“Is a lamp brought in to be placed under a bushel basket or under a bed, and not to be placed on a lampstand? (Mark 4:21).
God blesses us by giving his Son to us. He has done great things for us and he is the source of our joy! We do not earn nor is there anything that we can do to gain God’s grace. Our God and Father loves us unconditionally and always without hesitation and calls us to deeper and more intimate communion. But we can lose this gift of invitation to relationship, either by refusing what has been offered, or once accepting and receiving, not doing anything with the gift. If we are people of faith in name only, but not followed by action, we are concealing the light we have been given.
Prayer is the lifting of our hearts and minds to God, to spend time with him and in truly doing so, our lives as with any relationship, is changed. If we are not moving forward in the spiritual life, we are moving backwards. If we do not exercise our faith and allow that to happen over longer periods, we will receive signs of spiritual atrophy. To not even acknowledge the presence of God in our lives, the free gift of his invitation to be in a relationship with him, we will experience limitations and frustrations.
For whether we believe in God or not, we hunger to be in communion with him and one another, so we will be looking for other apparent avenues of happiness that will fall short of fulfilling us. If we do accept that there is a God, yet don’t participate in worship, fellowship, service, meditation and prayer, we are little but not much better off. I can believe that my truck will get me to where I want to go, but if I do not put the key in the ignition, turn on the engine, and shift it into drive, and press the gas peddle, I will remain stationary.
We are called daily to spend time reading, meditating and praying with the words of the Bible, putting into practice what we receive, and serving God as he leads. These spiritual non-negotiables happen more consistently when we schedule them first before any other activities, while being true to our station in life. A parent with an infant will have different demands than a monk or nun. What we do or do not do, does not earn God’s love. God loves us no matter what. The difference is that when we are consistently engaged in spending time with God, following his will, and putting into practice what he is guiding us to do, we experience his love and peace more because we experience him more.
We will then be more like Mary and the saints who reflected the light of Jesus. Privatizing our faith as well as getting into another’s face stifles the light of Jesus. We are called to follow the lead of the Holy Spirit, to be present, caring, understanding, supportive, convicting, and empowering, as we accompany one another in our realm of influence. The relationships we build are those that God brings into our lives.
Jesus has given his life for us, he continues to be present to and through us to others. May we be open to being conformed today and each day by his love. We are better able to do so by resisting and renouncing the temptations, diversions, and distractions that seek to lead us away from God. God sent Jesus to enter the chaos of our lives. May we allow him in to shine his light in our lives so we can identify and purge anything not of him, so that then we may begin to radiate the presence of Christ’s light in simple and concrete ways that allow God to happen through us in each encounter.
Photo: More of Jesus’ light will shine through us the more we are still enough to receive it.
Spiritual Stepping Stones 