Reluctantly, he enlisted, young man without great prospects. It seemed the only answer to the economic difficulties of the family, of the time. And so off he marched with the others and fought in the horrendous war, endured its hardships, witnessed its appalling evils and grisly horrors.

Seized, taken prisoner, threatened with hanging for suspected spying… eventually he gained release. Seriously injured, he was returned home and nursed back to a certain amount of health. But always, always he carried the wounds, always bore the chronic pain. And limped, and dropped things, clumsy, an embarrassment to himself.

It could be a lot of veterans.

But, as each, he was unique and individual, important to someone. Important to me,  perhaps to you.

His name was Nicholas Herman. Known more widely as Brother Lawrence, or “Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection.” All this was a part of his story. Nearly 400 years ago. A part we seldom read. I had to google a lot of sources to gather the bits and pieces that tell this much of the tale.

But many have read his little book, all down through the centuries. And even to this day it makes profound impact on people’s minds, and sometimes even their lives.

Why? Because of what his daily life exhibited: a constant state of peace, joy, patience, long-suffering… But you may know what all that is: the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 4:22-23). And that is why we read about him. Because we (some of us) long, so wistful, for our own lives to exhibit that fruit. At least I do. And typically we struggle with repeated frustration when we aim toward that end.

Look at the top of this blog page. There it is in the heading, my desire, that aim.

And so I try to see how he “did” it. But maybe we (I) emphasize too hard the doings, the human accomplishing. What we may need to learn from his example is acceptance more than achievement, yielding more than wielding, dying more than doing.

That’s what’s hard about it: its very simplicity. It’s simple in the Spirit. But a constant losing battle in the flesh. (Read Romans 7:15-25 and smile — or weep, then rejoice.)

One info source called him a soldier first on the physical battlefield, then on the spiritual one. So, to the latter, are we all called. But it seems so hard to “get it.” That’s why I’m examining more closely the themes, patterns, details I can gather about this man and his eventual approach to life.

One gem of insight I’ve gained already is that idea of “eventual.”

On first reading The Practice…, maybe I didn’t go far enough. At the beginning it seemed he just decided to think of God all the time, and presto! he’d “arrived”!

Now learning more of his biography, and reading through his conversations and letters repeatedly, I’m seeing his evident success at Christ-living came from long-term endeavor. It didn’t happen overnight. It involved repeated veering his drifting mind back to thoughts of God, over days, months, many years.

What I hope to do, something like weekly, perhaps sometimes more often to show complete pictures, is pass on either a key phrase/sentence that stands out in his book, or a pattern I see in his message, his life, considering whichever in light of scripture. I hope you’ll tune in and add your own insights and responses as we go along. Till next time…

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Related post: How Brother Lawrence Saw the Trees

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