The awakening of a sinner, Theophan says, is such an action of God’s grace in his heart that he, having awakened from sleep, sees his sinfulness and feels his danger. He then begins to fear for himself and concerns himself with how he can rid himself of this trouble and save himself.

Quite frequently it seems that we humans wait until our lives are seriously challenged by sickness or age before we seem to awake from the sleep of sin. It is truly funny how religious many become when they have to confront the possibility of death.

The sinner who awakens from the sleep of sin can then see, feel and care. But this is not the change itself yet. It is only a   possibility for this change and a call for it. Here grace, God’s help through insight, just says, according to Theophan, to a sinner: See what you have come to. Take care then, and take measures for your salvation. Only grace takes the sinner out of his habitual and customary bondage and relieves him from his fretters. In this way grace affords him an opportunity to choose an entirely new life and to attune himself to it. If he avails himself of this opportunity, then it will be a blessing for him. But if he does not take this opportunity, then he will be submerged again into the same deep sleep as before and will be thrown into the same abyss of destruction.

It is important to note that the grace Theophan speaks about, which he calls opportunities, can really be understood to be the various different opportunities for growth that life presents – opportunities which are neither really good nor bad but which we humans tend to label in this way.

For example: sickness, success, failure, disappointment, fulfillment, love, hatred – all of which can be designated as either good or bad – are just the occasions and events in life that can, if we embrace them with an understanding that they are meant to help us learn the lessons of life, help us grow. The difficulties and challenges of life are not punishments. They are a means to help us understanding the meaning and purpose of life. But, we humans seem to even miss the positive events of life and learn from them.

Remember, life presents us with multiple occasions for spiritual growth!