encouragement

Today’s Word: Alive

Steve · August 13, 2013 · Leave a Comment

Detail of America Windows, stained glass by Marc Chagall, the Art Institute of Chicago. SJG photo

The second-century Christian writer Irenaeus once wrote: “The glory of God is a human being fully alive.” What a contemporary sounding idea! God is most happy — is in his glory — when we are fully alive. So what does it mean to be fully alive? This thought reminds me of that great question in Psalm 8 (and I paraphrase): Who are we that God pays any attention to us at all?

Irenaeus has a comeback for the Psalmist: I’ll tell you who we are…we are his GLORY — as long as we’ve living lives of abundance, as long as we’re living lives that complete God’s purpose and hope for us. To be fully alive is to live fully in God, for God, of God. It is to seek God with every fiber of our being and in every moment of our lives. Or as a much more contemporary source (songwriter David Crowder) writes: “You make everything glorious. And I am yours. What does that make me?”

Ask yourself in silence: What am I doing when I feel I am most fully alive?

Today’s Word: Barriers

Steve · August 9, 2013 · Leave a Comment

In his poem “Mending Wall,” Robert Frost’s neighbor tells him that, “Good fences make good neighbors.” That’s probably very good advice for New England farmers with wandering cows, but as spiritual advice it leaves us on the wrong side of the fence, so to speak. Indeed, Frost gives better spiritual counsel in the very first line of the same poem: “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall.”

Knowingly or unknowingly, we erect barriers in our lives that keep God at a distance, or at least at arm’s length. We get too busy. We work too much. We worry too much. We drink too much. We have too many things in our lives that, while perhaps not bad or evil in themselves, nevertheless become distractions and obstacles to a life of pursuing God through prayer and worship. We build walls when we should be building gateways that connect God with the rest of our lives, where our work and our time can be made holy by God’s presence and touch.

Ask yourself in silence: What are the barriers that keep me from seeking God? What do I do instead of spending time in prayer?

Today’s Word: Lamp

Steve · August 8, 2013 · 2 Comments

Point Cabrillo Lighthouse, near Mendocino, California. SJG photo

“Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light for my path.” (Psalm 119:105)

Physically and metaphorically, we have lots of good sources of light in our lives. We flip switches and trust that the lamps will always come on. We awake each morning knowing that the sun will rise to illuminate the earth. Teachers and parents pass on the light of knowledge to their charges. Doctors, nurses and other healing professionals are led by the light of science to care for those in need. It’s no wonder that the creation story begins with: “Let there be light.” God knew — and continues to know —what we most need.

Light, in its many forms, uses and meanings, is perhaps God’s ultimate gift. Without it, we would literally and figuratively be in the dark, our lives only shadows and figures in fog. Spiritually, God lights our way through the darkness of our lives with his Word — with words of scripture left to light our paths, and with the ongoing presence and movement in our lives of Jesus, the Incarnate and living Word. Lamps for our bewildered feet.

Ask yourself in silence: Which lamps light my path? How much do I trust the living Word of God to show me the way through the darkness of life’s questions?

Today’s Word: Memory

Steve · August 7, 2013 · 6 Comments

So much of our lives as Christians is based on memories. The holy scriptures, of course, are the inspired memories of those who witnessed the history of the Jewish people, the life and passion of Christ, and the early days of the church. Many Christian denominations recall Jesus’ last supper with his followers by celebrating the Eucharist or Holy Communion. We do this, as scripture encourages us, “in memory” of him.

But so, too, do our own memories matter. When we remember the early days of our faith — whether as children or adults — we can see how much we have grown in relationship with God. And that growth is crucial to having a mature faith. Think of it this way: If our relationships with our spouses or other loved ones never grew stronger over the years, we would think something was wrong. We would want more. And yet, sometimes we remain complacent in our faith. We don’t push ourselves to “more” or “closer” with God for any number of reasons. Sometimes it may be just because we forget to remember where we have come from and neglect to consider how much further we could go if we only reached out to God.

Ask yourself in silence: What are my first memories of faith? What are the first precepts I learned? How much has my faith and my understanding of God changed over the years? Am I happy with my spiritual growth?

Today’s Word: Inevitable

Steve · August 6, 2013 · 3 Comments

flood — Road May Flood. Aubuchon Road, St. Louis. SJG photo

The photo to the right was taken not far from my home near the bottomlands of the Missouri River. The sign is absolutely correct, as several times a year the rain, the river and the nearby creeks combine to saturate the fields and overflow the road — a perfect storm of natural events that creates something that no one control. You just have to be prepared to accept the inevitable and take another route for a while.

Inevitable events are the ghosts of our lives. They linger in the back of our minds and come out once in a while to haunt our dreams and bring worry to our waking lives. Parents get older and die. Loved ones suffer in a myriad of ways. We face our own life challenges and — in one way or another — stare down our own mortality. Life’s changes and storms are inevitable, so the challenge of our faith is to be prepared when they come, to be spiritually strong so that our first response is not to throw up our arms in exasperation but rather to throw ourselves into the arms of God, the unchanging changer who stands solid at the center of our ever-changing lives.

Ask yourself in silence: Am I spiritually prepared for the inevitable events of my life? Am I building a faith and a relationship with God now, so that’s it’s ready when I need it most?