The last post on the parable of the mustard seed inspired me to really think about my own spiritual cultivation. It is a unique and awesome feeling to really strive and yearn for a closeness with God, which can lead to a journey of renewal in our faith. Everyday we are given opportunities to really build the wonderful relationship with God such as, attending daily mass, praying daily, going to confession, receiving the Eucharist, performing random acts of kindness without the need for being rewarded or just talking about God with someone that knows or does not know the companionship God. I placed forth a challenge for not only myself, but to you, the reader, to make a committment to drawing yourself closer to God.
A song was recently shared with me and I fell in love with it for its push-harder attitude during my workout. As I listened closer to the lyrics after writing the last post, it revealed a different kind of push-harder attitude that we can all relate to in our journeys towards our relationships with God.
I just have to say that if the lyrics didn't get you, then the music video will! We are constantly seeing glimpses of ourselves in a relationship with God. We, in a sense, can go through waves of desire to strengthen our relationship. We struggle sometimes and can let people or events distract us from building that relationship. The person in the video is shown following someone that looks like him as he glimpsed him passing by. He becomes curious about this person's resemblence to himself and begins to follow the stranger. As he continues to want to see this person, he meets obstacles in his way! He blasts through those obstacles, however tempting, and finally meets the person in something that was all to familiar to him already. How metaphoric for our own journeys! God is always there, but it is up to us to chase Him and find him in our hearts where He has been the whole time! I thought the song was great and then I saw the video and was actually smiling and excited the whole way through!
I hope you enjoy this upbeat reminder to always strive to build your relationship with God!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQYpF2pCkLI
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Parable of the Mustard Seed
SOOOOOOO.... Long time and no words! Sorry about that, but the last few weeks I have been searching and thinking of a topic on which to write. This past Sunday, God gave me the inspiration that I needed. He brought me a story to inspire my word for the spreaking on the kingdom of God!
Parables, what a wonderful gift from God. We are able to learn so much from the stories that Jesus shared with us so that we can know Him more. Parables are blessings to those with willing ears though. We recognized that when Jesus pulled the disciples to the side and explained by saying,
"Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, And seeing you will see and not perceive; For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.’ But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it" (Matthew 13:10-17).
In the Parable of the Mustard Seed, we hear about the planting and cultivating of a very small seed. We learn of the stuggles that a seed can have in growing. The parable can be a wonderful comparision to our daily lives.As the man in the parable plants the seed in the field, so God has planted the Kingdom of Heaven in our hearts. It is up to us to find opportunities to cultivate the seed to better spread the word of God. The growth of the seed is dependent on our efforts in nutrturing and cultivating the seed by particpating in the sacrements. We can constantly renew our efforts in becoming closer to God! It is never to late to ask for forgivness, for that is the beauty in the mercy of God! As we cultivate this seed in our hearts, we are able to become stronger in spreading the seed for others, so that in turn they can cultivate and spread the word of God with others.
We are all responsible for the cultivation of their seed of the Kingdom of heaven.
I set out this challenge to each and every one of you to seek out ways to cultivate the Kingdom of God in your hearts. I happen to stumble upon a website that gave me a good starting point on how to begin cultivating the Kingdom of God in my heart.
http://www.whatchristianswanttoknow.com/7-spiritual-growth-tips/
You can visit this site for more in depth explaination, but here is an overview of some ideas!
Hope we see you at come of the Young Adults events that we want to provide so that you can begin or continue the journey of growing that seed of the Kingdom of God!
Parables, what a wonderful gift from God. We are able to learn so much from the stories that Jesus shared with us so that we can know Him more. Parables are blessings to those with willing ears though. We recognized that when Jesus pulled the disciples to the side and explained by saying,
"Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, And seeing you will see and not perceive; For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.’ But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it" (Matthew 13:10-17).
In the Parable of the Mustard Seed, we hear about the planting and cultivating of a very small seed. We learn of the stuggles that a seed can have in growing. The parable can be a wonderful comparision to our daily lives.As the man in the parable plants the seed in the field, so God has planted the Kingdom of Heaven in our hearts. It is up to us to find opportunities to cultivate the seed to better spread the word of God. The growth of the seed is dependent on our efforts in nutrturing and cultivating the seed by particpating in the sacrements. We can constantly renew our efforts in becoming closer to God! It is never to late to ask for forgivness, for that is the beauty in the mercy of God! As we cultivate this seed in our hearts, we are able to become stronger in spreading the seed for others, so that in turn they can cultivate and spread the word of God with others.
We are all responsible for the cultivation of their seed of the Kingdom of heaven.
I set out this challenge to each and every one of you to seek out ways to cultivate the Kingdom of God in your hearts. I happen to stumble upon a website that gave me a good starting point on how to begin cultivating the Kingdom of God in my heart.
http://www.whatchristianswanttoknow.com/7-spiritual-growth-tips/
You can visit this site for more in depth explaination, but here is an overview of some ideas!
Hope we see you at come of the Young Adults events that we want to provide so that you can begin or continue the journey of growing that seed of the Kingdom of God!
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