Essays - Fall, 2008

by Randy Roche, SJ


Below is a title and brief description of each essay. To read the essay,  click on the title.

Winds - What happens when the Spirit blows where it wills, and we not only notice the activity, but accept?

Water and Christmas - The ordinary-extraordinary aspects of water can help us appreciate the ultimate gift of love that we celebrate at Christmas.

Differences - Far from being clones, we have among us a great diversity of habits, customs, interests, and preferences.

Sudden Death - All of us experience loss, and most of it is sudden, at least in our experience.

In Dependence - Our healthy need for others, including God, is a gift.

This Day - What is the most important day of our lives?

Sleeping - God’s personal love for us is shown in the process of, and in our need for, sleep.

Together - God favors unity among us much more highly than an equality of sameness.

Princes - “Princes” stands for princesses, presidents, and anyone we can imagine who might have political or military power.

Obedience and Trust - There really are no circumstances in which God cannot work with us and for us.

Plans - God’s plans for us are not, as we might fear, opposed to us.

Saving Experiences - God has never asked or expected us to be God.

Ring Nebula - The God of all creation desires to relate directly with each of us, personally.

Winds

When the wind blows, the temperature usually changes – if not according to measurement by a thermometer, by the sensation of heating or cooling that it causes in us. When the Spirit blows, we cannot measure the consequences, but we can feel them in our hearts and recognize them in our reflections.

We cannot see the wind itself, but we are certain of its presence by its effects: the swaying of tree branches, the movement of clouds, of dust, sand, and other objects, and the many different sounds that we hear. We are able, with or without measuring devices, to recognize not only the wind’s direction, intensity, and other qualities, but to make reasonable, helpful decisions based on our perceptions about the motion of the wind.

We do not see God’s Spirit, yet all of us are quite capable of detecting the direction towards which this wind would move us: greater trust in God, more expansive hope, and deeper love. If we decide to move in the direction the Spirit indicates, we will fulfill the purpose of our existence; if we choose otherwise, we gain nothing for ourselves or anyone else. We do not need weather reports or gauges to notice how God’s love moves in our minds and hearts.

What happens when the Spirit blows where it wills, and we not only notice the activity, but accept? Only good things: inspirations to try new ways of praying, of relating with others, of doing ordinary things gracefully; prompts to take on responsibilities together with the courage to carry them through; encouragement to take risks that are founded on hope; support for words and deeds that are based on love rather than fear. Weather-winds do not take us into account, while God’s Spirit blows always for our benefit.

Winds can be dry, as in a desert environment, or humid, as in a tropical climate. We talk about the “wind chill factor” when the weather is cold, and about the danger of fire when the wind is both hot and dry. Though we can to some extent moderate the effects of wind by our selection of clothing, means of transportation, and buildings, we do not control the force and direction of the winds.

We do not direct the Spirit of God, any more than we control the weather, but we can invite God to move in and around us, to great effect. The life-giving breath of God is more powerful than the strongest wind, and also as delicate as the gentlest breeze. Though we might think that our needs at the time of our asking are for “just a touch of air,” we might find ourselves and our environment caught up in an ongoing whirlwind of new and necessary movements. God remains Creator, and we the non-controlling beneficiaries of all-knowing Love. We do well to seek the grace of God in our lives, but we cannot know ahead of time, where it will lead.

Just as many of us grow accustomed to the winds of nature, and habitually make adjustments related to them, we also become familiar with the changing movements of the Spirit in our lives. At one time we can be moved to tears without knowing why, and in another moment filled with a powerful desire to act on behalf of justice. Physical winds can chill or warm us, depending upon their source in nature. The breath of God might cool the heat of anger for our well-being, but never chill us to our harm. The one Source can also warm our cold hearts, but never enflame us to destructive thoughts or actions.

Winds will blow, we will choose how to respond.
 

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Water and Christmas

On a cold, clear winter day, even in the sunny dry, desert-like climate of Los Angeles, it is often possible to see the surrounding mountains covered with snow. God, who created the earth that contains water in the forms of snow, ice, and rain, also became a human child. The One who invented our water-dependent humanity out of love, also became human-dependent as a child from the same motive. We are double-beneficiaries of some often under-appreciated gifts.

