Feeling Gods Love [part one]
From a recent sacrament talk I wrote
Thought
Be still. We live in a time of “dizzying distractions” amid “tumult of opinions”, where the tools of technology can easily suffocate or dull our spiritual sensitivity, making it difficult to know and feel God’s love for us. Reflecting upon my own experience, one reason I have struggled to feel God’s love is because I have failed to follow His instruction to “be still, and know that I am God”.
I believe that stillness consists of two basic parts; external and internal.
The Lake District national park in Northwest England is one of my favorite places. It’s lakes and mountains are spectacular and it was whilst climbing Catbells near the edge of Derwentwater that I was taught a lesson in stillness I have always remembered.
Steve and Mike are my father’s eldest brothers.
Mike often made it to the summit first, well before the main group and stragglers arrived. Steve, who was equally fit and could have easily kept pace with, or climbed faster than Mike taught me a valuable lesson quoting the words of William Henry Davies; “A poor life this, if full of care, we have no time to stand and stare.” Steve taught me the value of being still and taking the time to enjoy and appreciate the journey and world around me.
It’s not surprising to me that nature, one of God’s finest creations, is one of the ways I have been able to see, feel, and experience His love.
But even when our external environment appears still, our internal thoughts, feelings, and emotions can be raging fiercer than any storm. This is why I have personally experienced chaos inside the House of the Lord.
I do not know all the reasons why we experience intrusive thoughts, negative emotions, and internal turmoil, but I do know that in the name of Jesus Christ we are able to command even the fiercest storms “peace, be still”. Not every storm ends miraculously, but if we keep on, pray on, and focus on Jesus Christ, we can find solutions and the strength to weather the storms of life.
Quote.
There are two kinds of injustice, the first is found in those who do an injury, the second in those who fail to protect another from injury when they can.
- Roman. Cicero, De Off. I.vii (C.S. Lewis -The Abolition of Man, p.98)
Idea.
We will never reach our destination if we never start the journey. However small we start, the important thing is that we start.