Deep down, underneath all you consider yourself to be, is an emptiness longing to be filled. It is as if something really important to your sense of self is missing and there is a deep searching. It is that search for a sense of meaning, a sense of “I am OK because . . . “ (fill in the blank)
Each one of us will to varying degrees seek to answer that searching with tangible objects that are easier to see. It is human to look to objects for that sense of anchor.
But . . .
As you move through life, you quickly become aware that stuff does not cut it. Many will even dismiss the validity of such interior movements. But the truth remains, who we are as God- given human beings has little or nothing to do with what I have or who I think I am. There is more to each one of us.
When I retired from the active Priesthood, I feared the void that would come when I have no role or title; no one asking for advice. Stuff! What would I do or be? Who am I?
Over time I realized we are more than what we or others think we are or should be. We are more than what we do or what we have. There is something deep down that gives us a sense of validity that is not correlated with stuff.
I share this because hope is the awareness that life is a process of moving on. Hope is about leaving behind to move into what is coming. Hope makes no sense if we think we have arrived or that what we are now is all that we shall be. No. there is more to each one of us than we even realize. Hope is about the fact that we are never alone.
Hope is about that emptiness deep down. Hope is about the sail boat that must leave the safety of the shore to become what it was designed to be. Hope is about looking at ourselves in the mirror and just looking, not judging.
That is how God sees each one of us. That is how God sees you. God is present with you because you are. Never forget God is not about law and guilt — which many people believe. Why seek a relationship with a God of guilt. No. God is not about law. God is about grace. It is that grace that feeds us on that journey called life. It is the grace of God’s continued presence that calls us forward.