Those of us with ready access to clean water can easily take for granted the gift that not only provides us with the means for maintaining our physical life, but which is also an excellent image of how God relates with us in our hearts. Water quenches our thirst and we continue to live. We also have another kind of thirst: to love and to be loved. God meets our need through the people who love us and whom we love, and also through the one human who is also God: Jesus. We did not invent or create the water that is so necessary for life, and we did not create Christmas, by which our deeper needs are met. Both are gifts of God.

When water freezes, it floats on top, serving as a protective cover for all that is beneath, just as snow insulates the ground from the colder air above. At times, we do not feel the love of God or of anyone else. Only after we have come through the severe cold of a sickness, heartbreak, or loss, do we perhaps realize that the love of God and of others had been quietly protective of us at every moment.

All our drinking water ultimately comes to us by the process of evaporation from the salty oceans. Clouds formed, rain or snow fell, streams flowed, and whether directly from the surface of through extraction from wells, life-giving water has come to us. We can see clouds, but we do not usually observe directly the entire amazing process by which our drinking water comes to us from the seas. We can look at images of the child Jesus in pictures, crèche scenes, and in our own imaginations, but only through prayerful reflection can we perceive the value God places on each of us by becoming one of us.

Water is a gift, meant for all of God’s children so that we can live, and, having life, experience gratitude – a response to the love with which the gift is given. Jesus too is wholly a gift, God’s infinite love for us in human form, the source for living a life of spirit with one another, and also the One to whom we can express our gratitude.

The ordinary-extraordinary aspects of water can help us appreciate the ultimate gift of love that we celebrate at Christmas.

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Differences

Shall we have a green tree with colored lights and a variety of ornaments, or a white tree with all blue lights and only red ornaments?
No matter which of the different options is selected, we all will be able to enjoy the Christmas tree when the work has been completed – if we know how to deal positively with differences.

Far from being clones, we have among us a great diversity of habits, customs, interests, and preferences. If God had made us so that would we all think alike, and all have the same preferences, we would be incapable of love. When we agree to abide by a decision, even about the decorations in a shared space, we express the higher value we place on persons rather than on the décor. Love is far more about relating in a context of differences than similarities.

People can argue over anything from the relative merits of fruit cake to brands of dish-washing soap, each seeking agreement with his or her position, neither gaining anything from the dispute. Between the extremes of avoiding all conflict over differences and never accepting any but one’s own opinion, we can either agree to disagree, or we can seek for a decision that is respectful of both sides, even if one position must be chosen over another for the sake of our relationship. We are of much greater importance than the music we favor, the forms of recreation we prefer, or the kinds of clothing we like.

Some of the differences we have are of more significance than mere likes and dislikes. Focusing on what we have in common, when we have differing beliefs or values, is more a matter of inspiration than the results of limited human reasoning. God, who created us as unique individuals, loves all of us without exception and knows us completely. When we are confronted with seemingly irreconcilable differences, we can seek a sharing in God’s perspective, and then decide how to act or not to act, whether to speak or to remain silent. Though we might not come to a mutual agreement over an issue that divides us, we can – with God’s help – make our decision based on love rather than rejection of the person with whom we differ.

We cannot have one Christmas tree that is both green with colored lights and white with only blue lights. And we cannot be both loving and selfish in the same moment. We might think that God would only be interested in helping us with the major decisions we make, but when it comes to even the least choice for or against love, we can expect, and if we want will always receive, some small inspiration to guide us.

In God’s vast and yet finely detailed creation, differences can be the occasion for us to grow in knowledge, appreciation, and, most of all, love.
 

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Sudden Death

In some sports, when the contests have not resulted in a victory for either team, a “sudden death” mode of play is invoked in order to bring about a winner, and as a consequence, a loser. When someone close to us dies suddenly, there would appear to be only one “winner” – the one who is now with God – and the rest of us left to grieve over our loss.

All of us experience loss, and most of it is sudden, at least in our experience. Even if we anticipate a change in a love relationship, in a job, or residence, we still might have to deal with some grief and some loss. If we made the decision for the change, perhaps the pain is less. When someone leaves us, or our job is terminated, or our home is destroyed, the pain is intense, whether or not we knew ahead of time the loss that might be ours.

