For some of us, we may have held to our faith intact to this day. Though how much we try to live a life of prayers backstage the struggle to gain perfection has always been the same. The kind of thinking we have gained, our character and lifestyles may have taken mediocre improvements as opposed to the length and struggles of our spiritual lives. However, these should not be reasons to back down. The impediments to spiritual growth have always something to do with our being human. The lure of the world and the false hopes it offers has so much influence to distract us, and like our worldly life our spiritual life is also a cycle of ups and downs.
The success that spells with our spirituality is a lifelong process. And like worldly success true spiritual success is gained not by how intense we put ourselves spiritually in a particular point in time but in how consistent we are over time. For example, it’s true that we engage ourselves fervently in prayers for either weeks, months or more profoundly for years. Undeniably, however, there will always come a time that for some reason we slowly lose the blaze, and worse, being extinguished into spiritual coldness. Now, we should put in mind that it’s just a normal cycle in spirituality and that we should not give up the struggle all the way. We can always start from scratch and rekindle the fire in our own pace. As long as we are always consistent in getting up when we fall, we can always find hope.
I am writing about this from my reflection on my own spiritual life that has also gone its own twists and turns. For the sake of my brethren who may be confused as to what really is spiritual life all about, it is my opinion that we do face the challenges anytime. It is from our fall that we learn to get up each time and be stronger to face other obstacles that await us. It is always part of growth. Though it seems to be impossible to gain perfection it’s in the fight that proves our faith. We can always be imperfect, we can always be weak because we are human and always subject to temptations to the interests of the world, but in the end that faith will help us please God and eventually redeem us. Spirituality, after all, is a kind of training and involvement with God to prepare us for the next life.
