Jeanne Guyon: In the Hands of Love
Love is always the same, even when it causes you to change
In this letter, Madame Jeanne Guyon1 helps me get a clearer picture of the spiritual maturation process. She wants her directee to know that her dependency on fleeting emotions lessens as one deepens in the life of God. I like how she touches on the duality of spiritual experience—abundance and scarcity, peace and conflict—and asserts that both are essential when crafting Christlike virtue. Whether you believe God initiates negative circumstances to "try" us or rather uses these experiences for our good, each situation is pivotal to our spiritual growth. Ultimately, she puts me at ease, reassuring me that behind my own emotional fluctuations is the unchanging love of God, guiding and strengthening my character.
As the soul advances in the life of God, its natural or selfish movements decrease; and it depends less on mere emotional exercises, and there is really less variation of the emotions.
Rest assured, it is the same God who causes the scarcity and the abundance, the rain and the fair weather. The high and low states, the peaceful and the state of warfare, are each good in their season. These vicissitudes form and mature the interior, as the different seasons compose the year. Each change in your inward experience, or external condition, is a new test, by which to try your faith and love; and will be a help towards perfecting your soul, if you receive it with love and submission.
Leave yourself therefore in the hands of Love. Love is always the same, although it causes you often to change your position. He who prefers one state to another, who loves abundance more than scarcity, when God orders otherwise, loves the gifts of God more than God himself.
God loves you; let this thought equalise all states. Let him do with us as with the waves of the sea, and whether he takes us to his bosom, or casts us upon the sand, that is, leaves us to our own barrenness, all is well.
For myself, I am pleased with all the Lord orders for me. I hold myself ready to suffer, not only imprisonment but death; perils everywhere—perils on the land—perils on the sea—among false brethren; all is good in Him, to Whom I am united forever.2
Madame Jeanne Guyon, born in 1648 in France, was a central figure in the Quietist movement. Her spiritual teachings emphasized direct communion with God through prayer and meditation, encapsulated in her phrase, "God is in all things and all things are in God." Despite facing imprisonment for her ideas, which challenged conventional religious norms, she influenced many, including François Fénelon, the Archbishop of Cambrai. Fénelon was a disciple and advocate of her approach to mysticism, promoting it even amidst controversy and criticism from the Church. Together, their work in spiritual direction continues to impact Christian mysticism, encouraging a deeper, personal connection with God.
Upham, P. L.. Letters of Madam Guyon. N.p.: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2013.
I especially love Madam Guyon's poem, A Little Bird I Am. I need to post about her story in that light. Here is a version put to new music, which is so beautiful https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32beW6W2N-E
I find there is something beautiful about writers from long ago. Their words land differently and provide new insight being so far removed from our culture.