Where is God, in our times of loss? What do we expect of God when we are grieving? The answers we give to these and similar questions will make the difference between our own living or, in some way, dying.

We can come through our deepest hurts more readily when we designate God’s location as being within us, and sharing our present experience rather than thinking that God is somewhere above and beyond us. Where is God? Many people look directly at a symbol of Christ on the cross as a means of contacting the love of God who knows our suffering from the inside. God turns directly towards us in our hurts, and looks at us directly with a compassion and understanding that places love ahead of loss. We might be a long time in our process of grieving, but we are not alone. And we will not be left alone, at any time, no matter how long our heart aches.

Our expectations of God are best related to previous experiences rather than to the many ways we could think about what God might or might not do or permit. If we have ever run to our mother or father with the pain of a loss, our healing began in the assurance – probably not stated as such – that we could continue to live, even without the person or thing that would no longer be ours. When we turn to God, we can expect to find new meaning and purpose in the midst of our grieving. God is and will always be immediately present to us, enabling us to complete our healing process according to our unique set of qualities.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and heavily burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Mt. 11:28) Jesus spoke those words before his own death. They are addressed to us, now.
 

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In Dependence

Every conscious relationship with God implies a “Declaration of Dependence.” For us who find consolation, assurance, and radical support for our way of life in our personal connection with God, there is no contradiction, no opposition, between our freedom of choice and our dependence upon God.

The myth of complete independence as the highest value we can achieve makes for interesting fantasy stories. Novels, movies, plays, and TV programs offer constant variations based on the fiction of individuals prevailing over all human and natural forces that would limit their freedom. Sometimes a partner is included in the triumph over every limiting factor, but interdependence is usually not featured in the stories of powerful victors.

The frequent use of words in the media and everyday conversation such as “democracy,” “rights,” and “liberty” point not only to a legitimate desire for freedom from coercion in matters of personal life, politics, and religion, but the unrealistic expectations of individuals who each expect to have everything “their own way.” God made us for a much fuller life of love that puts us into contact with a variety of persons who differ from us, yet complement us with their gifts. We are at our responsible and realistic best in dependence upon others, not in total self-reliance.

Forced dependence is reprehensible. We rightly become angered at news of any form of active or implied slavery or abuse in which the basic freedom and dignity of humans is diminished by the unjust application of power, whether by a military intervention or a domineering spouse. Although we are completely dependent upon God for life itself, we do not experience coercion in any form. We owe everything to our Creator, but we do not even have to say “thank you” for any and all that we are given. If we acknowledge our dependence upon God for all that we have and are, we do so in complete freedom.

When humans misuse drugs, sex, food, power, or consumer goods, they become dependent in a very negative fashion, relinquishing transcendent internal values for short-term use or possession of external things. As with recovering alcoholics, a proper dependence upon God for strength and motivation leads directly to real freedom, which is for others as well as self, rather than freedom from everyone or every limitation.

Our healthy need for others, including God, is a gift. We thrive in an environment in which we do not have to have or to be everything all at once. What pleasure we find in the growing exercise of our own personality, talents, and gifts in service to, and in relation with, other people who have different personalities, talents, and gifts that complement ours. A life of appropriate interdependence now, gives us a tiny hint of what we can expect when we move from our “timed” existence to that of timelessness, where sharing with others and God will be our absolute fulfillment.

God did not hold something back in making us interdependent. Our need for one another is a reflection of who God is, wholly interactive in love. The word, “Trinity” is an indicator to us that God, as love, is interpersonal. We, who are created in the image and likeness of God, find in our experience that life is composed primarily of relationships, not the gathering of objects or power.

Though we have need to honestly and carefully choose the practical details of all our interactions with friends and enemies, family members and strangers, people close and distant, we will find our fulfillment in dependence, rather than in selfish independence.
 

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This Day

Would we say that this day is a blessing? The answer we give depends on the variables of our experiences, and our powers of reflection. The answer must be ours, as no one else can know what is in our hearts unless we choose to reveal it. If we wish to answer the question to our own satisfaction we might consider a variety of perspectives.

