![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/174\/2010\/12\/St.Anthony1-150x150.jpg\")
<\/a>My wife and I recently spent a day at the Kimbell Museum in Fort Worth. \u00a0In the permanent collection is what may well be Michelangelo\u2019s earliest painting, \u201cThe Torment of St. Anthony\u201d \u2014 a vivid portrayal of St. Anthony\u2019s struggle with temptation in the desert. \u00a0It got me thinking\u2026<\/p>\nOur inner lives are too small.<\/p>\n
They are cluttered with the kind of distractions that they sell in tourist traps \u2014 pot metal and plastic, cheap construction, loud colors \u2014 here today, gone tomorrow, about to be replaced by more of the same.<\/p>\n
And when our inner lives are not made small by the countless distractions that clutter them, then our inner lives are often crowded with fears \u2014 large and small, biting at our necks, pulling at our sleeves \u2014 like St. Anthony\u2019s tormentors in Michelangelo\u2019s painting.<\/p>\n
What a shame \u2014 because God\u2019s gentle, quiet, open invitation is to listen and respond. \u00a0What are the deepest needs of your soul? What do you need to hear?\u00a0 What kind of clutter keeps you from hearing it?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My wife and I recently spent a day at the Kimbell Museum in Fort Worth. \u00a0In the permanent collection is what may well be Michelangelo\u2019s earliest painting, \u201cThe Torment of St. Anthony\u201d \u2014 a vivid portrayal of St. Anthony\u2019s struggle with temptation in the desert. \u00a0It got me thinking\u2026 Our inner lives are too small. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":240,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spiritual-perspectives"],"yoast_head":"\n
What do you need to hear?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"My wife and I recently spent a day at the Kimbell Museum in Fort Worth. \u00a0In the permanent collection is what may well be Michelangelo's earliest painting,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2010\/12\/what-do-you-need-to-hear\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What do you need to hear?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"My wife and I recently spent a day at the Kimbell Museum in Fort Worth. \u00a0In the permanent collection is what may well be Michelangelo's earliest painting,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2010\/12\/what-do-you-need-to-hear\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"What God Wants for Your Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-12-12T02:43:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/files\/2010\/12\/St.Anthony1-150x150.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Frederick Schmidt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Frederick Schmidt\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2010\/12\/what-do-you-need-to-hear\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2010\/12\/what-do-you-need-to-hear\/\",\"name\":\"What do you need to hear?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-12-12T02:43:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-12-12T02:43:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/#\/schema\/person\/ddfdcfcb384439499b89f4fc91aa3f21\"},\"description\":\"My wife and I recently spent a day at the Kimbell Museum in Fort Worth. \u00a0In the permanent collection is what may well be Michelangelo's earliest painting,\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2010\/12\/what-do-you-need-to-hear\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2010\/12\/what-do-you-need-to-hear\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/2010\/12\/what-do-you-need-to-hear\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What do you need to hear?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/\",\"name\":\"What God Wants for Your Life\",\"description\":\"Thoughts on the perennial demands and changing shape of Christian spirituality.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/#\/schema\/person\/ddfdcfcb384439499b89f4fc91aa3f21\",\"name\":\"Frederick Schmidt\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatgodwantsforyourlife\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/683afd03c0a0abb940f8fe5cb3183269?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/683afd03c0a0abb940f8fe5cb3183269?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Frederick Schmidt\"},\"description\":\"The Reverend Dr. Frederick W. Schmidt, Jr. is inaugural holder of the Rueben P. Job Chair in Spiritual Formation and a Senior Scholar at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, IL. He is also Vice Rector at Good Shepherd, Brentwood, TN; an Episcopal Priest; spiritual director; retreat facilitator; conference leader; and writer. He is the author of numerous published articles and reviews, as well as several books: A Still Small Voice: Women, Ordination and the Church (Syracuse University Press, 1998), The Changing Face of God (Morehouse, 2000), When Suffering Persists (Morehouse, 2001), in Italian translation: Sofferenza, All ricerca di una riposta (Torino: Claudiana, 2004), What God Wants for Your Life \ufeff(Harper, 2005), Conversations with Scripture: Revelation (Morehouse, 2005), \ufeffConversations with Scripture: Luke \ufeff(Morehouse, 2009), and The Dave Test (Abingdon, 2013). He and his wife, Natalie (who is also an Episcopal priest), live in Arrington, TN. 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