“Love can work such wonders in a sensitive heart and what heart is more sensitive than Mine? Suppose someone were to ask you, ‘What are you doing at this moment?’, and you could answer, ‘I’m loving my God.’ Even if the whole universe were to stand still, it would be a fact of little importance compared with a soul striving to charm Me.” - He and I
Do you remember the game “Hide-and-Seek”? The one where everyone would hide, and one person got stuck being “it”, then the “it” person had to search and search for everyone else? Well, back in the day when I used to play that, I always got stuck being “it” because I was slow enough that almost everyone could make it to the base in time. So I would keep looking, and looking, and looking...
Fast forward 10 or 12 years, and here I am, still looking, and looking, and looking. Except that this time I’m searching for something a little bit more substantial, and a little bit more important. You see, over the years, I’ve discovered that God is not someone Who will just pop into your life and take over completely. You have to invite Him to come in and take over, and so we must begin by seeking Him out.
In order to really know God, we are responsible for searching for Him. Because, even though we are told time and time again that He will come to us in the silence of our hearts, we are the ones responsible for opening up that silence to allow Him inside. God desires nothing more than to love and love and love us, He is eternally giving of Himself more and more just so that we might say “yes, Lord...come into my heart, teach me to love You, fashion my heart to be more like Yours.” But we have to make that invitation of our free will before He can actually come in. Until then, He’ll sit right next you waiting for you to open yourself up to Him.
God has a specific way of finding you, of entering into your heart. It’s up to you to figure out how He speaks to you, and how He moves you. You see, some people hear His voice speaking within their hearts in real words. Others hear God through what other people say to them. Then there are people like me, who let God romance them through things like sparkly snow, sunsets, and beautiful flowers. I’m not saying that God can’t pursue us through different means, but each of us is different, and each of us will find Him in different ways.
To recognize growth in a life of faith is to recognize the way in which God communicates with us. He ROMANCES us, we just have to find it.
Hi there, thanks for your post! I'm wondering though about your statement:
ReplyDelete>>To recognize growth in a life of faith is to recognize the way in which God communicates with us. He ROMANCES us, we just have to find it.
Could you draw out a bit more what you mean there? I find it intriguing as to your using 'romancing us'--in what sense?
Thanks for any comments.
I have another reflection which is not specifically just for your blog, but a general thing. It seems there is a common emphasis in western liberal and evangelistic cirles on 'God loving us' at the expense of God's self-interdependence and love. Crassly put, it seems sometimes as if God needs us so he's not lonely.
You're probably not implying this, but it raises the question, how do we communicate to our world that, indeed, God does love us, but he already 'complete' and not lonely? Actually, the world revolves around him and not us. It's a hard point to acknowledge as egocentric humans :D
Mrbonchapeau, I'm sorry that I am only getting back to you now.
ReplyDeleteGod certainly doesn't NEED us, as I'm sure you know. It's not because He's lonely, or wants to feel loved that He created us. No, He created us in His Image in order to give of Himself more...it is His very nature to give sacrificially, and so we were created, in order that we might love Him, but also because through us and our human nature, He truly gives of Himself sacrificially, constantly being rejected by us. The key is, that He continues to love us unconditionally. I think you get this though, already, from the sounds of it.
Now you're main question is how to communicate all of this. Yet, unfortunately, we do live in a world where things are over-analyzed and brought down to the point of pins and needles, so you're probably not going to like my answer all that much.
Since I'm not a theologian...I'm merely a college student who's been blessed with a well formed Faith and a wealth of experiences that have led me to this point...I don't really know the answer of how to tell people this. BUT I do understand that God, in His goodness, created us in His Image and likeness, so that we might reflect His love. Our lives are a GIFT, and we are meant to return that love, to others and to Him. The only answer I can completely give you is LOVE.
I am interested to hear your ideas on this topic though, because I always am searching to know more! Thanks for reading and for your questions!