We might decide not to make any kind of judgment about the quality of this day, preferring to let the day be what it is. Or, we can look through the day’s events and determine whether they seem favorable to us or not, taking as our point of view how we are affected. With a bit broader perspective we might consider the effects of the day’s events not only upon us, but others as well.

If we believe that every day is a gift from God, we will consider how to understand the experiences of this day as being blessed. Though the question is ours to answer, we might take into account our perception of how we have touched or have been affected by others.

And we want to look at what “this day” comprises: what we did or did not do and what we experienced in the context of family, business, school, city, region, country, or world. Though we most likely look at this day from the standpoint of our own thoughts and feelings in response to what we have done, observed, and received, we can also consider what this day might be “in heaven:” our inspired estimate of the day’s value in view of eternity.

We do well to keep our question about blessings in the present. The past is gone. We can say that yesterday was blessed or not blessed, but this is the day that God is giving us. If we consider it a gift, we can insist with ourselves that this day contains the challenges and graces that are exactly suited to us so that we might express in real time our timeless ideals and values. With such an attitude, we will more readily find what is beneficial in it than if we judge this day as a blessing or not in comparison with another.

Also, “this day” can be considered in the context of The Lord’s Prayer, as in “Give us this day our daily bread.” God does not give us tomorrow until tomorrow. We are granted life for today, and, with God, we influence not only what takes place, but most especially, how we interpret or understand our participation in this day. We can look for the signs of how God is giving us our “daily bread,” rather than merely add up the pleasures, subtract the unpleasantness, and then say of the day that it is blessed or not.

What is the most important day of our lives? From the perspective of trust in God, we might say that it must be the day we are experiencing: this day.

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Sleeping

One of my favorite phrases in Scripture is this: “. . . for He gives to His beloved in sleep.” (Ps. 127:2) We are so accustomed to results based on our efforts, that I take delight in the thought that God loves us while we are awake as well as when we are asleep, and does not require our conscious participation for him to give us gifts that affect our well-being and that of others.

Many of us, when we were children, awoke on Christmas morning, on a birthday, or some special occasion such as having lost a “baby tooth,” to find a gift that was left for us while we were sleeping. As adults, we have probably awakened in the morning with an answer to a problem or situation that we had not been able to resolve during many waking hours of concentrated thought. I find it both reasonable and consoling to believe that by whatever process the solution or the gift arrives, God’s love is at the source.

Sleeping itself is a rather amazing gift that differs widely in duration, quality, and consequences from person to person, and also for us as individuals. Some of us can fall asleep easily in a car, bus, or plane; others are able to sleep fully only when in their own beds. Some need eight hours, others only five. But sleep of any kind or amount restores us in mind, body, and spirit. The Creator has arranged that, unlike the sun, the seas, and the winds, we regularly cease activity in order to sustain active lives.

God’s personal love for us is shown in the process of, and in our need for, sleep. We lose consciousness, yet continue to be who we are. The necessity of sleep is a reminder that we are much more than our thoughts and thinking; our total value is not comprised by consciousness, since God loves us even when we are unaware and not making decisions. God continues to move within us while we sleep, sometimes planting helpful images in our dreams, sometimes giving us the ability to look at challenges from a fresh perspective. We usually awaken not only with restored energy, but often with some degree of healing having taken place.

In our efforts to engage the mystery of God, we might meditate, ponder Scripture passages, observe nature or art, recite familiar prayers, do breathing exercises, or repeat mantras. But while we sleep, we do not make requests, consider options, or choose anything in our relationship with God. Yet we might awaken with a sense that we have been touched by God’s Spirit. God does indeed give to his beloved in sleep.

Many of us also have experiences of God when our sleep is interrupted. Sometimes we are awakened from sound sleep, with no identifiable external stimulus such as a noise or bright light. We might notice a great stillness in the environment, but also a deeper than usual quiet in our spirit. At such times we might find it both natural and easy to pray for a time, and then fall peacefully asleep. When we wake up we are fully rested, even though we did not have our accustomed full time of uninterrupted sleep.

