Today's Word

Today’s Word: Purpose

Steve · October 14, 2013 · Leave a Comment

stack — Purposefully made. Creve Coeur Park, St. Louis. SJG photo

It is perhaps the question that thoughtful, discerning, reflective people most often ask themselves and God: Why am I here? For what purpose was I created? Like the world and all within it — which God created not once but, rather, continually creates — we were fashioned by the hand and mind of God and continue to be reshaped and repurposed by the events and people that enter our lives. We are molded again and again into the men and women that we are right now…right now…right now. The molding and shaping never ceases; we are never the same person we were the day before. But to what purpose, we ask? Why the change, the evolution? To what end?

God wants us fully human and fully alive, never lukewarm. And so God plants a passion and a call deep within us, an original seed of purpose and foundation that lies dormant until we discover it, cultivate it, bring it fruition. This is our life’s work. Only through a life of introspection — of faith and prayer — do we sense this purpose and respond with lives in service of others and in worship of the One who made us.

Ask yourself in silence: What is my foundation and purpose? From what passion and call does my life flow?

Today’s Word: Creative

Steve · October 13, 2013 · 2 Comments

jenny — My daughter, Jenny, creating some music with friends Phil Cooper, left, and Gerry Kasper. SJG photo.

When we create art — at whatever level of expertise and of whatever kind — we reflect the work of the Creator, the One who put that creative spark in our gut. I have friends who create music, paintings, photography, quilts, poetry, plays, novels and many other types of work that would just remain ideas if not for the effort and commitment they put into their art and the inspiration that comes from somewhere deep within them. For the creative arts may be “inspired,” but if the idea never comes to life and no one experiences it, then what good is it? It’s like walking through an art museum or gallery and thinking, “I could have done that!” Well maybe so, but you didn’t. Someone else had the idea and took the leap.

love — "All You Need is Love," acrylic and paper on canvas by Steve Givens.

The creative arts, at least for many of us who profess a Creator God, are acts of faith. When we dare to create, when we “step out the boat,” we move from safety and comfort into an area of uncertainty, for when we begin to create we don’t always know where we are going to end up. The poem begins with a single word or line. The song with a note. The painting with a sketch or with putting brush to canvas. So it’s easy enough to talk ourselves out of creating because we think we’re not talented or creative enough. But our call as artists and people of faith is not to artistic perfection but to genuine and authentic response to the call. We are called to find some glimmer of truth and beauty in the world around us — to capture the movement and color of God — and respond, to reflect that back to those around us. Not everyone finds God in the same way. As artists and creative people, our vocation is to gently lead those who view or read or hear our art to look a little closer at the world around them and see for themselves that something beautiful, loving and eternal is waiting their notice.

Ask yourself in silence: What could I create today? How can I turn a creative gesture into both prayer for myself and a guidepost to God for others?

Today’s Word: Migratory

Steve · October 12, 2013 · 2 Comments

riverlands — Just passing through. Riverlands Bird Sanctuary, West Alton, Mo. SJG photo.

One of the things I like best about autumn and winter in the Midwest is watching the migratory birds that pass through on their way to Mexico and Central and South America. Here in St. Louis, near the confluence of the Mississippi, Missouri and Illinois rivers, clouds of birds fill the sky on any given day, moving, weaving and blending together like vast schools of fish. Even as scientists and naturalists study and better understand these migratory patterns and flyways, what they really can’t fully comprehend is this: What exactly pulls these birds to fly these long routes, which remain virtually the same over years and generations of birds? What is it within them that pulls them like a magnet to their winter homes and then back to their summer habitats? It’s a mystery, but that doesn’t make it any less real.

And what is it that over and over pulls us toward this thing — this power, this presence — that we call God? No matter how much we love this life and the world around us, this pull is a gentle yet powerful reminder that we are more than what makes us human. We are migratory, souls passing through our bodies on our way to somewhere else. Like birds flying the long trip for the first time, we cannot even imagine what it is we are traveling toward, but we continue to fly, drawn by a force we can only sense as being there, as being love. It’s a mystery, but that doesn’t make it any less real.

Ask yourself in silence: In these moments of silence, can I sense the pull of God? Am I willing to lean into this pull and follow?

Today’s Word: Consider

Steve · October 8, 2013 · 1 Comment

lily — Consider the lilies of the field. SJG photo.

In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus encourages us to “consider the lilies of the field” as a model for our lives. They don’t worry much about their lives, and neither should we, we are told. But let’s consider these lilies a little more. Consider these things: The lily does not choose where it stands in the field, or which weeds and thorns grow up around it. It cannot control the weather or how much sunlight it receives. In short, it cannot change the things it cannot change, like what kind of lily it is or what color. What it can do is stand and endure. It can “bloom where it is planted” and become the lily it was meant to become. It cannot become a tulip or an oak tree. The lily is beautiful on its own, as are we all in the sight of God.

In a recent Ignatian prayer exercise, I was asked to consider these lilies and, in doing so, to consider “how much of me is mine and how much is God’s.” It’s not an easy question, for some things seem to come from neither God nor me. Unless I abuse or don’t take care of my body, I don’t really “choose” health or illness, and neither does God choose for us illness or violence against us. Nevertheless, the choices we make, the will of God, and the things that just “happen” to us as humans in an imperfect world intermingle to become what we think of as our “lives.”

What we are called to do in the midst of all this imperfection is the punch line of this particular parable: “Seek God first and the rest will fall into place.” Like the lily, we cannot change where and how we were raised or how well we were nurtured. To a great extent we cannot control our health, although we are certainly called to care for ourselves and respect our bodies and what we put into them or do with them. Our greatest desire – wherever we are in life – should be responding to the will of the gardener and master planter, the sower of the seed.

Ask yourself in silence: What are the things I most worry about? Do I worry about things I cannot change? How often do I seek God first?

Today’s Word: Awake

Steve · October 7, 2013 · 2 Comments

It’s been fun watching my grandson, Noah, wake up to the world around him. Just about five months old, we’ve watched as he’s grown from the “eat, sleep, poop” stage to a period of becoming more and more aware of the world and the people around him. To watch Noah smile in recognition of his parents or reach for the dangling and colorful object hanging above his head is a spiritual lesson. For whether we’re growing physically or spiritually, we must learn to pay attention.

American Catholic Bishop Robert Morneau once said, “Spirituality is easy to define: Just stay awake.” That seems simple but, of course, it’s not always. We can sometimes find ourselves going through life not so awake. Sleepwalking. We can navigate our days as if on autopilot, looking neither left nor right for the presence of God but only straight ahead toward the next goal, the next day on the job, the next deadline or headline. Remaining awake for and aware of the spiritual in our lives requires a willingness to stop and look around, to marvel at the shiny or colorful objects God plants in front of our eyes, to smile in recognition of the people and blessings we are given so freely. To live awake is to live in awareness that all is gift and that our lives are filled not with circumstances and coincidences but with miracles.

Ask yourself in silence: How wide open are my eyes as I walk through life? Do I expect to see God today? Do I expect miracles?