Spirituality

Advent Week 2: Just what are we waiting for?

Steve · December 5, 2010 · 3 Comments

Natural Light — Carmel Mission Light, photo by Steve Givens

Everybody knows that Advent is a time when we wait and prepare for the coming of Jesus at Christmas. That’s what we’ve been taught since childhood. But what does it really mean to us today if, in fact, we believe that Jesus is already here, moving and working among us? Just what are we waiting and preparing for?

What we should be preparing for is Christ’s birth (or rebirth) in us. So this year, in the midst of all the preparations for Christmas, make Advent a time for seeking God’s will. Like wise men and shepherds drawn to a manger in Bethlehem, seek out and find Jesus in your life, then seek out and discern God’s will for your life. Instead of planning for New Year’s resolutions that will disappear as quickly as dried-out Christmas trees, plan for a new year and a new life in which Christ is at the very core.

We sometimes find ourselves waiting for God to act in our lives. We pray: “Please, God, do this and then I’ll be able to do that.” But praying this way, instead of empowering us to action, often paralyzes us from doing anything at all. We sit and wait for God to act or respond, when all the time we are forgetting what God has already given.

We come to each new day with a body inherited from our parents and strengthened (or weakened) by our lives and activities. We come with an intellect that has developed through years of education and experience. But whatever the strengths or weaknesses of our bodies and minds, when God the potter applies His hand we become so much more. We become a work of art ready to proclaim the glory of the artist. Our only role in this transformation process is to allow ourselves to be shaped. To do this, we must give in to the will of the Creator. We must allow God to be a part of every decision that we make. We must place all of our important decisions in God’s hands. We must live our lives so people can see Christ in us. And there’s no better time to start than right now, during this season of preparing and waiting.

Our ultimate profession of faith is our ability to proclaim with each new day: “I’m yours, Lord. Do what you want with me.”

Waiting for Christ with Bright Eyes

Steve · November 30, 2010 · 3 Comments

prayer — Praying at the Carmel Mission Basilica, Carmel-By-The-Sea. Photo by Steve Givens

When author Toni Morrison was once asked how she became a great writer, she responded, “I am a great writer because when I was a little girl and walked into a room where my father was sitting, his eyes would light up. That is why I am a great writer.”

That’s a great lesson in parenting and, as we enter the season of Advent, it’s also a wonderful parable of faith. Children naturally get excited when December rolls around and their thoughts turn to presents, parties and Santa. But even as their excitement level rises, we adults sometimes respond with a corresponding drop in energy and life. To put it bluntly, our eyes are not always bright when December and Advent arrive. We’re just too tired.

The truth is, we all sometimes get a bit drowsy during these cold, short, often dreary and dark winter days leading up to Christmas. We get tired of our jobs, tired of the holiday rush and the onslaught of shopping and parties, tired of our responsibilities and the seeming sameness of our lives. We get physically tired and emotionally tired. And, yes, we get spiritually tired. Our prayer life can become listless or non-existent. Our family life can feel dogged and overwhelming. Our sacramental life can begin to feel like we’re on autopilot. Our hearts, just as Jesus warns us in Luke 21:34, can become “drowsy.”

A lesson from the sea: The view from Glass Beach

Steve · August 27, 2010 · 4 Comments

“You make everything glorious. And I am yours. What does that make me?”

– David Crowder

Here’s what I learned today standing on a beach in Fort Bragg, California: Even if time can’t heal all wounds, it at least can make even the seeming dregs of our lives beautiful. Just add water and an overwhelming force.

While it may seem unbelievable in today’s more environmentally conscious society, for many of the decades of the 20^th century, the people of Fort Bragg threw their household garbage over the cliffs and into the sea. They threw their garbage and their old cars and appliances. And they threw their discarded glass bottles. Lots of them.

Excuse me, but you seem to have a plank in your eye

Steve · July 11, 2010 · 2 Comments

Detail of angel, St. Louis Cathedral. Photo by Steve Givens

“Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye?” Matthew 7:2

“So be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us…” Ephesians 5:1-2

Here’s a truth we Christians need to hear: For many non-Christians, one of the biggest obstacles to becoming believers is not theological. The obstacle is not an inability to comprehend or believe the Christian salvation story. The biggest blockage in their path to faith is how they see the Christians around them acting. For we can be our own worst witnesses of faith.

Obviously, some people choose to believe in other faiths or in nothing at all. But the truth is, many people choose not to believe in the teachings of Christianity (or perhaps have left the faith of their childhood and family tradition) because they can’t see themselves as part of a group that so often preaches against its own core teachings of love and forgiveness by the way it acts.
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Same Path, Different Light

Steve · May 16, 2010 · 3 Comments

daisy — Daisy fleabane. Photo by Steve GIvens

“A camera is a tool for learning how to see without a camera.” – Dorothea Lange

I heard this quote about a month or so ago on NPR during a great feature on Dorothea Lange, the influential American documentary photographer and photojournalist best known for her Depression-era work for the Farm Security Administration (FSA). Google her and look at some of her images – they are simply amazing and you will no doubt recognize one or two of them from history textbooks and documentaries about the Depression. But her quote about “learning to see” is what stuck with me most after I finally turned the radio off (it was one of those “driveway moments” that NPR brags about).