I have been thinking a lot about being thankful lately. Especially since the “cold front” came through on Sunday, preceded by the wonderful rain. As I have enjoyed the wonderful weather, I have also been very busy at work with many good things happening as well as some challenging things. I might add that challenging and good activities are not necessarily exclusive.
As I have been reflecting on the past two or three weeks, I ran across a book that helped me focus on ways in which to be grateful in all things, the good, the bad and the challenging. The book is entitled Uncommon Gratitude, Alleluia For All That Is. It is written by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and Sister Joan Chittister, a Benedictine Nun. I find it interesting how often we meet a person or a book that speak directly to our lives at any given moment. I am so inspired by their reflections on this life and how to “sing Alleluia” (“praise God”) in all situations that I want to share just a few of their thoughts and reflections with you.
Their basic primes is that “God is a mystery in which we live every moment of every day, and that the human condition is a bundle of gifts wrapped in darkness, the life task of which is to learn to recognize Goodness/Godness in all its misty forms.” The challenge they have set before themselves and us is to learn how to deal with the moments in our lives that do not feel like alleluia moments at all. I begin where they began, by looking at what Faith is and what it means to live a “Life of Faith.”
“The truth is that faith requires the awareness that God is and that God is holding all of us responsible for the other (whoever the other happens to be). It is not getting the rest of the world to think and worship as we do that qualifies as real religion. It is giving ourselves for the welfare of the rest of the world to which we are called.”
“Faith is belief that God is leading us to become in tune with the universe. Faith is trust in the unknown goodness of life without demand for certainty in the science of it. Faith is belief that the God we call ‘our God’ is either the God of all or cannot possibly be God at all. Faith is confidence in darkness, for the willingness to trust in the deep-down humanity of others as well as in our own. Faith is the willingness to see God at work in others as well as in ourselves. And finally, faith is the certainty that God is working through others just as certainly as God is working through us for the good of all people.”
With this kind of faith as the foundation of our lives, perhaps we can begin to see the world and our lives differently. With this kind of faith as our foundation, we as God’s people throughout the world can join together and sing, “Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia for all that is!”
Blessings and Peace,
Ben Alford
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