Month: November 2020

Let the day begin!

Unfortunately all too often we wake up in the morning and instead of looking forward to seizing the day, we begin to think of our troubles. We think about the heavy burdens the day will hold, the person we had conflict with recently, the worries of an upcoming possible conflict, health and the world.  We often complicate our thoughts even further by judging others and embracing negativity.  At times these thoughts can weigh us down.  We have the, “I have to do” mentality and not the “I get to do” perspective.  Science has proven that stress negatively effects our lives and yet it is the treadmill we hop on and we don’t seem to be able to get off.

Scripture gives us us many teachings on not living in stress. Some believe that not to be true because Jesus said we must pick up our cross daily. They reason that means life is meant to be hard.  While it is true that we must daily pick up our cross, we forget that the cross is love. It is a self-giving love. It is being other oriented. Some crosses are extremely hard, but most of the daily ones are not extreme. They are just our opportunity for us to grow in love. 

In the midst of our days when we judge, complain and think negatively, we forget that St Paul  said, “Be joyful always, pray at all times, be thankful in all circumstances. This is what God wants from you in your life in union with Christ Jesus.” (1Thes 5:16-18). It is much harder to feel stressed if we are grateful. 

Jesus said, “When you pray and ask for something, believe that you have received it, and you will be given whatever you ask for.”  (Mark 11:24)  He didn’t say to worry about the problem. He said to think of the future and not the past when He said to believe it has been answered. Wouldn’t it be much better for the health of our body, mind and soul if we lived in the joy of having received the things we were praying for rather than living in the fear of the present situation and basing a presumed outcome on past experiences?  How often do we pray for one thing and yet contradict our prayers by living in fear because of the past?    

Living in the present fear that one doesn’t have a job, for instance, doesn’t help the situation. It only makes you feel worse.  Living in hope by believing your prayer has already been answered is living the prayer of  hope and “hope does not disappoint” (Rom 5:5). Some may argue that one who acts like this is living in a dreamworld and not reality.  I would argue that Jesus said to live in that world. He say to pray as if we have received, be thankful, have joy, have hope and not to despair. He did not say to live a life with an attitude of whoa is me.  

It is hard to live like this. It means breaking years of bad habits of thinking negatively. We need to strive in trusting in God‘s word when He said, “I alone know the plans I have for you, plans to bring you prosperity and not disaster, plans to bring about the future you hope for.”  (Jeremiah 29:11) We must trust what God said when He went on to further say. “You will call to me. You will come and pray to me, and I will answer you. You will seek me, and you will find me because you will seek me with your heart.”  (Jeremiah 29:12-14).   

With a loving, thankful, believing, hope-filled heart, we can be filled with joy.  These virtues will help us to be less stressed and less stress means a happier and healthier person.  These virtues will also help us to handle the heavier crosses better when it is harder or even impossible to have anything other than great sorrow.  In the midst of the great sorrow, we have a heart that has been formed to be loving,  thankful, believing and hope filled.  That makes a difference in the midst of sorrow.  Perhaps it was that heart that caused Jesus to minister to others and forgive them on the cross. He kept His self-giving attitude of love, believing and hoping for the future He trusted His Father would bring about. He wanted the cross to be lifted from Him, but knew the plans for His future would be answered because He spent His life living that way and knowing the outcome was always filled with His Heavenly Father’s perfect plan of love.  In the midst of His sorrow, His strongly formed heart got Him through and enabled Him to stay focused on His Father’s word.  He knew the crucifixion was not the end of the story.  Resurrection was coming.  Now, in the ordinary times and difficult times, He asks us to do the same.  Can we?

PRAYERFULLY RELECT ON:

Each of the five scripture passages highlighted above.  Talk to Jesus about them.

Reflect on your day.  Did you live in the positive hope for your future or did you live in the negativity and fear of the past?  If you were negative and fearful, think of your discovery not as a defeat, but as a victory because you discovered it.

Try practicing meditation where you simply sit in the presence of God.  Close your eyes and strive to be in a silent atmosphere.  Rest in the quiet moment with God.  When thoughts come in, you will better recognize them if you are ignoring the senses of sight and sound.  All you will have left is your thoughts, which you should push aside so as to simply be with God.  If you strive to practice the presence of God during the day, this meditation practice will help you to become aware of the times you lose His presence during the day.  You will better be able to realize when thoughts enter that are contrary to God…judgment, despair, worry, negativity, etc.  These thoughts separate you from God.  This awareness can help you get back on track as you reject the stress of worry and negativity and stay in the presence of God with all His love and positivity. 

As I look back on my week and review it, it seems that while it was good, it was chaotic.  I couldn’t put it in a box and tie it with a bow. What do I mean by that? I feel like I have been all over the place.  Work has been very busy which leaves me little energy left for my personal life.  The house is a mess, my to-do-list has had to be shorter and I’ve been going to bed late because I have no energy to even get off the couch.  Last night I felt so overwhelmed that we ordered out instead of eating canned chili, which I bought for such times, but then completely forgot about.   I know it is a part of life.  I know it is no big deal, but I know that within that chaotic feeling, God is present and eager for me to learn more about Him and His love for me through it.  As always, however, we have to first know ourselves if we are to know God more.  

In the past I have learned to adjust my expectations during these brief moments in life.  I have learned they pass and setting myself up for failure only increases my frustrations and feelings of being over whelmed.  Cutting back and knowing that this too shall pass seems to work better even though I am feeling the chaos for a bit.  I like order and calm because I feel like I can hear God more. That is understanding and knowing about me, but what about God?

