Meditation ~ Contemplation as Beginning and End

{UPDATE: my life has since become much more "active" since writing this. But it's fun to keep this posted here as a record of my thought process.}

Vocations: the idea of paths to God, of experiencing God through a particular lifestyle, people, places, things.

How do you encounter God?

I think for me it's the contemplative life, having time to enjoy things like a walk to the park with my dog, baking brownies and watching a movie, reading, quality time with the people I care about, taking care of people as an educator, going to lunch, time sitting in front of a piano, time for adoration in the middle of the day, time, time, time....

There's nothing I love more than a free afternoon.

When I look at my own life path, not everything about it is ideal. I have sacrificed some things and learned to live within certain boundaries and limitations. However, the one thing my life path allows for, is free time. I have had the time to think, and think.

I thought what I wanted out of all of this was a well-ordered mind. I intuited that God was sovereign over everything and that not all choices are made equal. What is truth? How do I live a good life?

Those questions are still important to me, and I'm excited to say that the journey does yield fruit, and I have found answers. That said, I have also come to see that for me contemplation is not a means to an end, only. It is not just about finding answers so that I can go out and do something different.

Instead, there is a sense in which contemplation is an end in itself. Having arrived at the truth, which is love, it can feel great to just savor it.

I like to think of it as the beginning of the Beatific Vision, here and now.