And while He waits, God works CONTINUOUSLY for MY GOOD – God does not wait patiently while doing nothing.
I do not have any adolescent children; however, my eldest son would be classified as a pre-teen, and that means that things are starting to get complicated – or at least they are in our home!
Things are changing and they are changing fast! Where once, my eldest son did not quite mind a kiss and a cuddle from his mother every now and then, now he squirms away as though his life depended on it at the smallest sign of physical affection… And this has certainly changed things!
I have been thinking about my pre-teen son over the last few months as he continues to grow in leaps and bounds – God bless him – because my pre-teen son reminds me very much of the behaviour of my own soul in response to my Heavenly Father…
Sister Faustina Maria Pia, in her book, “Jesus I Trust in You: A 30-Day Personal Retreat with the Litany of Trust”, wrote, “God, who created us out of love, pursues our hearts like no one else, dying for us ‘while we were yet sinners’ (Romans 5:8). Our own actions or the actions of others will never be the measure of how much we are loved or how much we can love.”
And I have been reflecting on that very much because I am “yet (a) sinner…” (Romans 5:8), and – by a MIRACLE of GRACE that I shall never understand – even this terrible fact has not stopped my Beloved from loving me!
And this is an amazing thing! Because what is sin?... Well, sin is a rejection of God. And by rejecting God, sinners like me, TURN AWAY from God’s offer of Infinite, Divine, Perfect and Eternal Love!
And this action of me as a sinner is a little like my pre-teen son’s rejection of any of my signs of affection! You see, when my son refuses my affection, it does not make me love him less! In many ways it causes me to love him more…
This is because – as his mother – I can see how much he needs my love and I can see that his rejection of my affection for him is more harmful to him than it is to me! And so – rather than forcing physical affection onto him while he is unwilling or unable to process it – I sit back and wait patiently for opportunities to remind him that he is loved. After all, I am older and wiser than my little boy-man, and I know – even by remembering my own pre-teen years – that this too shall pass…
And so, instead of kisses and cuddles, I do other things to express love… Cooking his favourite meal, helping with his homework, having a nice chat – just the two of us, shopping together for something that he wants or needs.
And – in a way – this is exactly what my Beloved does for poor sinners like me…
Though my sins cause Him such hurt through my rejection of Him and His Infinite, Divine, Perfect and Eternal Love, he waits with INFINITE patience for me to become reconciled to Him.
And while He waits, He is working CONTINUOUSLY for MY GOOD – God does not wait patiently while doing nothing. Oh No… Though I am unwilling or unable to accept the true signs of His love for me – offered in the form of the Cross that I am asked to bear in this lifetime – He sends me other signs of affection in a manner that I can understand and accept.
While He waits for me to embrace my Cross, He sends me blessings, and friends, and happy days, and small opportunities for sacrifice and for prayer. And He does this wonderfully, just as I find ways to express my love for my pre-teen son without overwhelming him or disrespecting his free-will…
And when I look at my son today, I think of my God – who so patiently shows me love, even when I turn my back to Him…
How awesome is my Lord and God, King of the Universe, who loves even poor miserable sinners like me…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
Bình luận