I know God must like order and calm too because He did one thing a day on the first seven days.  He stuck to it until He was finished. He kept it calm. He didn’t dabble one day with water and land and the land and the sun  the next.   He finished one job before He started a new task.  He remained focused. That God handled it this way also shows me that He is in the moment.  By creating man last, He was able to maintain the calm and order while enjoying the moment.  Things definitely got more chaotic once man entered the picture.

God also gave us the 10 Commandments, which show us that God loves order and that all His laws are based on love.  Jesus pointed out that the countless additional regulations people were practicing were given by man, not God. God doesn’t enslave us as the rules had done. The 10 Commandments were broken down into two by Jesus because all the Commandments were basically directives to love God and neighbor.  When we do this, all will be well.  God only asked that we love. Every problem of the world could be solved if we lived by those Commandments and loved those who God charges us to care for.  

Man came and chaos entered, but we know that He still desires calm and order because God never changes. He still desires us to live in the moment just as He modeled.  He still desires that we live by the two laws of love.  Life would be so much calmer if everyone looked to God as our model and only wanted His will.  

In  learning about what I don’t like and how God acts, I’ve learned more about God and that the desires for calm I have are His desires working in me. The question now becomes, in a world where people don’t want God‘s will necessarily, how do I keep calm?  I know I have to cooperate with God and have tried to do just that.  Order is what I try to keep in mind during the crazy times, but now I have learned I have more room to grow.  

For me the hardest times are the unexpected times.  Perhaps as the unpleasant unexpected comes it is as if we are put in the garden of Eden. Not that the unexpected is sinful, but God put Adam and Eve in the order and expected calm, but got chaos. He expected His desires to be fulfilled and they were put on hold. Perhaps all our unpleasant interruptions are the result of original sin. We may have a calm day, but, for instance, if someone gets sick and we need to help, it is a result of original sin because we weren’t originally meant to get sick. If we are annoyed by the change in plans, we are compounding the disruption.  If the unexpected we are experiencing is good, we are experiencing an Annunciation moment.  It seems that in the unexpected, we are either  wrapped up in Eve’s choice or Mary’s Annunciation moment, so to speak.  In Eve moments  we need to fight the temptation to act poorly and act with love just as God did when He made Adam and Eve clothes.  In Annunciation moments we need to trust and say yes just as Mary did.  In both times, when God enters, all interruptions are made good.

I am not suggesting that we can be focused and always take on one job at a time as God did. There are times when that would not be possible, but I do see that God is always calm and in the moment. People came and within that came sin and distraction, but we can do a job, all in, until we can’t. We don’t have to worry about what is ahead if we are stopped.

Did Jesus live like this? Did He embrace order and living in the moment? Did He focus on one job until He could no longer focus on it? Did He meet the interruptions of life with love as God the Father did in the garden of Eden? He definitely did.  He would go to lonely places and the people would find Him and ask for help. Without hesitation He stopped praying.  He would take walks and the sick would stop Him in order to ask for healings. I would say we can see He was in the moment by His ability to have an interruption and not tell people to wait or come back another time.  Jesus embraced the interruptions as if embracing His Father.  He lived the Jewish teachings, practiced the 10 Commandments and even showed us there were basically two loving God and neighbor.  Yes.  Jesus embraced seeking God in the moments as they presented themselves and He embraced order as well.

To be in the moment like that and have all the peace and calm order brings, we have to see God in all things. We have to be willing to stop doing what we are doing, believing we are stopping to be with God. In other words, you must know we are leaving God for God.  We would grasp at such an interruption with love if we could see with our eyes. We would embrace the moment with fervor because we would want to appreciate it in the event it never happened again.  We would know that at this moment the to-do-list may say what we have to do, but if it was stopped for a moment we would be fine because we are choosing God. If we had other things to do after, we would be fine. We would focus on them when the time came, but for now we would know it was not the time.  While we cannot see all this with our eyes, we must see it with the eyes of faith.

If I want to live in the moment and have order and find myself lacking peace, it is because I’m fighting God’s will.  I want a task to be done and yet I can’t because something else must be completed. I then think of what I want. I think of my reward when it’s done. I think about everything else I would like to do and I feel discomfort. I feel the discomfort because I am fighting the presence of God in the moment. I want to find Him elsewhere. I want to leave setting up the land so I can move on to water. I actually want the very thing I don’t want…chaos and not order.  Within every dislike someone may feel, however it may look, is someone not living in the moment. In the dislike they are focusing on self and the way the moment is making them feel.  Of course, we should always dislike evil, but we must discern what that is.  Much of the time what we insist is evil that others are doing is really evil in the form of our pride and self love.  It is about what I, I, I want and not what God wants. 

Each day we should have one thing on the top of our to do list… Spend the day with God. If this is the focus on everything we experience, whether planned or unplanned, we can be at peace knowing we are still with God. We are embracing order because we are with Him. Order brings peace and how we perceive what is before us can bring us God and His peace if we listen to the stirrings of our hearts.  In the stirrings of our hearts, we can find that interruptions are simply opportunities to leave God for God.  

Prayerfully Reflect On:

Loving God and neighbor are our two greatest commandments.  Meditate on Matt 22:37-40.

Sometimes we intend to rest, but people need us.  Meditate on Matt 15:29-32.

Sometimes the interruptions of life come from our possessions breaking destroyed and we cannot see the good in that happening.  Meditate on Luke 5:17-20

Sometimes we are interrupted when we are sleeping.  Meditate on Luke 8:22-25

Sometimes our prayer time is interrupted.  Meditate on Mark 1:35-37.  

Sometimes our will is not God’s will.  Meditate on Mark 8:31-33