Growing Our Identity

Friends of Faith:

Who am I?

When Moses asked this question of God, he answered, “I am, who I am.” Ex 3:14

God’s identity is supreme, it is stripped of anything or anyone else—it is supremely one, He is supremely his own. And God’s desire for us is that we become like him, holy and without blemish, because he formed us in his image and likeness (Gn 1: 26)

Our identity, then, should not be defined by how we see ourselves or how someone else sees us, by what we own or don’t own, or by whom we know or don’t know, but rather only by how God sees us.

Yet in our human nature, all of us try to identify ourselves either by what we do, by what we have or by whom we know or are associated with (I am an accountant, he is the Chicago Cubs pitcher, they are the ones with the child who …., she’s the one that wears the fancy hat or drives the red sports car, they’re the ones with the mansion of a house or a great “man cave,” or they’re the ones who we always see with … at the football game).

And when I lose my ability to be an accountant, when the ball player loses his ability to throw a ball 99 miles an hour, when a child can’t or doesn’t have the desire to achieve all that we thought they should or could, when our car is wrecked or our house is blown over by a tornado, or when our friends move on – who are we then, who do we become without all this stuff, without all that we do, or without someone we thought we could depend on?

“And he spoke to them at length in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow.  And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up.  Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil.  It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep, and when the sun rose it was scorched, and it withered for lack of roots. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it. But some seed fell on rich soil and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.  Whoever has ears ought to hear.” Mt 13: 2-9

This parable isn’t just about what we do, but rather it is about growing our identity in and through our faith, about opening our ears and hearts to listen to God’s word (the seed) to be sure that it falls on rich ground (us.)

God’s word is like pure refreshing water. We can treasure and accept it like a cleansing rain or try to control it and make our own—eroding the soil and his truth, rejecting it as somehow polluted because we believe man’s ways are better than God’s ways.

I am asked to examine where the richness of my faith lies: in rich soil, Him, or choked out by the rocks and weeds of power or greed. I am asked to look for, recognize, and pull out the weeds and rocks in my life by examining and prioritizing Him over the materialism which overtakes the growth of the identity he desires for me.

I desire roots which are firmly planted in the truths of His church, nurtured by prayer and formation, and which will allow me to overcome the peer pressures of an immoral society.

I hope to grow my identity upwards, so that the fruit I am gifted with will become pollen for others by evangelization and the spreading of His good news.   

Heavenly Father, You are the greatest farmer, with seed so rich it fills my every need.  Refresh me with the pure, true and living water of Your Spirit. Help me to weed out the impurities of my life and strip myself of earthly riches, of the rocks and thorns which overshadow the identity you desire. May I bear fruit not of human materialism, but of a love which cares for and serves others. Help me to become more like your “I am,” created anew: holy, pure, humble and grateful to live in this, your heavenly garden. Amen.

Is my soul growing richer in God’s identity each day? Will I bear heavenly fruit?

May we reach out to each other to grow in faith together,
Blessings,
Charlotte

I didn't do anything wrong

Friends of Faith:

“But, I didn’t do anything wrong!”

Sometimes the sin isn’t in what I did but rather in what I didn’t do.

If I don’t plant a seed, it can’t grow. And if that seed that doesn’t get watered and fed it dies.

In the gospel today, the apostles ask: "Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field." He said in reply, "He who sows good seed is the Son of Man, the field is the world, the good seed the children of the Kingdom. The weeds are the children of the Evil One, and the enemy who sows them is the Devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. Just as weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his Kingdom all who cause others to sin and all evildoers. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears ought to hear." Mt 13:36-43)

We have been given ears to hear God’s message and as humans we have been given the choice to plant for God, or to plant for the devil. It is our choice: when and what to plant, to nurture and how to nurture others (especially young plants/children), and how and with what we fertilize ourselves and each other.

If I plant nothing and do nothing, nothing will happen.

If I plant weeds through sin in the garden of my life, they are sure to grow. By sinning I am telling others it is “okay to sin”. By spreading lies like: “If she/he can do it, so can I” or “Everybody else is doing it” of “if no one knows I did or did not do it, it won’t hurt anyone” and “it only affects me” I grow these lies and allow God’s truths to be uprooted. This is especially true in the examples I set for my children—right or wrong.

If my choice is to miss a meal, a week of meals, a month of meals I will go hungry, I may even starve and die. And if I don’t feed my family they will starve and die with me. Where am I getting my fertilizer; and how am I spreading it?

