In Deuteronomy 7:21 it says Have no dread of them, for the Lord your God, who is present with you, is a great and awesome God.
God is present to us, He is with us at all times. I don't need to tell you that life is a bit weird right now for everyone, but the beautiful thing about life whatever its like at any moment, in any time, in any day, God is present to us. How often is that message even ignored? Like most basic truths of our faith they go far deeper than what we can fathom. Its like the ocean, we can see the ocean, and understand the ocean, but there are still depths of the ocean never seen before. There are creatures in the ocean still unknown to us. These basic truths from God are similar to that. That he is love, and that he loves us, that he died for our sins, that he is with us always, these truths, they’re beautiful and we can see them as we see the ocean, but to stop there and never dive deeper is an injustice. The actual truth that God is with you at all times is something very beautiful. Think of that, because if we can accept that God is constantly with us, how much more would we be able to embrace his love. That he loves us knowing all things, seeing all that we do, knowing all our choices, and in each moment he isn't just existing by us but he’s beckoning us, he is calling out to us, he is reaching for us and wants us to come close to him, to say hi. If God is constantly there, then how are you responding. If the truth didn’t really sink in before, that’s okay, let it sink in now. How would you make the most of your day knowing that God is beside you in it all. This truth has helped me to embrace God as a friend, seeing him as someone who delights in me, in my humor, in daily life things, and someone who I can delite in as well makes him not this giant dictator in the sky, but as a personal and personable God who not only loves me, but likes me, enjoys me, and delights in me. You know how the more time you spend with people the more you pick up some of their characteristics or sayings? I had a youth once tell me they knew if I was at a retreat because kids who came back from it would start saying y’all. We often pick up habits and sayings of people the more time we spend with them. When I come back from Australia and whenever I talk to my Aussies I start saying heaps again, or shivers or Aussie slang. When I watch Brooklyn 99 I start quoting Jake and will act a lil Gena like. When I watch the office, I will quote the entirety of the show. We are creatures of habit, so when we are hearing things, surrounded by things, and absorbing things of similar nature constantly we pick up on it and we begin to act in that way. Do you notice how the music you listen to changes based on the seasons? Or your emotions? I used to refuse the idea that I changed based on other people but I can see it very very clearly now. And it doesn't mean you arent being authentic, it doesn't mean you arent being true to yourself. The little quirks you say or sayings you have or little habbits dont define you as a person. But it does make us have to be aware of who and what we are surrounding ourselves with. What are the messages were constantly being told? Who are the people we are around and what are they making normal to us. Are they bettering us? Are they helping us to grow? Are they nurturing good habits in us? How do they make us feel? I recently took a break off instagram, which started the leaders take over. But the reason why was because I was constantly scrolling through instagram, seeing young girls half my age with bodies mine could not compare too. I was seeing women closer to my age with bodies I couldn't compete with, I was seeing tiktoks joking about couples cheating, promoting and normalizing porn, laughing at chastity, and honestly it became too much. I started not trusting my boyfriend, I wasn't loving or even accepting myself and my body, and I became overwhelmed, frustrated and miserable. Because in all honesty the few funny memes or tiktoks that I laughed at didnt make up for the hundreds of videos I saw that hurt my heart or affected me negatively. So I deleted my instagram for 2 weeks. The first day it was soooo weird not going on it first thing, and yes I downloaded some new games on my phone, but I actually started to notice a difference right away. I became more regular with prayer, I became more aware of other things i could do around my house, I BOUGHT PLANTS AND I LOVE THEM! They are very cute. But most of all I started to accept myself a bit more. Then add that with talking to people who affirmed me, my body, and my beauty and I feel back to my confident self. (Obviously its not always perfect but im waaaay better now) My time was spent with my screen, and my focus became similar to it, shallow and 2d. If I didn't feel interested in what I was watching in the first 5 seconds of glancing at it, I scrolled on. And I began to feel the same about myself, was I engaging enough, when I looked in the mirror did I want to continue to look? Is my boyfriend the same as these guys? Am i attractive? When I took a break from social media I was left with investing in real relationships, from social distance walks and visits, to facetime chats and talking on the phone. I focused on prayer more and realized all the things I could do in this time, from being artistic and creative to listening to new music. Who and what we spend our time on matters, who and what we invest in matters, because we are shaped by what we are around. When someone shows you love, how much easier is it for you to choose love? When someone is rude to you, how much harder is it for you to choose