At other times, we are so intensely occupied with concerns, that after falling asleep for a short time, we awaken to a continuation of all the internal commotion that had been strongly affecting our thoughts and emotions. We cannot get back to sleep. Externally, the environment might be quiet, but our interior dispositions are the opposite. If we choose to pray at such a time, we might or might not resolve the issue that disturbs us, but we will almost certainly be graced to leave the matter in God’s hands for the present, and fall peacefully asleep.

If we act on the belief that “God gives to his beloved in sleep,” we will find confirmation in our experience.
 

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Together

Cutting a pie or a cake into seven pieces requires a good eye and a sharp knife if everyone wants each piece to be exactly the same size. Alternatively, if all seven persons are agreed that equal amounts are not a priority, no special skill or equipment is needed. The difference between the two scenarios is much more about the attitudes of those who will eat the dessert than the method of dividing it.

When we focus our attention primarily on ourselves as individuals with our perceived rights, it is difficult to please us all. Great care must be taken in measuring and apportioning, whether it is pie, money, equipment, or words of praise. Spontaneity is hardly possible, and joy, scarcely available. On the other hand, when any group, no matter how diverse our backgrounds and interests, choose to acknowledge the value of all the persons involved, we are less concerned with equal treatment than we are with the values we share.

God favors unity among us much more highly than an equality of sameness. We are all equal in value, and all of us are loved dearly as individuals, but we are widely diverse in our personal qualities, in the gifts we have in mind, body, and spirit, and in our experiences of life. God sees no disparity in our differences, and desires nothing more or less than an all-encompassing union of love with each one of us, and of all of us with one another.

In our experiences of God, whether in the midst of activity or in times of quiet reflection, when occupied with our own thoughts or when seeking God in prayer, never have we been inspired, directed, or guided to seek division among people rather than unity. For good reasons, there are some individuals we cannot and should not meet or contact. But the unity God desires for us is not that of personal interaction with every single person – at least not in this life. The separations and distances we must at times observe are based on personal limitations, not on the God-given value of every human being. God loves us, but does not force any of us to love in return. The Spirit of God within us is oriented favorably towards all other people, but we cannot compel respect, much less love, in anyone else.

We might have to divide a pizza to share it among a group of people, but our calling is always to seek what we have in common with others, and to become more unified, rather than the opposite. Just as we do not have to recognize the transfer of oxygen from the air into our blood cells for the action of breathing to sustain our lives, we are not required to acknowledge the movement of God’s Spirit among us encouraging our efforts at unity.

People, not God, bring about division among us. Selfishness is divisive, because a selfish person’s energy is centered on “me and mine.” Love unifies, because our main concern is “us and ours.” If God were selfish, we, and the universe about us, would not exist. Creation is an expression of God’s desire to share with us.

Some of our every-day experiences reveal the spiritual tendency we have to share rather than keep to ourselves. When we take a meal with others, whether at home, in a cafeteria or restaurant, or “brown bagging it,” the energy we expend in the bit of organizing for “we” instead of just “me” is repaid by an inner satisfaction that we recognize, even if we cannot name it. Though there are many things that we can do alone, often we find an additional positive quality to our time when we are in the same room with one or more persons we trust, even if we do not converse. If we work together with others as volunteers on a common project, though we might be quite diverse in religion, race, age, or any number of variables, we often experience an appreciation for the shared purpose and values that we have in common.

Though there have been, are, and hopefully will be, many billions of individual people on planet earth, God has one desire for us all: that in love of God and neighbor, we come together.

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Princes

“Do not put your trust in princes,
in mortals, in whom there is no salvation.” (Psalm 146:3)
“Princes” stands for princesses, presidents, and anyone we can imagine who might have political or military power. God alone saves us, though God often provides for our welfare through the actions of mortals, including those in authority. Trust in God enables us to determine who, and to what degree, we will trust others who have, or seek to have, influence in our lives.

Almost every day we hear, see, or read about those who wish us to follow their leadership, implying that we should trust them. But our capacity to trust is of great value, not to be squandered. We trust some people in one or other particular situation, but not in others. We might trust a repair person whom we do not know personally to come into our home, but we might want to be present. To another person, we might provide the key so that they could perform the service in our absence. We might trust an organization with our savings, and only begin to wonder about whether or not we made a good choice during a time of economic fluctuations.