Jesus told us “I am the bread of life.” John 6:35 He provides the food which will sustain us for eternity if we eat at His Eucharistic table. 

God always seems to provide us food when we need it the most. He fed Moses and his people as they wandered in the desert by providing them with quail and manna. And when Jesus was teaching in Galilee he fed the five thousand present by multiplying the loaves. Jn 6: 1-15

God says to pray: “Give us this day, our DAILY bread.” He provides for us daily in scripture, prayer and with daily Eucharist at Mass. The more healthy food of Christ’s I eat, the more healthy I grow in Spirit!

But if I choose to miss a meal, a week of meals, a month of meals, I will starve just as if I missed eating that many breakfasts, lunches and dinners. Just as I won’t survive without eating human food daily; I can’t survive without choosing to eat the heavenly food He has provided. I will starve for His grace.

And to do nothing with the gifts that God has given me—that is the sin of omission—of allowing others to wander, to follow evil and/or to avoid the truth.

I have been given opportunities to teach by example, listen with compassion to those who are hurting, and to show kindness to a spouse or friend—maybe sometimes with a simple smile and/or a kind word. If I do not sew the seed which God has given me—who will?

Heavenly Father, you bless us with the richest of food—Your son, who gave us His body and blood to fulfill our souls. Help keep my ears open to Your word and Your truth. Give me the wisdom to separate the weeds from the seeds. And help me to plant only good, by my example, my speech and by my deeds. Thank you for giving me this day and for my daily bread. Amen.

If I don’t do anything, nothing can grow.

Plant and feed a good seed this week,

Blessings,

Charlotte

Patience Required

Women of Faith:

I’ll admit it, I can be very judgmental and don’t have a lot of patience for all of the wrongs I see around me. I want EVERY relationship, every marriage, to be loving and kind. I want kids to be disciplined and obedient. I want communication between families to be “right.” I hope that more will give, more will serve and more will dedicate their gifts to others. I wish everyone could “see” the difference between the truths of the Church and the evils of society.

I am impatient with laws and the interpretation of laws which allow and tolerate freedoms which so obviously go against God’s natural design for life. I think our laws should protect us from abortion, pornography, terrorism, gay marriage and other self-serving greed. And I want immediate change and the satisfaction of seeing a world changed by God’s perfection.

Sunday’s reading of the parable of the weeds sown among the seeds of grain was a gentle, humble reminder of the fact that God is stronger than the abundance of evil around us. It gave me hope because it reminded me that the devil who plants the evil among us won’t be the ultimate decision maker over which seeds will be harvested.
I must be patient….

"Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.” He said in reply, “He who sows good seed is the Son of Man, the field is the world, the good seed the children of the kingdom. The weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. Just as weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all who cause others to sin and all evildoers. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears ought to hear.” Mt 13:24-33

Jesus taught in a parable, but then explained that parable so that it wasn’t left to our own interpretation. He said that each of us, as children of God, were created as good seed and that the “bad” seed is sown by the devil who is trying to choke out our good nature, the nature God created in each of us. Jesus said that none of us will be thrown out until the last day, because to do so might be to throw out someone who might change, and God is giving us time to change and always allows us the opportunity of forgiveness for our sins.

We are reminded that it is God who has the ultimate power, and that it is in God’s time that these decisions will be made. We are told that if we succeed in growing healthy amongst the evil weeds we will ultimately be harvested into His kingdom in heaven.

Aw, more patience…..

“For your might is the source of justice; your mastery over all things makes you lenient to all. For you show your might when the perfection of your power is disbelieved…. and you gave your children good ground for hope that you would permit repentance for their sins.” Wis 12:13, 16-19

Again a reminder that I must be patient for there is perfection in God. A perfection that allows Him to be perfectly tolerant, perfectly lenient, and perfectly merciful, as we slowly change, growing in our faith to become the grain that He has so lovingly planted and that He will harvest when it is His chosen time.

Heavenly Father, I am awed by the mercy you show us when we give in to the evil that continues to plant weeds around us. Thank you for Your merciful forgiveness. Thank you for giving us Your son as the sunshine to light our way. Thank you for giving us the Spirit raining down upon us so that we can grow stronger each day. Help us to avoid the choke hold of the evils planted in our lives and stand strong together as Christians. Help us each to assist each other in finding Your good soil and to be patient as we grow together in Your love. Amen.

May we each be as patient, tolerant and merciful of each other’s sins and imperfections as God is of ours.
Blessings,
Charlotte