March 1, 2015
There once was a king whose greatest desire was to gain absolute
power over every square inch of his kingdom.
He had succeeded in removing all the obstacles to his complete
control except one: the people still put their ancient god above the king.
The king summoned his three wisest advisors to find a way to put
an end to such worship.
"Where," asked the king, "where might the people's
god be hidden and so be made to vanish from their lives and cease to challenge
my rule?"
The first advisor suggested hiding the god at the summit of the
highest mountain.
"No," said the king, "The people would abandon
their homes and climb the highest mountain to search for their god."
The second advisor proposed hiding the people's god at the bottom
of the sea.
But the king rejected that idea as well: "The people would
probe the ocean's depths to find their god," he said.
Finally the third and wisest advisor, a wrinkled and bent old man,
spoke his advice in a hoarse whisper. "0 mighty king," he said,
"hide the people's god somewhere in their everyday lives. There they will
never find it!"
The trusty advisor understood how we are!
God is hidden, but not in some remote, faraway spot.
God is right here in our everyday lives.
Yet we rarely see him and rarely recognize his presence.
All too often we fear that we are walking alone and we dread that
our journey may have no destination, may be just a long walk to nowhere.
All too often we are deaf and blind to God.
So it is for us doubting and weary wayfarers - that Jesus was
transfigured and, just for a moment, shone like the sun on the top of that
mountain.
And it is to us, the blind and the deaf, that God is speaking
through that stunning event.
And what is God saying? "I am with you always, walking at
your side.
And your name is written on the palm of my hand.
If you listen carefully, you'll hear me whispering to you.
If you watch closely, you'll see that I am here.
So watch and listen!"
Tt takes time to learn how to listen attentively and 'respectfully
to everyday life.
It takes time to learn how to hear what's really going on around
us and to see what's always been right under our nose.
It does take time, but if
we persist in paying respectful attention to everyday life, very slowly we'll
begin to catch a glimpse of God when we look at a rose;
we'll begin to feel the nearness of God in the cool of an evening
breeze;
we'll begin to hear God's voice echoing inside the voice of a
friend. And we'll begin to know the warmth of God's presence as we hold a
newborn child.
The road we walk is a long one, often rough, and sometimes
dangerous.
But God desires that none of us walk that road alone.
God desires that at every moment of every day we have the comfort,
the strength, and the delight of divine company.
A friendship that is ours
for the taking.
What a tragedy it would be to settle for anything less!
What a tragedy it would be to walk forever alone!
Let that tragedy not be ours!
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