Building our Relationship with God!!!

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

The Gifts of Easter Continue...

Reflection on the gospel reading

2^nd Sunday of Easter (4/15/12)

John 20:19-31

The gifts of Easter continue…

There were two verses from today’s gospel that stood out to me.

“Peace be with you.”

“Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”

God does want us to have a peaceful heart and mind.  Jesus greets the apostles twice in this one reading with the words, “Peace be with you.”  Think about how you feel when you do God’s work or when you’ve made a decision based on prayer – we tend to be overcome with a sense of peace or even joy.  That is what Jesus is offering to us.  That is yet another gift He wants to give us, but we have to be open to receiving it.  If we insist on seeing the wounds - the lance in His side - or ask for miracles to happen on demand, we are missing out on the amazing beauty of God’s glory that surrounds us every day.  Our hearts are shut off from the peace that can be found in a simple still moment.

If we believe without having seen, we can find the peace that Christ offers.  That line in the gospel is speaking to all of US.  We are the ones who have not seen and have believed.  I feel like this message can be applied even beyond belief in Christ.  Even though we cannot see the plan that God has laid out for our personal lives, if we believe that He will sustain us and that He knows what will bring us happiness, then God will bless us in our journeys because we have believed.  He will bring us joy.  Through our belief and trust, we can learn to hand over our worries and allow Christ to sustain us…to fill us with “life in His name.”  I’ll be the first to admit that handing over my worries is not an easy task, but it is one worth striving for.  I believe that faith and trust go hand in hand.  As I work to build my faith, my trust will also grow, allowing me to depend more fully on Christ and His plan.