kindness? Since God is present to us at all times, in every moment we have the opportunity to surround ourselves with love. When I make myself aware of God's presence and truly seek him out in the mundane and ordinary Im now spending most of my time with Love itself. So how is that going to transcend into my thoughts and actions? The more time I spend embracing God's presence in my daily life the more I'm able to delight in the ordinary, the more peace I feel, the more sustained and joyful I feel. A really simple way to invite God into your daily moments and not make him feel stuffy or not approachable is you know the moments when you kinda talk to yourself? Like you have a thought and you say it outloud but no ones around. Like I was raking and I was trying to decide how i wanted to do it, In that moment i make the choice to say it to God. EX Jesus i think im going to start raking this lawn, and then ill move to the side smaller one… Thats it. Thats literally it takes, and yet I invited God in, I acknowledged his presence. God is with us at all times and that means at any moment we can acknowledge Him. We can greet Him, and we can invite Him in. so how do you hear God? What ways is Gods voice very clear to you? In a book “Spiritual Passages: The Psychology of Spiritual Development, by Benedict J. Groeschel. He shares about how people hear God’s call in different ways, or what he calls the “Four Voices of God”. He says that people will hear God in four different ways and most people will have a few they naturally really experience God through. The categories are seeking God as the One, the True, the Good, and the Beautiful. 4 voices of God One God as One: This category is about God known as the One, Supreme and Living Unity. Usually this person will have contradicting forces internally or opposing forces that threaten to tear the self apart. Only by submitting to the complete will of God will this person find unity and peace of mind. It can be difficult for this group to completely surrender to God’s call, and some in this group will live their entire lives in a state of confusion, but others like St Catherine of Genoa, who suffered from powerful and contradictory inclinations, chose to do the will of God and did tremendous good. This is the one category, that I think, would be the most difficult to reach, because everything is so internalized. When you think about teens, who fall in this category, strong relationships with parents and other trusted people, would be most beneficial for these people trying to navigate through the difficult times. Truth God as True: People who hear God in this way are ones who love to seek, to ask questions and are naturally more curious. These same people like to discuss their thoughts with others. They are also similar to people in the One category, however, they are less likely to be in turmoil. This category includes individuals like St. Thomas Aquinas and perhaps everyone will find themselves in this category at one point in their lives. Teenagers especially want to hear the truth and the childlike explanations they were fed, when they were young, no longer work. Some people don’t think we should doubt God at all, but if we are right, about what we believe, than we have nothing to fear. The questioning teenager may doubt and question, but if done properly will grow into an adult who has a reverent love for philosophy and theology. However, the flip side is that in our often complicated world, where Truth is hidden amongst a muddle of half truths and falsehoods, that in their quest to find the Truth, they may become cynical, skeptical or disheartened, if it alludes them. Goodness God as Good: This category is very different from the above two, but is similar to God as Beautiful, which will be discussed next. They are the most caring, gentle, and affectionate of human beings and they are often not troubled by any inner conflicts, like we saw in the previous two categories. Unfortunately, people in this category are most likely to be taken advantage of. They can be easily manipulated, deceived and betrayed. Finally, their goodness needs to be truly rooted in God if they are to lead a life of generous service. If they veer too much, to the pursuit of good in the material world, it will only lead to disaster. Often people in this category are our favourite saints, such as St. Francis of Assisi or Blessed Mother Theresa. Beauty God as Beautiful: Lastly, there are those who find God in beauty and there is no shortage of beauty in this world. This group, however, can easily be deceived by beauty and Plato taught that “we find unfailing and infinite beauty only if we pass from transitory beauties to essential beauty”. These people need to be wary of the temptations that accompany beauty, less they settle for something less. It is not uncommon for them to rise and fall, throughout their spiritual journey. ” How does God speak to you? What is God saying to you? How can you bring God into joining you as you watch a movie, invite him into an afternoon walk, a morning workout. In this time allow yourself to simply be present, by us being present we can be present to Him. The more time I spend on screens the more bored and desperate I feel about all this so if you need to take some time off instagram, maybe make a specific day a social media free day. Figure out the way you hear Gods voice and put yourself into those situations where you hear him more naturally. This is a blog post where I got the explanations of the 4 voices from. https://seekingpemberley.wordpress.com/2012/07/31/the-four-voices-of-god/
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