Feb 09, 2016

Prayer of St. Francis (25)

For it is in giving that we receive (3 )

“The only true gift
is a portion of yourself.”
                                          Ralph Waldo Emerson

A Unique Expression of God

We are a unique expression of God in our world; and when we give to another of ourselves it is God flowing through us as God can only flow through us into that other at that particular moment. By this I do not mean a generalization of how God works, such as just because we happen to be there and not another God will work through me and not someone else; no, I, YOU are the one God has chosen for this mission and only YOU, I, can fulfill the appointed task in THIS moment of time. I, YOU, have been placed in this particular place and time to fulfill a part of the puzzle that I, you were brought to this particular time and place to fulfill. No one else can fulfill that particular part to the degree that you or I can fulfill that role. If we fail to act, God will find another to aid, but not at the level of fulfillment that was ours to give, and part of the Peace of God that we were to bring will be missing.
I realize that seems like quite a load to carry, but in fact it will come naturally to us. We are but a messenger; God has loaded all the truths and what we are to do into our psyche, so all we have to do is relax and do what flows out of our very being. In fact, that is the ONLY way it works, for if we try to force something we will be blocking the flow of the grace of God that was ours to give. Let God work through us, and the result will be just right for that particular moment; exactly what God has placed us in that particular place and time to accomplish.
This is the secret that all mystics discovered. It was not up to them to create masterful sermons, it was not up to them to be wisdom teachers, no, it was God that they let out and flowed through them at that moment in that way, that caused them to write the words that move us today, to say the things that make us think today, to be the Face of God that only they could be.
That is our task today. EACH of us is the Face of God, unique for all eternity. It is our role to give of others by letting God flow through us in a particular time and place; to give the Face of God to another or to others that is ours to give.
When we fail to give of ourselves, we fail ourselves as well, for we have failed to act as God would have us act in that particular situation.
Now all is not lost when we fail to give in any situation, for if that is the case I would be a lost one, for I have been in many situations when I froze and failed to act; but I am sure God knew that, and let me deal with that failure so that I would grow and not fail the next time, or maybe the time after that, with the haunting memory of failure urging me onward.
And thus we grow in grace and the Love of God; failure is part of the way we grow, and God always has ways to work around failure when we are learning, for that is the process of growth, and giving is the means of growth in the knowledge of the Love of God that is Eternal.

“The more you love,
the more love you are
given to love with.”
Lucien Price

Questions to Ponder

 

When have you been in situations that required an action that you failed to act?
When have you been in situations that required you to act for another and you acted without thinking?

Meditation

“Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console,
To be understood as to understand,
To be loved as to love;
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
It is in dying to self that we are born to eternal life.”
If this meditation post has been helpful, I would appreciate it if you would pass it on or share it.