Jesus came from his home in the infinitely loving Trinity into our world. He came to restore us to the image and likeness of God. He cured our brokenness by drawing it all into himself and, in unimaginable agony, he struggled relentlessly to trust that his Father would lift him up and heal him and us. This the Father did, and the remedy for all our brokenness was revealed. He sacrificed his own control of everything so as to leave open completely the door for the Father to pour in his infinitely loving grace. Thereafter, the cure for all our ills is to follow him into the Father’s heart. The Spirit of Jesus leads us on this journey, and in that place of grace we gradually allow him to lead us to perfection.

That is how we achieve integrity. Integrity is where our fractured selves are coming together and we become who we are meant to be. The Journey to integrity necessarily involves pain, which we can either fight and rage against, or we can undergo with our crucified Christ. The Greek poet Aeschylus expressed it well when he wrote: “He who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God” (Agamemnon).

I am not saying that many of us achieve wholeness in this life, but we make striking progress if we allow the hand of God to mould us. That might involve a gradual lessening of our capacities and self-sufficiency. We may suffer indignity, loss of mental clarity and have to rely on others for help. Yet inwardly there can be an integration of our being which does not depend on bodily health or freedom. We can become humble as we gradually realise how much we are loved. With that comes a growing tranquillity as we experience God’s grace leading us along the path of personal integration.

The book of Daniel (12, 3) says: “Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the universe, and those who turn to righteousness like the stars forever and ever”. But to “shine like stars” we have a long journey to complete in the process of becoming so totally pure and perfect that we are able to live forever within the Trinity.

Johann Sebastian Bach beautifully expressed the mystery of the human ascent into the family of God: “Word of God, our flesh that fashioned, with the fire of life impassioned, striving still to truth unknown, soaring, dying round Thy throne” (Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring).

What can seem like dying, can instead be our innermost selves being brought to life under the profound cherishing of our Father. Thus ‘comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God’.