We make choices about those we trust, to what extent, and on what issues. We are responsible for our lives; God has entrusted each of us with this one life we are living. We are also interdependent – God has made us so. But we do not want to be led astray by those who claim that they are trustworthy, or that we should follow them, especially if they use fear or anger as motivators.

How do we decide the level of trust we will accord to others as we seek help for many aspects of our lives - social, political, economic, and religious? When we start with God first, we can subsequently make good judgments about anyone else we might consider as a source of information or leadership. God is utterly trustworthy, and knows literally who is and who is not trustworthy in the particular situations confronting us. We can ask for God’s guidance as we make use of our reasoning, logic, and experience, including whatever we learn through consultation with others. We do not expect God to make our decisions for us, but we trust God to guide and inspire us as we make individual and particular decisions about placing some of our precious trust in others.

Most of us have learned that we do not make wise decisions when we are angry or afraid. Why then, would we make a decision while some would-be leader, whether Television personality, politician, religious representative or writer, elicits anger or fear in order to move us in a certain direction? Our obligation to ourselves and to our fellow humans might well urge us to first bring the negative emotions we experience directly to God, to seek the appropriate perspective.

Whether in an instant, or over time, we will find in our honest communication with God the peace we need for making right judgments about the “princes” of our times.

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Obedience and Trust

When we choose to obey other humans, we might or might not trust them to have our best interests in mind. In considering obedience to the inspirations of God, the trust we bring to the relationship can make obedience not only possible, but attractive.

We usually think of obedience as a restriction on our freedom. Linking trust to obedience might not spontaneously occur to us. But when we trust God, obedience is an appropriate and satisfying manner of relating. The more familiar we become with day to day manifestations of God’s detailed and practical love for us, the more readily do we seek direction, and follow the guidance we are given.

When we consult knowledgeable people before making decisions, we retain the option of accepting or not agreeing with the advice we are given. We know that those we ask might have their own agenda and that they cannot know us completely, nor can they appreciate fully all aspects of the situations confronting us. God knows us as both Creator and Lover, and knows the short and long-term consequences of our actions. If we ask, and ask in trust, the proper response to the answers we receive is obedience, nothing less.

We might wish that we could know the future, so that we would be able to make decisions with complete foresight. God does know, far better than we, all the ramifications of the decisions we might be considering, and sees with utter clarity all that is possible for us and all that is not. In trusting God to help us in making decisions, we become free of the impossible burden of needing to know it all. If our welfare and that of others of God’s beloved people is at stake, how could God not aid us in coming to a quiet sense of “this is the right thing to do” rather than leave us in a state of confusion? When we ask, and then follow the ordinary inspirations we receive, we act in obedience based on trust.

We learn through our many experiences of seeking God’s guidance to notice the small signs and movements within us as that indicate their origin in God. Inspirations frequently arise within us, but we can also recognize external signs as revelatory of God’s intentions on our behalf. Circumstances, and especially the words and actions of other persons often reveal to us the details of our calling. God works for our good even through the commands of mere mortals, whether they are well-intentioned or not.

Many of us have been irritated by someone telling us what to do, especially when he or she did not seem to respect us. We still had a decision to make: whether to carry out the indicated action or not. If we recognized that it was better for us to do what we were told than to refuse, we might well have been “obeying God,” while not agreeing with or condoning the disrespect shown to us. By the grace of God we are often able to separate out the feelings we have about how a command is given from the more spiritual feelings of “right or wrong” upon which we base our decisions. There really are no circumstances in which God cannot work with us and for us.

When Mary said “yes” to the message from God about becoming the mother of the Savior, she trusted God, and she trusted her capacity to recognize God’s way of relating with her. When Jesus stayed behind in the Temple at twelve years of age, and Mary and Joseph conveyed quite strongly their position, he went home with them. He obeyed, trusting the ordinary relationship of child to parents. When Jesus was in the garden, asking the Father to let him avoid the pain and suffering he could clearly see coming to him, he trusted. He did not turn aside, but obeyed that deep down sense he had that love of the Father and of us required the full acceptance of human limitations, including death.

