From “The Language of the Soul: Meeting God in the Longings of Our Hearts” by Jeff Crosby
In the years since first reading The Grand Essentials I’ve worked with Patterson on other writing projects and shared meals with him. In a recent conversation, he conveyed his late-career reflections on Chalmer’s “grand essentials of happiness,” distilling the guidance he would offer to any asking him for his insights today. Among the things he’d recommend:
- Seek to discern a sense of calling of what God has ordained each of us to do – which may or may not be what we’re paid for.
- Pursue people who will walk with us in community as we journey on
- Find people with whom we can laugh
As I thought about those late-night lodge conversations, I considered questions worth my asking, our asking together, questions I wish I might have offered in that gathering: What have you discerned about your own vocation? With whom are you in community, to provide companionship and discernment on your journey? Who around you can you routinely laugh and enjoy light-hearted moments with in the midst of the warp and woof of the heaviness of life?