Forever Love

Ok, so, there’s this guy. And he’s mad in love with this woman. Like crazy in love. She’s all he can think about and he just pines for her. He desires her and yearns to have her for forever, but she puts some distance between them. She hurts herself and doesn’t even realize it. She thinks she’s having fun flirting with man after man, giving more attention to some than others. She mixes all kinds of substances for any kind of other worldly experience.

 The pain of the whole ordeal is almost too much for him. Each time she thinks she’s having fun, it breaks his heart more and more- it’s like her wounds are ripping him apart too. He’s tried talking to her but she won’t listen. He just wants to take her in his arms and help her feel everything that she’s been missing. He wants to help her heal, but she won’t come to him. Again and again he talks to her, but she’s too distracted to see who he really is.

Finally, after years and years of this, their relationship reaches a pinnacle point. He’s made a decision, knowing it’s the only thing that can help her. It’s the only thing that will bring them together. It’s the only thing that will help her have the real life she’s been trying to chase. So, He picks up His cross, and like a lamb quietly being led to the slaughter, He goes. He’s willing to suffer so she can be healed. He’s willing to sacrifice His life so she can have a real one. That’s us with Christ. We, the Church, are His eternal bride. He’s done so much for us, how do we respond?

Put It In a Box! ...Maybe not??

How often do we put people in boxes? We give them boundaries (whether or not we realize it) to who we think they are and how we see our relationships. Specifically in my own life, this has come to a new realization. Long story short, it’s dawned on me how I’ve placed a whole “recent” experience in a box- like we do to so many other things in life. The box doesn’t contain a monster or a surprise or something I don’t want to look at, but it’s just how it’s been stored in my memory….

Essentially, when we place something in a box and sit to look upon it, what do we see? We see one side of that box. Maybe two. Or, if you’re at a really good angle, 3! …Therein lies the problem: there are 8 sides to a box. Of the total 8 sides, we only see 3 of them at best. Even when we move the box to see a new side, we’ve suddenly lost track of the other sides. Such is life, no? We do this a lot with our Lord, right? We think we figure part of God out, or a concept about Him, or one may be so bold as to even say they have Him or their relationship with Him figured out. Then what? Well, we’ve already placed Him in a box, one with infinitely more sides to it than we can even count!

We are faced with one side of Him, whichever one He decides to place in front of us, then after a while He slowly turns it to reveal something else- a different side. We think happily to ourselves that we have figured out something of Him or that we have successfully learned a lesson and that’s why He is allowing us to move on. Perhaps yes and perhaps no. If we are presented with the same side of God in new ways does it still look the same to us? Are we even aware that it’s a side that we’ve already seen before? In any capacity, God can’t fit in a box. Definitely not one that we made for Him. Let’s be serious! He made us to be the vessels (Rom9:20-21/2Cor4:7-18).

He placed His Son within us. This clay does not shape the Potter, such a thing just cannot physically happen. But it’s how we file things away, right? “Ok, I got this! Let’s pack it up and move on.” So not real life! Let’s face it: God has placed us in a box called, “Life in this world.” I imagine it’s probably a pretty small box, so we have to utilize the space in it with everything that is to be kept in here… So, what has the most priority in your box? The safest place? What’s the thing on top that is easiest to reach in and take out so you can look over it again and again? What’s the most valuable?

Here's a little something for you to listen to and be challenged by for the weekend.

"We want more than this world's got to offer 
We want more than this world's got to offer 
We want more than the wars of our fathers 
And everything inside screams for second life, yeah

We were meant to live for so much more 
Have we lost ourselves? "

Where was all this rain a month ago?

First off, we're going to try this one more time! Third time's a charm, right? Get the ball rolling and hopefully keep it going! Thanks for taking the time to read this. Welcome back or welcome for the first time. I'm a bit sad that it's been almost a year since my last post, with hope I'll get back into the habit of keeping the site going and God will continue to use me- to HIM BE THE GLORY!! Praise be Jesus! (Now and forever!)

Now on to tackling the rainy days question.... A month ago it seemed like we'd all nearly forgotten what rain looked, felt, and even smelt like. The earth was dry as the dessert and hard as a rock. Crops weren't flourishing and the grass was being scorched by the sun. Yet, the Lord sent no rain... until now. Why? Because for whatever His purpose is, now is the best time to send the rain. So it is with our souls. At times we must be put to the test and sent into the dessert where we will not be comfortable and placed under intense schorching in order to be brought to a certain point- learning a new lesson, a more open heart, a new point of view on life- where ever He desires us to be before we can be washed in cooling waters again. Sometimes there is a dessert between where we are now and where He needs us to go. Like anything with crops we know that there are good times and bad times. Planting crops at the end of July is bad timing- they'll never mature before they freeze. Trying to harvest in June is bad timing- nothing is ready yet. We think that we have perfected time schedules for when things are ready, but we are only human and thus probably not perfect. God, however, is perfect and outside of time; shouldn't we trust Him with His timing to give us drink or comfort or tests at the right time to make us ready and guide us towards maturity? 

Yesterday we heard in the first reading that God sent Elijah into the dessert where he was thirsty and starving, but definitely not abandoned. In his intense need and suffering God sent him aid when he needed it most so that he could continue onto his destination. The Lord nourished his body with food and drink so that he would not expire along the journey. So again it is with our souls. When our spirits can no longer carry themselves God, through His numerous graces, sends us the fruits of the spirit to nourish us so that "the journey will not be too long for you." Fr. Gary was sure to point out in his homily the true bread that gives us nourishment for our journeys here on earth- the Eucharist. Let us always be joyful that the Lord sends us this life giving bread everyday. Even when our spirits are in the dessert, we are still offered this eternally living bread to nourish us, and "true drink" so that our thirst will be quenched. We need only to accept it. Christ, the Bridegroom, makes the first move by offering us these graces, then as any lover responds to her husband, shouldn't we the Church, the Bride of Christ, readily and excitedly respond to our Lord? Could it be that when we are in the dessert yearning for nourishment and guidance that we learn the value of His graces and learn to trust His timing?