channels

"when we carry out our 'religious duties' we are like people diggin channels in a waterless land, in order that when at last the water comes, it may find them ready... there are happy moments, even now, when a trickle creeps along the dry beds; and happy souls to whom this happens often." -C.S. Lewis

everything moving

"humanity does not pass through phases as a train passes through stations: being alive, it has the privilege of always moving yet never leaving anything behind. Whatever we have been, in some sort we are still." -C.S. Lewis

really hurts

"Try to exclude the possibility of suffering which the order of nature and the existence of free-wills involve, and you find that you have excluded life itself." -C.S. Lewis

gifted

God made us to fit into his family and gave each of us gifts that will help define our place in that family. That gift is a special ability to meet other people’s needs. It’s what helps us serve better. Serving other people is not an added little project for us to take on so we can be purpose driven; it is an integral part of our identities. You were made to serve, and you were given gifts to help you serve better.

Your gift is by nature just that: a gift, so it is not hard to do. Sometimes it may take effort to get yourself into a place where you can exercise your spiritual gift, but once you start serving, the gift comes naturally. If you’re not sure what your gift is, ask somebody.

What I mean is: We are not very good judges of our own gifts. Our gifts are for others, and for this reason, those who receive the benefits of our gifts are the best qualified to tell us what they are. For instance, if people naturally come to you for advice because you always speak practically into their lives, then they are probably telling you that you have the gift of wisdom. If people call you when they need something done because you always get things done on time and with limited effort, they may be telling you that you have the gift of service or administration. If people confide in you because they know that whatever they say you will not turn them away, they may be counting on your gift of mercy. If whenever you teach a Bible study or a small group, people come up to you and tell you what they learned, then they may be telling you that you have the gift of teaching. Ask the people around you to tell you specifically how you affect their lives.

Of course you have to exercise your gift before anyone can benefit from it and tell you what it is. Knowledge of these things doesn’t come out of a vacuum. How do you start serving if you aren’t sure what your gift is? Best to simply get involved with a small group or in some capacity in your church or community. As you reach out to people in general, a certain expertise will take shape. It will be hard to miss. It’s a blend of what you like to do, what comes easily, and what those around you confirm.

Having a role to play in the family of God can be the difference between wondering why we are here and knowing why. And that can make all the difference in the world.

by John Fischer

afraid of mystery

this morning I was preparing for Mass in the woods, as usual. It was cold but the sun came up and melted the frost. It was quiet, except for the crows. I sat on an old chair under the skinny cedars, with my feet in the brown, frosty grass, and reflected on the errors of my monastic life. They are many and I am in the midst of them. I have never seen so many mistakes and illusions. It should be enough for me that God loves me. For His love is greater than anything else. It is the beginning and end of all. By it and for it all things were created. Yet, outside His love, I am tempted to erect a cold house of my own devising - a house that is small enough to contain my own self, and that is easier to understand than His incomprehensible love and His providence. Why is it we must be afraid of Mystery, as if the Mystery of God's love were not infinitely simple and infinitely clear? Why do we run away from Him into the dark, which, to us, is light? There is the other mystery of sin, which no one understands. Yet we act as if we understood sin and as if we were really aware of the love of God when we have never deeply experienced the meaning of either one.

by Thomas Merton