Paula Huston on the radical spiritual changes than can happen in mid-life, which she calls the third conversion:
Despite my upbringing as a level-headed Lutheran and my later allegiance to a church that locates the source of spiritual growth primarily in the sacraments and liturgical worship, I’ve become convinced that we experience the most surprising spiritual wake-up calls at the most inconvenient times. When we do, we are faced with a choice: we can avoid or ignore them, or we can close our eyes, hold our noses and take the plunge into disruption.
Her “plunge into disruption” took the form of leaving her teaching job and her marriage for a time and going on a pilgrimage to shrines around the world. Hers is a powerful story, offering insight to those of us passing through gentler forms of mid-life conversion.
