fully alive

As the intelligence of the human race evolves

all the competing-campaigning as it were –

religions will be viewed differently

 

One will see they are all basically contestants

in a beauty pageant

 

and the religion that an make your own

beauty most know will win your most respect

                                         Hafiz  (A Year with Hafiz p.165)

__________________________________

 

Ignatius of Loyola, that salty Basque once observed

“the glory of God is found in a human being fully alive”

 

when we are fully alive, God’s glory shine

when God’s glory shines in us, we are fully alive

 

it seems to me, as I think about it

as I sit in my study, looking out the window

as an early summers sun shines through the fluttering leaves of the aspens

 

that if one belongs to God

and if God is present and roiling in one’s soul

burning like fire, roaring like wind

then the very nature of God should ooze from us

 

Jesus is more optimistic

He says Sacred Presence will rush from us, like a spring of water

 

and since God is joy, and hope

peace, and love

we should too should be like that

fully alive, reflecting the glory of God

love, joy, peace, and hope

 

So it seems, as I struggle through this,

that whatever flows from me reflects what fills me and determines me

 

if God, glory

if not God?

 

Sometimes as I look at what comes forth out or my mouth

what spills forth from my fingers as I madly type

sometimes as I look at how I act

I realize that what is inspiring my life is not God

 

but something else

anger, perhaps, or fear, pride, or insecurity

 

and I realize that my “fruits” are the best indicator I have

as to how I am doing in terms of my connection with the Sacred.

Am I a green, flexible, joyful branch, or a dead stick?

 

what makes this even more critical is the fact

that whatever oozes from my soul is contagious

I pass it along, infecting others

 

Padraig O’Tuama suggests that [if] we are from God and for God

then we are from goodness and for goodness

 

as God draws forth the goodness in us

we, as those filled with God, should draw forth the goodness in other

“by their fruit you shall know them”

 

how we fill the space around us

what happens in the lives and souls of those we live with, work with,

worship with, play with, reflects our inner world

 

just as God makes us fully alive

and draws out the best in us (if what controls us is actually God)

so we, as God’s people, are to draw out the best in those around us

 

these are not just times that test our souls, these are times that reveal our souls

and reveal who, or what, is defining our lives

 

So my prayer for the day is simple

Lord make me fully alive, make me fully love

Reveal my own beauty, that I might reveal the beauty in others… amen