Who me, a mystic? The Mysticism of Everyday Life: Responding to Becky Eldredge

Who me, a mystic? The Mysticism of Everyday Life: Responding to Becky Eldredge March 24, 2017

Who me, a mystic? The Mysticism of Everyday Life: Responding to Becky Eldredge

For the last two years, I have taught a first Monday seminar at the church I pastor, entitled “A Month with a Mystic” in which we focus on the theology, spirituality, and practices of a particular spiritual guide or mystic. In the past two years, we have held seminars on persons such as Julian of Norwich, Teresa of Avila, Rumi, John of the Cross, and Albert Schweitzer.

One of the goals of the ongoing seminar is to remind folks that they too can experience God in their lives and that mystics are not heavenly beings but persons like themselves, often facing the same struggles as the rest of us. Often my focus elicits the comments like: “I’m not spiritual enough,” “I barely have time to pray,” “My mind wanders too much to meditate,” and “I could never be a mystic; I am such a failure at prayer and meditation.”

Becky Eldredge reminds us that everyone can be a mystic. Mystics are not unique persons, but persons who take the time to focus on God’s presence in their lives and the world. Mystical experiences can happen in everyday life – driving children or grandchildren to school, cooking breakfast, reading the paper or watching the news, gazing at the ocean, or following the flight of an osprey. If, as Christian theologians have affirmed, God is present everywhere, then any encounter can be a gateway to heaven. Like Jacob, when he awakened from a dream, we may exclaim, “God was here – and I did not know it.” Like Jacob, we may discover that every place is Beth-El, “the gateway to heaven.”

Becky Eldredge provides practices that busy people can integrate with their everyday lives. Spiritual practices are not esoteric, but can be part of every person’s life – times of stillness, examination or reflection on your day, imaginative encounter with scripture, or simple momentary pauses to access our relationship with God. In many ways, Eldredge embodies the wisdom of a spiritual teacher, “Pray as you can, not as you can’t.”

Therese of Lisieux counseled persons to do ordinary things with great love. The same applies to spirituality. Spiritual practice involves living an ordinary life, recognizing that you are always in the presence of God. Every act can reveal holiness. Every encounter is with a person, created in the image of God. Each choice brings us closer to God or further from God.

Every day, we can live mystically. We can experience God in the ordinary. We don’t go anywhere. God is with Becky Eldredge as she cares for three children, supports her husband’s job search, and moves to a new city. God is with us at the bedside side of a dying friend, God’s love envelopes us – God in all things, all things in God. Eldredge reminds us that the “ladder of angels” Jacob experienced is everywhere. Behold Beth-El is here, “God is here and now we know it!”


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