A friend of mine (and
reader of this blog) recently wrote an email in which she asked,

“Does
Christianity/Christian practice/ the Bible work for you as any sort of
inspiration to keep your mind on higher things, let’s call them?

I’ve long wanted to keep
my focus, as best as I can, off of the mundane and the petty, the poor
behavior, the laziness, all these things you might call sin, and turn that
focus to the best in relationships, to hard work in pursuit of things I can do
to help the world, to generosity, kindness, bravery, modesty and such.

But for me, moments of
inspiration come infrequently and randomly: a line from a poem. Someone’s
obituary in the NYTimes. A passage in a novel, or yes, once or twice in the
Bible. I feel very jazzed for a moment and behave in a way that makes me happy,
and then the energy, the inspiration, dissipates and is long in coming again. I
want a source of such inspiration that is continuous or renewable and I
was wondering to what degree religion can serve as a dependable source for some
people. 

Do you find religious
practice helps you focus on the higher things in life? What practices
specifically help? Do those practices sometimes feel empty,
like you are going through the motions only? And do they sometimes feel very
fulfilling?”

Check back in tomorrow for my response. Meanwhile, what would you say?