Tales from the desert...part 5
"Something I have been pondering these days in the desert is the will of God. Sounds ominous, doesn't it? Many people talk about the will of God as in, "Sister, I just want to do the will of God" or "I don't know what the will of God is for me." Well, what is the will of God? And how does one go about discovering it in his or her own life?
Perhaps it would help us if we could keep in mind that nothing in our life is coincidental. Nothing. Every person that crosses your path, everything that happens to you during the day is providential, not coincidental. Now, perhaps we don't understand all of what happens to us but that's not really the point. That point is that God is doing something in and with our lives. The experiences we have in our ordinary, routine day are gifts from God. Notice that even in a like environment such as an office, or a school or a religious community wherein people have a similar daily structure, they don't have the exact same types of experiences every day. God is teaching all of us different things. Our life is tailored to us. We aren't generic prototypes or repeats of some cookie-cutter model (okay, so nuns dress the same, but I promise you that we are all very different!).
God loves us so much that everyday, at every moment, He showers us with gifts. These are the experiences that happen in our lives. These are the gifts He has to give us. Perhaps we don't like the wrapping of some of the gifts, for they can come cloaked in humiliation, sorrow, defeat and disappointment, but underneath that wrapping is a gift from God, if we can only see it as such.
I believe that these gifts that come to us everyday make up the larger "will of God" that many people speak of. Sometimes I think we are waiting for some voice to come out of the sky and tell us what to do, while all along we miss the whispers that permeate our daily lives.
If we are faithful to the small things in life, bigger things will be given to us. Jesus exhorted this to His apostles. Perhaps it is in our human nature to want to run before we can crawl. The disciples swore they would never forsake Jesus and then ran away that very night. And we all do the same. So that's when we come to our senses and come back to God, where we belong. Conversion is a daily process. Holiness is a journey of becoming. We are on a mission.
That's the will of God!
Til then..."
Perhaps it would help us if we could keep in mind that nothing in our life is coincidental. Nothing. Every person that crosses your path, everything that happens to you during the day is providential, not coincidental. Now, perhaps we don't understand all of what happens to us but that's not really the point. That point is that God is doing something in and with our lives. The experiences we have in our ordinary, routine day are gifts from God. Notice that even in a like environment such as an office, or a school or a religious community wherein people have a similar daily structure, they don't have the exact same types of experiences every day. God is teaching all of us different things. Our life is tailored to us. We aren't generic prototypes or repeats of some cookie-cutter model (okay, so nuns dress the same, but I promise you that we are all very different!).
God loves us so much that everyday, at every moment, He showers us with gifts. These are the experiences that happen in our lives. These are the gifts He has to give us. Perhaps we don't like the wrapping of some of the gifts, for they can come cloaked in humiliation, sorrow, defeat and disappointment, but underneath that wrapping is a gift from God, if we can only see it as such.
I believe that these gifts that come to us everyday make up the larger "will of God" that many people speak of. Sometimes I think we are waiting for some voice to come out of the sky and tell us what to do, while all along we miss the whispers that permeate our daily lives.
If we are faithful to the small things in life, bigger things will be given to us. Jesus exhorted this to His apostles. Perhaps it is in our human nature to want to run before we can crawl. The disciples swore they would never forsake Jesus and then ran away that very night. And we all do the same. So that's when we come to our senses and come back to God, where we belong. Conversion is a daily process. Holiness is a journey of becoming. We are on a mission.
That's the will of God!
Til then..."
Comments
My mom told me about your blog...wonderful! I have just emerged from my own desert experience, 40 days in Capulin. Our Blessed Mother enveloped me in grace. I was not moved to read anything particularly erudite - though I did finally read the chronicles of Narnia. "Aslan" knows His little children so well! Pray for me, His unworthy unruly child during your blessed retreat that he may be a good and holy priest! - Dcn. Shane