Even if we cannot comprehend the mystery of trust and obedience in our relationship with God, we might still find consolation in the practice of asking God, at the point of making a decision, “What do you want me to do?”
 

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Plans

We make plans, sometimes in great detail, as when we choose to travel, and arrange for transportation, a place and length of time to stay, and – unless we have in mind a completely open vacation – we usually decide upon a schedule of events. With careful planning, and the exercise of skills built up over years of experience, we often carry out our plans to completion.

Though we take into account some of the variables that can likely occur when we plan a trip - weather, traffic, and the availability of friends or associates – we can only make plans, we cannot always fulfill them. Many of us have had an airline flight cancelled, causing us to miss a trip entirely, or we have been prevented by circumstances beyond our control from completing some plan or other that we had carefully fashioned.

For some, not being able to accomplish a plan is a cause for frustration, or at least disappointment. God has plans, some of them quite vast in scope, but these are not subject to failure. We might imagine that our freedom would put a huge obstacle to the fulfillment of any plans that God might have for us, but God’s plans are not of the sort that can be frustrated. All of God’s plans are for our benefit, but they are not prescriptive of our will.

In our love for others, we do not force them to choose as we think is best for them. On the other hand we do establish some parameters that definitely affect others, as when parents say “no” to a request from children, or a teacher decides to give a quiz instead of a lecture. God has given us great freedom, but we exercise our freedom to choose within a world that has some very strict constraints of time, space, and material. We do not have to obey God, just as one person can refuse to do the will of another, but we cannot alter the plan God has for the universe as a whole or for us in particular. Our freedom is a major part of God’s plan of love for us.

The saying, “Tell God your plans to make him laugh,” is about our human limitations, rather than a description of God’s attitude towards us. God does not laugh at our plans, but inspires us and enables us to exercise the full extent of our humanity. God’s plans for us are not, as we might fear, opposed to us. They might indeed differ from some of the plans we can make, but they are never in opposition to us. Our plans cannot take into account the unknowable. God’s plans can; God’s plans for us are built around the mystery of our freedom, but not as obstacles to our freedom.

God’s plans are that we might accomplish the purpose of our existence. Can we, by strength of our will, and using every quality and capability we have, assure ourselves of happiness and of living a life of value to ourselves and others? We cannot. We do not, as individuals, have everything it takes. We are contingent, inter-dependant beings. We did become who we are at this moment purely on our own. We have received much from many different persons, and have also been influenced by them.

Who knows better our purpose and our capabilities than the One who chose us to be, and chooses us to exist right now? Rather than diminish our freedom, God’s non-coercive plans offer us a means of achieving fully the purpose of our existence.

God cannot (being all-good) have in mind for us anything that would contravene the purpose for which he created us, which is basically to love. Do we have a better option, something that we would rather do with our lives? God’s plans are that each of us in our own unique way will choose to respond to the love with which we are created. Some of us will do so; some might not, to our gain or to our loss. But God’s plans do not change, nor does God’s love for us diminish even if we decide to follow our own plans.

We make our very best plans when we seek to discover God’s plans for us in the deepest desires of our spirits.
 

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Saving Experiences

We can recall and savor some experiences of being saved, but we cannot save experiences the same way as we can a collection of photographs. Which is more important: being saved, helped, or assisted when we are in need, or having a complete understanding of how it takes place? Whether or not we know why we were given aid when we needed it is not as immediately significant as the experience of relief when someone does for us what we could not do for ourselves. Gratitude is a worthy response to saving experiences.

Saving experiences occur more frequently for those who seek help when they need it. Some of us are more prone to wait until someone whom we believe cares for us figures out what we need, and responds. I have found that God is more likely to help me when I directly ask, rather than to tell myself “God knows,” and keep my concerns to myself. With all relationships, knowing is not the same as experiencing. Someone might know what we need, but when we ask, we bring to the relationship our gifts of trust and honesty, so that the experience becomes interpersonal rather than one-sided. God delights in responding to us in those instances where we cannot, by any skill or power of our own, take care of our present requirements.

