Christian spirituality is like an apple ripening

Merton once asked, "how does an apple rippen?" His answer to his own question - "it just sits in the sun."

American myths promote that if you are not growing then you must be dying. If you are not working then you are lazy. If you are not moving then you must be dead. I suppose this is where Christianity differs from the American myths. 

There is little we can do to mature. That sometimes being still does not mean you are dead. If we are not growing larger that does not mean we are dead, it could mean we are maturing. 

This is where our churches are failing. We are convinced of the American myth more than we are of the Spiritual Truth that Merton so plainly points out. 

In order to mature, we need to sit in the sun and trust that the sun will do what that sun (son) does.