Steve

Today’s Word: Journey

Steve · August 25, 2013 · Leave a Comment

For me, the best descriptor of a life of faith has always been “journey.” Like a great road trip along a classic highway like California 1, what happens and what we see along the way of faith is as important as the paradise we discover at the end. So while we’re all shooting for heaven, we have a responsibility (and a privilege) to use the journey to build the kingdom for others and draw ourselves closer to God along the way. Whether we’re cradle Christians or newer to the faith, the journey to and with God is what makes us who we are.

We don’t become Christians in one brief, emotional moment. Neither do we become “complete” in a sacramental instant, however important and meaningful that may be. We are loved by God from our moment of conception, but the journey home to God — our life of faith and family — is the legacy we leave to all those we eventually leave behind. When we arrive home with God at the end of our lives, we will claim our treasure and inheritance as children and heirs of God. But the journey along the way will stand as witness and testimony to the life we have lived and the lives we have touched.

Ask yourself in silence: Where am I in my journey to God? If I died tonight, what would the legacy of my journey be? What do I need to change in my life?

Today’s Word: Vocation

Steve · August 24, 2013 · 4 Comments

Historic schoolhouse, West Branch, Iowa. SJG photo.

“Vocation is where our greatest passion meets the world’s greatest need.”
– Frederick Buechner

The word vocation has, unfortunately, become all too familiar. We use it synonymously to mean, “what we do for a living.” And while that might be true, it only tells part of the story. The word comes from the Latin meaning “call” or “summons.” Thus, our vocations are not just what we do but what we are summoned to do. Summoned by whom? That’s up to the listener.

As people of faith, we hold to the idea that this call comes from God and reflects God’s desire and will for our lives. It is one of our great responsibilities to prayerfully discern our call and then respond. Importantly, it’s good to remember that we are perhaps called to different things at different times over the course of our lives. What we are called to in later life may be quite different from the call we responded to (or didn’t respond to…) when we were much younger.

Like any call, the answer to our vocation question can be found by listening. We need to listen to ourselves and trust our hearts. We need to listen to those who know us best. And we need to listen to that still, small voice that whispers (and hardly ever shouts): “Follow me, I’ve got something for you to do.”

Ask yourself in silence: To what are you sensing a call? Has there been a call you ignored because it seemed inconvenient? Do you have a passion that meets a great need in the world?

Today’s Word: Dry

Steve · August 22, 2013 · Leave a Comment

Dry Mississippi riverbed near Pevely, Missouri. SJG photo.

No matter how often we turn to God in prayer and no matter how rich and fruitful our prayer and worship experiences have been, sometimes we just come up dry. Sometimes God seems nowhere to be found. Sometimes we don’t feel like being found. We’re in the desert with not a drop of spiritual refreshment in sight. Mother Teresa of Calcutta shocked the world when she wrote in her memoir that she experienced long periods — years even — of spiritual dryness. And so we wonder, if that happened to such a holy and charitable soul, what chance have we got?

But that’s not how God works. Spiritual dryness is not a sign of weakness, nor is it an indication that our faith is lacking. Rather, it’s part of the journey of faith, part of the give and take and push and pull of our relationship with God, and that relationship is not an easy thing. On good days, we feel God’s presence in our silent prayer or in our private or communal devotion or worship, and we are as sure of God as we are of our own relationships with loved ones and friends. But on other days we’re not so sure. We second-guess ourselves and our lives of faith. We’re parched, thirsty for life-giving water and anxious to find a reliable source. The good news is that God is not looking for perfection. God is looking for open hearts willing to receive him. God is looking for us, waiting for us to turn toward him — even a sideways glance — and accept his invitation to friendship and belief. And the only response we can muster is a quiet and sincere, “Here I am, Lord, I come to do your will.” And that is enough.

Ask yourself in silence: Is my prayer dry or fruitful right now? What kind of effort do I give to my spiritual life? Am I willing to respond to God and strengthen our relationship?

Today’s Word: Rise

Steve · August 21, 2013 · 10 Comments

Last weekend while on retreat, I took a walk along the railroad tracks at the bottom of the hill near the river. While walking, I noticed dozens of railroad tie spikes just lying loose between the rails, and I wondered why they were there and where they all came from. Then I noticed that some of the spikes that were still “in place” were in varying stages of rising, so to speak, of being loosed, no doubt by years of pressure and vibration from passing trains. In short, they seemed to be freeing themselves. Free at last.

And I wondered: Can we, too, free ourselves from the holes and the tight places into which we have been driven? Can we be liberated from those people and circumstances that have perhaps left deep and painful marks on our lives and on our psyches? Can we repair the damage of past hurt?

We can, but we can’t do it alone. Like a railroad tie spike, we work our way free from our damaged pasts by responding to the vibrations and movements of an outside force. When we open ourselves to the movement of God in our lives and let go of aching parts of our past, we rise above the pressure and the rawness of these wounds and allow ourselves to rise, slowly and surely, to freedom and new life. We rise because God moves us toward freedom. We rise because we allow God to work on us, to inch us ever forward in faith and trust. Free at last.

Ask yourself in silence: From what in my past do I need to be freed? What piece of my history needs healing? What if I were to respond to the movement of God in my life? What would change?

Today’s Word: Trace

Steve · August 20, 2013 · 4 Comments

Walking along the dried Mississippi River bed, I came across the deer tracks pictured to the right. Looking behind me, I saw that I was leaving some tracks of my own in the wet mud. And in a moment of insight, I realized that we all leave a mark wherever we go, some sign that we are here, good or bad, if even for a brief moment. The question is: what kind of trace do we leave behind?

We all leave lots of surface impressions on the world. Often, as the saying goes, we only get one chance to make a best first impression. In spiritual terms, someone once said that we may be the only Christ the people around us meet on any given day, so we need to be constantly aware that we have that power and responsibility. We most effectively model Christ and divine love to the world not with Christian t-shirts and noisy preaching but rather by making a quiet impression of love on those around us. For it’s most often the gentle touch and the caring word that leaves the deepest mark.

Ask yourself in silence: What do I leave behind? Can the people around me tell that God dwells in me?