We might find within us at times a kind of “shadow” that insists on knowledge as being of more importance than experience. We can get caught into thinking about how or why neither God nor anyone else would help us, to the point that we deprive ourselves of the opportunity for a saving experience. Our concepts and plans can oppose the reality that “I cannot, but someone else might be able, and willing.” Facing the experience of need is the opposite of denial, and allows us to open ourselves to the authentic use of a concept that is underappreciated by supposedly self-reliant individuals: “I need help.”

A gift is not much of a gift unless it is accepted. We honor those who help us by graciously accepting what they give to us: a word of encouragement, a helping hand, or a supportive presence from a fellow human; a spiritual shift in attitude, the sudden reduction of anxiety, or a clear intervention from God.

If we have accepted an incidence of being saved we might want to spend some time in grateful reflection on the personal nature of the gifts that have been given to us – the generosity, thoughtfulness, or completely spontaneous kindness that lay behind the response to our needs. Seeking multiple causes for gratitude is the exact opposite of proclaiming ourselves to be weak and dependant. Rather, expressing appreciation for what we have freely been given is a fitting expression of honest self-respect as well as respect for those who have been gracious to us.

Most of us who turn to God in times of need have become aware that some forms of significant help are given to us in an on-going manner. With good reason, Jesus taught us to ask, “Give us this day our daily bread.” We might follow the same rule in our daily concerns about patience, care-giving, or any aspect of our lives that we seem not able to set in place by a simple act of the will. God has never asked or expected us to be God. Since we are created in the image of God we are in the privileged position of being family members, who can expect help – always based on infinite love – at any moment that we are inspired to seek it.

Saving experiences are all about living life fully, in love.
 

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Ring Nebula

Astronomers have given special names to some of the awe-inspiring sights that have been photographed by the Hubble and other advanced telescopes. Of the millions of galaxies and other phenomena that have been cataloged with number and letter combinations, some are so unusual and beautiful that they also have names, much like the cars that have “vanity” license plates instead of the usual alphanumerical identification.

Cataloging stars or other stellar spectacles is not the same as knowing all about them, as scientists and students can tell us. God, however, knows every star, nebula, gas cloud, radiation source, or whatever we are able to identify, and can call each one by a familiar name. When we talk about the sun, which we consider a quite well-known star, we do so with far less understanding than God has for every single star in even the farthest galaxy from our own. Yet we are able to interact freely with the Creator of the universe more easily than we can look up on a clear night and see the moon. Which is more amazing: the hugeness and beauty of the heavens, or our ability to converse with God who creates it all? Both are worthy of wonder and gratitude.

Huge databases are required to list the individual stars that are close enough to single out and the vast number of galaxies that are farther away, each one containing millions of individual stars. We can only make a general estimate of how many stars there might be in the universe, and we will never be able to list them all. We are very, very small before such magnitudes of numbers, vastness of space, and expanses of time. But the God of all creation desires to relate directly with each of us, personally. We are not treated as an interesting phenomenon to be cataloged, but as active participants in creation.

The Ring Nebula is one of the many magnificent stellar objects we can view and seek to understand in its complexity. We know more about the exploding star now than was possible in previous years, and we will learn still more in future years. But there are also aspects of this one stellar spectacle, as well as the millions of others we can see with our powerful array of telescopes and satellites, that we might never comprehend. We have a choice: we can either appreciate the mystery of what we cannot fathom, or we can consider ourselves deficient when we cannot explain the things that we can observe.

Many of us experience awe and reverence when we look up to the heavens, whether directly, or by means of the printed and digital media available to us. Our eyes see, our minds ponder, and our hearts engage both the physical mystery of the visible universe, and the spiritual mystery of the invisible God who provides us with our physical and spiritual capacities. Who is this God, knowable as creator, present in all, including ourselves, and also beyond all comprehension? We can take joy in the experience of continuing to learn about both the observable heavens and the Creator of all that exists and with whom we can converse as readily as children with parents, or lovers with each other.

When we encounter God, whether mediated through our senses or in direct experiences, we encounter a mystery that is far greater than the Ring Nebula.
 

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