Focus on What Is Actually in Your Control
Tenth Day from Teresa of Ávila (Twelve Days of Christmas Gift Series)
As we arrive at Day 10 of the 12 Gifts of Christian Theology, we meet Teresa of Ávila, a woman who knew exhaustion, doubt, illness, and distraction from the inside. She didn’t discover faith in moments of calm clarity, but in frustration, failure, and inner chaos. Her gift comes from a hard-earned realization: real transformation doesn’t begin by fixing the world around us, but by learning how to live from the inside out.
She was sick for years. Teresa of Ávila could barely walk at one point. She fainted, lost feeling in her legs, and was written off as fragile. On top of that, her prayer felt broken. She would sit to pray and end up distracted, bored, or restless. This wasn’t a saint floating in peace. This was a woman frustrated with herself, wondering why faith felt so hard.
Teresa of Ávila lived in a noisy convent where prayer was rushed and shallow. She relied heavily on confessors, some of whom gave her poor advice and made her doubt her own experiences. Others helped her see clearly. Over time, Teresa noticed something simple but unsettling. Her spiritual life only changed when she stopped trying to impress others or fix herself outwardly and started paying attention to what was happening inside her.
That is where her main idea was born. Teresa realized the soul is not empty or chaotic by nature. It has depth and order. She described it as an “Inner Castle,” made of many rooms. Most people never enter. They stay busy, distracted, and reactive. For Teresa, prayer stopped being about saying the right words and became about showing up honestly, even when nothing felt impressive or productive.
Her gift is this that real change begins inward, not outward. Teresa didn’t escape the world. She reformed it by first reforming herself. After this shift, she founded new convents with stricter focus and quieter rhythms. She wrote books while exhausted and sick. She faced Church officials with clarity instead of fear. None of that came from confidence tricks or motivation. It came from learning how to return inward instead of scattering herself.
