Attentiveness

I've been reading Frank Laubach's book, Letters by a Modern Mystic. Dr. Laubach was such an influence to the world that he has been called, "The Apostle to the Illiterates." After his death in 1970 a USA stamp was issued with his picture as a way of honoring his international influence. This little book is a wonderful collection of letters that he sent to his father during the time he was a missionary with the American Board of Foreign Missions. He served on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines. The first letter is dated January 3, 1930. He writes that living in the atmosphere of Islam is a wonderful stimulus as he seeks to know and do the will of God moment by moment. He writes, "It is exactly that 'moment by moment,' surrender, responsiveness, obedience, sensitiveness, pliability, 'lost in His love,' that I now have the mind-bent to explore with all my might. It means two burning passions. First, to be like Jesus. Second, to respond to God as a violin responds to the bow of the master." (January 26, 1930, page 6.)  The letters of Frank Laubach were written after a period during which he found himself "profoundly dissatisfied." It was in his dissatisfaction that God revealed the need for this new attitude of constant attentiveness to God. This constant attentiveness resulted in discerning 'God's moment by moment will' for him. Too often we've heard God's call to a ministry, and then gone off thinking we could do it by ourselves. It is the attitude of "Thanks God for the general direction, now I can handle it from here but, don't worry because if I get in trouble I'll get back to You." I suspect that the basic discipline of spiritual formation is constant attentiveness.