Human Joy - Elizabeth Eliot

    The following excerpt is taken from Passion and Purity:
"Teach me to feel that Thou art always nigh;
Teach me the struggles of the soul to bear--
To check the rising doubt, the rebel sigh;
Teach me the patience of unanswered prayer.
                                                            GEORGE CROLY
                 "Spirit of God, Descend upon My Heart"
[...]
"'What hindereth thee more than thine affections not fully mortified to the will of God?' wrote Thomas a Kempis in Imitation of Christ.
    Mortified. A frightening word. If my affections must be mortified, does that mean they must be killed? Does it mean they're all evil and sinful and wicked? [...]
    There is no getting around the etymology of the word mortified. It comes from the Latin for death. The King James Version of Romans 8:13 says we must mortify our members. A modern translation makes it even more direct, 'But if by the Spirit you put to death all the base pursuits of the body, then you will live.' What are base pursuits? There is a list in Colossians 3:5: fornication, indecency, lust, foul cravings, and the ruthless greed which is nothing less than idolatry. These are products of human desire, if human desire is given free rein. The Christian has handed the reins over to his Master. His human desires are brought into line. The desires still exist, are still strong, natural, and human, but they are subjugated to the higher power of the Spirit. They are purified and corrected a we live day by day in faith and obedience.
[...]
The nonbeliever denies this, listens to the promptings of the flesh, capitulates, insists he has to do what feels good, to go with the flow. The Christian mortifies the flesh by submitting to the authority of Christ--to His authority in every area of his being

     I forget where I was going with this, except that there was a recurring theme, around the time I first copied the above, of whether it was good to enjoy something that did not directly relate to learning about or worshipping God; or rather, to what extent it was good and to what extent it was a distraction from what we should be focusing on.