Just Say Yes
My favorite blog widget is a live-feed. A couple of years ago, I wouldn’t have known what a widget is - or a blog or a live-feed for that matter. Today, these things are part of everyday life.
The live feed is a great tool. At just a click of a button, I can see where online readers live and what topic brought them to my web-log (blog). The most popular articles include an article about Bathsheba and another one entitled “Farmtown Games and St. Teresa of Avila.” I can guess why those two posts draw readers, but the thing that really interests me is why people are clicking on the third most popular post, the one entitled “What Does God Want Me to Do?”
I realized that I spend a lot of time thinking about that question – and that’s where it usually ends – with thinking. I toy with ideas, only to do none of them.
What if God wants me to work with the poor? Would that mean I might be too busy to say yes to writing? What if the writing is just a phase? What if God has something else for me? So what is it that God wants anyway?
What about taking some religion classes? That sounds great. But what if I get too busy with coursework, and I can’t say yes to the real thing when it does come around.
The over-thinking is a bit ridiculous.
It’s time to stop thinking and start saying yes. Yes to the poor. Yes to writing. Yes to classes. Yes to every little bit of grace that comes along. And if I find myself sitting in front of the television too long or at Facebook too long or eating snacks and thumbing through magazines too much, I create an opportunity.
I bag some things up for the poor. Dig out the list for the St. Vincent de Paul food pantry and go to the store. I Write. Read. Register for a class – actually two. Send a letter to someone just to let them know how important they are to me.
And you know what? Something terrific is happening.
These last 4 ½ years since my conversion to the Catholic Church, I’ve wanted the joy I feel during Holy Communion to last when I pass through the narthex and out the parish doors. Why was I happiest on my knees after receiving the Eucharist? Why couldn’t I feel that same joy three hours later or three days later?
And now I understand. The joy comes when Jesus Christ is present. And He is always present when we let Him be our hands and feet – when we start saying “Amen” to Eucharistic living.
Sometimes, we can think our way out of joy. Maybe one of the most basic lessons in discernment is to ask ourselves this question. Where is that joy showing up during the week? Because that just might be the thing God wants you to do. Here’s the catch. There’s a pre-requisite to this discernment strategy. First, you must be able to recognize the joy of receiving the Eucharist, and then you will begin to recognize the difference between fun-filled diversions and joy-filled moments of grace on the other side of narthex doors.
May we grow in the joy of Our Eucharistic Lord!
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