Memories

         When we were born and placed here on earth, God placed in each one of us a memory of Him. Throughout all of our lives, we strive to touch that memory, to re-kindle in ourselves that fiery love of our God. We are not perfect, however, and that memory fades and gets twisted around. We strive to get it back. We strive to feel that love again within us. It is in that striving that St. Augustine speaks, when he says, “Our hearts are restless, until they rest in Thee.”-1  What he hints at is that we seek Him in so many varied and imperfect ways.
         It is that restlessness of which I speak to you today. We are not perfect, but yet that memory of Him pervades us. We want to, oh so very much want to feel that love, unite so perfectly with our God again. But our humanity, our imperfections get in the way. So, driven by this memory of love we try to re-kindle it. The ways that we try to do this are probably as numerous as the stars.
         We seek to re-live, to find that memory, again and again. We seek it in our friends, in the company that we keep, in our pleasures, our wealth, our power, and our addictions to drugs, alcohol and sex. In so many ways we seek to once again feel that spark, that joy which makes everything right again. We want to feel alive again. And, possibly even, momentarily we think we feel relief. But it is fleeting. It passes by leaving us, once again, drained and restless.
         In all of this confusion, we drown out the very spark that we seek. We get so entangled with the search for this memory of love that we don’t realize we have lost our direction. Floundering and frustrated, we are willing to let that ember die. But God did not give us something that we could abandon, that we can live without. So without realizing it, this memory grows stronger in us, this love will not die.
         Here and now, I am telling you that that ache, that gnawing search within you is your own quest for God’s love. The stronger you have that ache, the more pronounced it is within you, it is to that extent God is loving you and wanting you to love Him back. “This cannot be”, you say, “I do so many horrible things”. God’s love for us will never diminish. We will never be able to comprehend the extent that He loves us.
         When we don’t know which way to turn, or rather, when we continue on our fruitless path knowing it is still not the answer (for we have tried it so many times before) then is when we should just ask Him for help. Do you think that God, who loves us so very much, will let this cry for help go unanswered? We already know that we need help. We already know that which we have sought out in the past has not given us what we seek. We already know that that ache, that restlessness deep within us will not go away. What is it, if not our craving for God’s love, for His embrace once more?
         Just let our prayer be, “Lord, I believe in You, help my unbelief. Lord, I want to love you, help me to love you more.” Our God will not turn a deaf ear to our pleas for help. Pray this daily and let the restlessness go away. Remember His love once again.

-1 Confessions of St. Augustine

What we NEED now!

     Well, here we are, one week into 2011. Gifts received about two weeks ago, don’t seem quite as important as they did then. The joy and luster that shone from our eyes has dimmed a little. Resolutions that were firmly made have begun to slip a little. What is wrong? Why is this happening? Saint Augustine said it quite well in the beginning of his “Confessions”. He said, “Our hearts are restless, until they rest in Thee”.
     We see something and we think, “…maybe this will make me happy”. And we go out and buy it. We hear others are happy because they do this or that. So internally, we think again, “…surely this will fill the void that I feel.” We try it also. We see people laughing and having a good time, so we imitate whatever they are doing. All of these are our attempts to feel good, to feel good about ourselves. They all seemed to be promising at first, but none delivered the hoped for relief, the desired well-being that we craved. And, once again, we feel that loneliness, that sinking feeling that we are missing something. That emptiness cries out, “…there must be more to life than this”.
     Our hearts ARE truly restless, until we find the comfort, the relief, the calm that only Jesus can provide. Man’s ache that he feels inside, that craving to understand why he exists, why he is, that ache has been in man ever since he walked this earth. Some philosophers attribute that very craving as proof that there is a God. They contend that it would not exist, if there wasn’t something that would satisfy it. That craving can be thought of as existing in us because of God’s love for us. He put this in us to help us strive to find Him. Because of it, mankind continually seeks to make sense out of life and seeks to find what will make him happy.
     In our search we experiment and try this and that. We look in every nook and cranny. It seems like everything that might possibly provide relief we try. All of this, just to find a reason for our existence, to find something that will fill the void within. Again, we hear the words, “Our hearts are restless, until they rest in Thee.” Only one thing will satisfy these needs within. To say that Jesus will provide the relief that we seek is not a complete answer though. Yes, we can recognize that His goodness and love will be the salve for our wounds. But it only becomes meaningful to us, when we bring Jesus into our hearts. With His goodness and love inside us, we finally feel the calm that has eluded us. Only until we crave the relationship that must exist between us and Him, only then can we say our hearts have found rest.

Our Connection With Others

Branches bearing fruit on the Vine

      Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, are all very popular tools, nowadays. Their growth and popularity are good indicators of how important it is for people to be connected with others. The desire to be part of a group, to let people know who we are, and to be connected with other people is almost an innate desire in each of us. Mankind is constantly seeking fulfillment. And in the search for fulfillment, many times it finds not fulfillment, but lesser things, like power, wealth, fame, popularity, and pleasure. Mistakenly, mankind will embrace these, thinking it has found its ultimate goal. About this, Saint Augustine simply says, “…for Thou hast made us for Thyself and restless is our heart until it comes to rest in Thee.” -1
      In the Gospel of John, we hear the words, “…Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.” -2 Very often in these posts, the doing of positive things, is not only recommended, but is the purpose of the post. However, our acts of kindness and love for those we are connected to, grow out of our connection with Christ. So we must strive to be, first and foremost, at one with Him. For it is in our conviction of His love for us, of His forgiveness of all the wrong we have done; because of those assurances, we are filled with the desire to share this joy, this fervor with others. Then our connections with others can be something special. Our interaction with others won’t be just talking about circumstances, or events, or ourselves. It can be the mutual discussion, by both parties, of each one’s embrace of life, the true purpose of life, the expression of love and healing with our fellow man. Yes, we will still laugh and cry, feel good and bad. We will still wonder why certain things are permitted to happen. But in all of this we will know that Christ is standing there with us, with our friends. He may even be speaking through our words of encouragement and cheerfulness to those we mingle with and helping them bear fruit. Or, He may be using them to console us and helping us grow.
      None of this however, can happen, if we pursue only the lesser goals that life presents. Though wealth, and power and all the rest may hold a certain allure for each of us, we cannot, must not forfeit our ultimate goal for them. All the restlessness that we feel, all that we strive for can only be satisfied until we feel the calm of resting close to Him. And only in that closeness will we know that our love for others can and will bear fruit.

-1 Confessions, Chapter 1, line 1
-2 John 15: 4

OUR QUEST FOR HAPPINESS

Early on in his “Confessions”, St. Augustine writes “For Thou hast formed us for Thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless, till they rest in Thee.”