Snakes and ladders

We should not be distressed by lapses from grace. They may well be necessary. We may have been trying too hard, or  have become inflated by what we imagine as our progress in the practice of meditation, so that a sudden fall jerks us back to earth. It is like the game of Snakes and Ladders. In our practice we shall, time and again, slide to the bottom of the snake. As Jesus said, ‘No one, having put their hand to the plough and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of Heaven.’ We plod on!

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8 thoughts on “Snakes and ladders”

    1. If you are the author of In The Stillness, it is a beautiful book. I treasure every word. With your Editors permission, we used your poem Love Whispers in a Church Service on Love and Caring. Thank you. Catherine

  1. Thank you James. So often your pearls of wisdom arrive at just the right time to lift me up and keep me ‘plodding on’. Often meditation seems barren – of course it’s not – God turns up but I am elsewhere!
    With appreciation P

    1. That is great, for although loved the ladders playing the game as a child, have never been able to in another sense. Growth by subtraction. But why even think of growth, getting there. Just being with .

  2. Yes, Peter, I find exactly the same. The pearls of wisdom James writes often seem to arrive at just the right time for me too.
    Best wishes
    Elizabeth

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