Natural and Supernatural

Life can be lived naturally or supernaturally.  Living life naturally is easy.  The only thing it really requires is what we most want to do anyway.   It means seeking pleasure, meaning and control over what we believe really matters, which is usually related to our physical person, or family, and our purpose for life.  Living naturally can be quite rewarding, and usually contains many very wholesome elements, such as friendship, family and faith.  A life lived naturally tends to avoid conflict, and flees from any pain that can avoided.

A supernatural life, on the other hand, is sensitive to a divine purpose and voice behind the happenings; in and through the routine.  It believes that there are no coincidences in life, no wasted experiences.  It is all somehow sacred, even if not immediately understandable.  Such a life requires risk.  It requires courage.  Perhaps most of all, it requires surrendering control to God, and allowing Him to truly guide you.   Whereas the natural life is oriented around strengths and abilities, the supernatural life is often more about joy, and weakness.   It is often more about being available than about being able. 

I find that living this sort of life becomes increasingly difficult as one grows older, and my prayer is that I will never come to the place where I start saying “no” more than “yes” to that voice that whispers in the wind and crackles in the fire.  To a voice that speaks directly to you in Jesus’ loving yet urgent voice, “If anyone would be my disciple, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” 

Quote of the Day: “The distinction between natural and supernatural, in fact, broke down; and when it had done so, the burden of intolerable strangeness which this universe imposes on us by dividing it into two halves and encouraging the mind never to think of both in the same context. What price we may have paid for this comfort in the way of false security and accepted confusion of the thought is another matter.”     C. S. Lewis