Let Your Life Speak Transformation To You

I tend to refrain from quoting significant passages from authors, theologians, or other sources of inspiration for these daily reflections. Still, I discovered one that was just too amazing to not share.  

Before I share, let me ask a couple of questions first.  

Do you often wonder if there is more to life than what you are experiencing?  

Or do you sometimes find your faith wavering because you have difficulty connecting the dots between what you say you believe about God's love and goodness and the reality of what life has brought to your doorstep?  

I know that I do, more than I would like to admit.  

This is why the following quote from author Christian Wiman's "My Bright Abyss" is so meaningful to me: 

Life is not an error, even when it is. That is to say, whatever faith you emerge with at the end of your life is going to be not simply affected by that life but intimately dependent upon it, for faith in God is, in the deepest sense, faith in life—which means that even the staunchest life of faith is a life of great change.  It follows that if you believe at fifty what you believed at fifteen, then you have not lived—or have denied the reality of your life. 

As you might imagine, there is so much to unpack from this quote.  First, to say that our faith depends on our life and our experiences of God throughout our life is revelatory.  

So many of us have no problem admitting that we have changed our habits, opinions, political affiliations, jobs, careers, locations, and so much more throughout our life.  This is a given for very nearly all of us.  

But to deny that our faith has had an opportunity to change due to those life experiences is simply ludicrous.  If we believe the same things about God, our religion, Christianity, the Church, etc., at age fifty that we believed at fifteen, we're simply denying ourselves the lessons our life has to teach us. 

This is how God is revealed to us, beloved: slowly, teasingly, painstakingly, suddenly, and then not suddenly, hidden behind everything and nothing, over time, and time, and time immemorial, and then in a flash of inspiration that was born out of years of unknowing and then knowing.

In other words, our life teaches and speaks to us the truth of who we are, who God is to us, and how God's love finds us always and forever despite our efforts to run from it, restrict it, and even outright push it away.    

So let the lessons of your life speak to you now.  Your faith may need to change and transform because of it.  Don't be afraid; God is with you, and you have come this far with your ultimate worth and purpose intact, flourishing, and ready to shine.  

May it be so for you today and every day from this day, and may the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you now and always. Amen.