I’ve noticed something recently, a pattern of sorts . . .
About sixteen years ago I went through a conversion experience that drew me closer to God and increased my interest and awareness of my faith. It wasn’t dramatic or anything like that, but a slow process of teaching and studying that opened my eyes.
Today that desire and experience of God continues, but after this time of what seems like interior preparation, it is moving outward. I cannot tell you, yet, how it will be manifested outwardly, but I sense that it is.
When I started thinking about it, I realized that this is a very typical pattern of God working in the lives of His people. Blessed Teresa of Calcutta had been prepared by God for many years before founding the Missionaries of Charity. Sr. Helen Prejean, author and advocate for people on Death Row, also had been doing other things when God called her to the neighboring prison in her community. Others, converts to Catholicism, seem to have excelled following their time of preparation as well.
I wonder if you, too, have found this to be true. Was there—or is now—a time of preparation for you?
As I continued to consider this, I wondered if maybe some people, rather than experiencing that interior preparation and move to outward service, simply remain idle. When you think about it, many live and die without a deeper sense of God in their lives. Many move from point A to point B without any realization that their heart desires to respond to their Creator.
Since God calls us first—and we can be assured that He calls each one of us—you have to wonder how some of us stand so still in our lives. Does distraction block our vision of Christ? Does our apathy or laziness? Why is it that some of us simply never respond to God?
These are good things to consider when you reflect on your own life in Christ. I pray that you will be inspired during this Easter season to respond to God, rooting out all indifference to your faith.
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