and appreciate the beauty of how inside and outside are for us complementary rather than being somehow in opposition to our well-being. Though we cannot fully understand the mystery of the unity of body and spirit that defines us as humans, we can still be grateful that we are indeed “wonderfully made.” (Psalm 139:14)
