Henry David Thoreau was born on July 12th, 1817 on Virginia Road in Concord, Massachusetts. Henry David Thoreau died on May 6th, 1862 at the tragically early age of just 44. In the decades that followed he would be regarded as one of America’s greatest writers. Thoreau spent his last years revising and editing his unpublished works. His health now fell into an irreversible decline with only short periods of remission. In 1859, following a late-night excursion to count the rings of tree stumps during a rain storm, he fell ill with bronchitis. Tragically his life and career were short. A noted Abolitionist Thoreau was a man to stand by his principles regardless of the minority view he might be holding. Eventually his published writings were to celebrate this area and his own philosophies. He was deeply influenced by Nature and especially the Walden woods. Thoreau was a philosopher of nature and how it affected the human condition. On graduating the normal professions left him unmoved and, after a period teaching at his own school, a growing friendship with Ralph Waldo Emerson moved his career onto that of writer and observer of nature. Thoreau studied at Harvard between 18 taking classes in rhetoric, classics, philosophy, mathematics, and science. THE QUESTIONĭo you have a holy discontent story? Did it lead to crisis or awakening or both? Are you in the midst of a holy discontent story now? It has a way of coming back around.Henry David Thoreau was born on July 12th, 1817 on Virginia Road in Concord, Massachusetts. Come Holy Spirit and grant me the courage to turn away from all that would distract me and the grace to become completely honest with myself before you. I want to trust you that underneath my discontent are your divine purposes, your dreams and your plans for me. I do not want to settle for less than what you want for me. Heavenly Father, something deep down tells me there’s more to this life than I presently know and experience. Paying attention means opening the vault of our quiet desperation and bringing forth our discontent that it might be named aloud and offered to God. When we pay attention to this discontent it can lead to tremendous breakthroughs into the greater purposes for our lives. Unheeded, this discontent can lead anywhere from a numbing affluence to a disastrous addiction. We are not the person we hoped we would become by now. We are dissatisfied with the way things are. True growth most often begins with a growing sense of dissonance. To the extent we are not attuned to this reality we are still asleep. Either way, the beginning of awakening in our lives is signaled by a growing awareness of the gnawing dissatisfaction in the pit of our souls. And though it is not a requirement, often it takes the former to produce the latter. One of two things will turn up the volume on this quiet desperation: crisis or awakening. Truth be told, it crouches at most of our doors. We hold it at bay by a thousand small distractions. We manage this quiet desperation by trying to stay ahead of it. Someone once pointed out that the word, “fine,” in this context, offers an apt acronym: Frustrated, Insecure, Nervous, and Exhausted. It is signaled by the all too common response to the question, “How are you doing?” It is the subtle deal we make with ourselves that we can have the world and the Kingdom that drives quiet desperation. After all, the world looks good with all its promises of prosperity. It happens in small, often imperceptible degrees. No-one sets out to gain the whole world at the cost of their soul. It tends to be the up-and-outers who suffer the curse of quiet desperation. It is loud, unavoidable, and often public. The down-and-outers can’t hide their desperation. Henry David Thoreau once famously said, “Most people lead lives of quiet desperation, and they go to the grave with the song still in them.” What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? CONSIDER THIS
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