Mundane, Uneventful, Boring--Kevin Wildman

One of the best books I have read in a long time is The Making of an Ordinary Saint: My Journey from Frustration to Joy with the Spiritual Disciplines, by Nathan Foster. In it Foster deals with those times of spiritual dryness we face. I found these two paragraphs especially helpful and encouraging.

Other times prayer is mundane, uneventful, and boring. Probably the hardest part about growing in deeper intimacy with God is that the feelings and senses visit and fade. Sometimes I’m left feeling vacant, and ordinary life fails to satisfy. I miss God. It’s like visiting the neighborhood park after going to Disneyland. I guess I wouldn’t miss him had I not experienced him.
I’m reminded again of trees and how they do most of their growth in winter, pushing their mass toward deeper water sources. Spring is the opportunity for the tree to proudly display its winter labor. I don’t really want to acknowledge it, but the empty times are when the most growth has occurred for me. They’ve been my chance to show up, to continue on. The valleys are opportunities to live as I do on the mountaintops, offering love and grace even when I feel none. I’m not good at that. Yet I know this is where my soul is formed. Sometimes I get tired of being formed. (145)