How Does God Fit in My Life?
Does
this scenario sound familiar? Two
friends meet up. One says to the other:
‘How has your day been?’ the other
responds: ‘you won’t believe what kind of a day I’ve had…..’ and he rattles on about what a busy day it
has been, and describes the day’s never-ending list of things, some of which
were accomplished, others which were not.
My
gut feeling is, that in that conversation there was not even the slightest
mention of God as a part of that busy day.
Think about the last time you talked with somebody else about the hectic
day you’ve had. Am I right?
Here’s
a question for us. In every day of our
life, as a member of the ACRY, how does God fit in? I want that to be our thought for this
evening! How does God fit into our life
every day?
You
know, most of us want others to see us as industrious and productive. At the same time, some of us try to earn God’s
approval with our achievements. That
means we have to be active all the time.
I believe the problem with many people is that we don’t dare admit we’ve
actually fit God into a hectic, mad-pace
life. I know many people who would
never admit spending time praying, or reading the bible, or just sitting
quietly pondering God’s blessings in our life.
If
that’s the case then, how does God fit in?
We
get a very good answer to our question from the daily scripture for this past
thursday. On thursday morning, the
gospel at liturgy was designated from the 6th chapter of St. Mark’s
gospel. Listen carefully to what we hear
in Mark 6:31 – “come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest awhile”. Those were Jesus’ words. He was not suggesting that the apostles take
a vacation with him. Jesus spoke those
words to the apostles after they had been teaching thousands of people for several
days. Jesus told the apostles that they needed time
with God……..uninterrupted.
"Come
aside by yourselves”. These are
mysterious words as if a secret were about to be shared. “Ccome aside by yourselves”…….. That day on
the shore of the sea of Galilee, Jesus
shared the mysteries of the kingdom with the apostles! He
told them spiritual secrets that had never been revealed before. To
this day, when our ears hear God’s voice, he still shares the mysteries of the Kingdom
with us. But for that to happen, we
have to learn to set aside those quiet times and not let them be
interrupted. We have to make “resting
time” with God. We have to put God on
our calendar daily. Go ahead……put God’s
name on your calendar 365 times! Here’s why.
Even when we barely manage to fit God into our busy schedules, God is
there waiting to love us and help us! He
holds no grudges against us. And he uses
that “resting time” to renew us. Time
spent with God recharges us. Every day,
time spent with God revitalizes us.
You
might say ‘I go to church. I attend ACRY
meetings regularly. I go to the national
convention and bowling tournament. Isn’t
that time spent with God?’ It is, but if it’s the only time we spend with
God, we come up really short. Some of us
come to church every Sunday. Some of us
don’t. Even if we do, is that still
enough time spent with God? Even when
we give him our Ssundays, what about our Mondays? Are you shortchanging yourself without even
realizing it?
I
was listening to Glenn beck on my car radio Wednesday morning. Listen
to what he said: “I think I know why people don’t go to church on Sunday. If they don’t have God Monday through Saturday,
why would they want him on Sunday?”
Simple
answer, but true, isn’t it?
It
never ceases to amaze me how little time we have for God, but how much time we
have for everything else. We will sit at
a Pirates baseball game in 90 degree heat for three hours on a Sunday afternoon
at PNC park here in Pittsburgh, but one
hour on Sunday morning in the air-conditioned church is too much. I have seen people stand for a half
hour to buy a lottery ticket at a
newspaper stand outdoors in all kinds of weather, but if there is more than 10
minutes waiting time in the confession line, we are impatient and grumbling. And by the way, statistically, you have a
better chance to be struck six times by lightning and live, than you have a
chance to win on a lottery ticket. Think
about that the next time you are standing in line with your last $20 bill!
Jesus
had busy days, but he always had time for God His Father. Let’s go back to the 6th chapter
of Mark that I referred to earlier. In fact, this was the introduction to the Sunday
gospel we heard seven Sundays ago. You
remember the one. It tells about one day
when Jesus taught from morning to night, fed 10,000 people miraculously with 5
little loaves of barley bread and 2 fish, walked on water, and saved Peter from
drowning…….all on the same day. The next
day He healed hundreds – maybe thousands of people – who were brought to Him on
beds and stretchers. Is it no wonder
that Mark 6:31 tells us what he said to his apostles. We said it earlier: “Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place
and rest awhile”. They needed God to
recharge them.
Did
Jesus’ time alone in prayer with God his father help him set boundaries and
establish priorities so he wasn’t swept along
with the demands of life? It did!
His time alone with God certainly did that! And it can work for you too.
Here
are 10 marks of that kind of a life.
1.
Spiritual focus. Even when he might have been tired, Jesus
made time for God the Father. He prayed
before he launched into his activities.
2.
Compassionate care-giving. Jesus
told us to love our neighbors. When we
care for others, it takes up precious time.
But it forces us to pull away from our busy schedules and keep our
priorities in balance.
3.
Building character. What are
your most important values? Are you living
that way?
4.
Balance. We need the right mix of
time for family, work, worship and relaxation.
If we don’t work at keeping
balance, one of those four will dominate everything else, and we have bad
imbalance.
5.
Purpose. Here’s a tough
question. What is your purpose in
life? A focus on life’s purposes helps
us keep everything else in balance.
6.
Teamwork. We cannot expect to
have lives that are well-lived if we are lone-rangers who try to make things
happen on our own. God did not call any
one person to do everything. Even Jesus
chose 12 disciples to carry out his work.
7.
Adaptability. A lot of people
have a problem adjusting to change. I
have been an officer in the ACRY for a
very long time. I know there has always
been a resistance to change. Change is
easier to handle if we plan ahead. Get
the mindset to keep a positive attitude when we move in new directions.
8.
Soul care. A lot of people are
driven to succeed, driven to be perfect, driven to impress, driven to get
everything done. Slow down and remember that God is in
control! Determine what his will is for
your life.
9.
Growth. Sometimes we are so busy
that we have no time for anything except us.
We need to take time to reflect on what God has in mind for us.
10.
Hope. Keep a big
perspective. Remember that we have only
one life to live, and only one life to give.
Think of these words of C.S. Lewis: “if you read history, you will find
that the Cchristians who did most for the present world were Christians who
thought most about the next world”.
I’d
like you to associate these lessons with this convention. Remember you heard them in Pittsburgh.
And remember this important question that only you can answer: “How does God
fit into my life?”.
Very Rev. Protopresbyter Frank P. Miloro
Keynote address at the Grand Banquet of the 66th National ACRY Convention, September 5, 2010. Northside Pittsburgh
