Deep calls to deep

Following along from my post last week about Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster, I figured I should start actually re-reading the book.

A cold, wintery Sunday afternoon.  The lounge is the warmest room of the house.  It’s also the room where everyone else is keeping warm.  I open the book to the first chapter.

We must not be led to believe the disciplines are for spiritual giants and hence beyond our reach, or for contemplatives who devote all their time to prayer and meditation.  Far from it.  God intends the disciplines of the spiritual life to be for ordinary human beings: people who have jobs, who care for children, who must wash dishes and mow lawns.

A DVD of Beatrix Potter stories is playing on the TV.  The eldest child is playing a game on the family PC.  The teenage from next door is hanging out on our sofa, chatting to Hubby about school, siblings and life in general.  I’m listening to the conversation while I’m reading, and adding an occasional question or comment.

I turn the page, and try to concentrate on reading again.

Psalm 42:7 reads “Deep calls to deep.” Perhaps somewhere in the subterranean chambers of your life you have heard the call to deeper, fuller living.  Perhaps you have become weary of frothy experiences and shallow teaching.  Every now and then you have caught glimpses, hints of something more than you have known.  Inwardly you have longed to launch out into the deep.

Peter Rabbit is being chased by Famer McGregor.  I put the book down to intervene between the two younger children squabbling over the blocks on the mat.  The teenager stands up and starts saying goodbye.  The eldest child gets frustrated with her computer game, and asks for help.

I struggle with the contrast of the daily working, parenting life, and the deeper, spiritual life.  How do I make the “deeper” a reality when it’s a challenge to find some peace and quiet to even read about it?