Five o'clock in the morning is a great time to meditate. And yet, today, I could really have used a little bit more sleep. But I've been awake since before four and after tossing and turning for over an hour, I decided that I might as well get up and put my mind to good use.
I took a look at my blog and I was surprised to see that last year I wrote 109 meditations. How did I find the time? I have no idea. All I can say is that when we give our time to God, He multiplies it.
I wrote a little bit about everything. I started the year writing about offering our time to God, about asking Him where we could serve Him and making a commitment to Him. I felt Him calling me to create this blog and I have been blessed beyond words through sharing this journey with all of you. I discovered that my strength comes from the Lord and if I offer my time and my talents to Him, He will bless me and magnify my time as well as my talents.
When Lent came around, the Holy Spirit inspired me to meditate about various characters from the Bible. Through these meditations I met new characters that I had never heard about before, like Gideon and Abigail, and I got to know some others in a more deeper way, like Ruth, Esther, John the Baptist and many others.
Right after Easter, I received a visit from the "abuelas." I had never had such a vivid dream about someone that is no longer here on earth. Sadly, it has not happened again. But that day, I felt I received a strong message and reassurance that death is not the end, it's the beginning. I also learned that we can pray to our loved ones who have left us. They can hear us and sometimes they will answer us by showing up in our dreams. This led to a series of meditations about death.
In June, I attended the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatious of Loyola. This triggered my meditations on "finding God..." He is everywhere, all around us, yet sometimes we just don't see Him. He could be standing right in front of our noses and we just don't notice because we crowd our lives and our times with so many menial tasks.
In July, I found myself in the midst of a storm that unfortunately is still raging on. So I noticed that for the next few months my meditations were about fear, worry, standing in the middle of the storm... I feel I have not learned anything, which is the reason why I find myself awake at these hours that are meant for sleeping, not worrying. St. Pope John Paul II said: "Have no fear of moving into the unknown. Simply step out fearlessly knowing that I am with you, therefore no harm can befall you; all is very, very well. Do this in complete faith and confidence." Wise words from a very wise man. But how hard they are to apply to my life. I still worry about all sorts of things that I don't have the ability to control. If I truly had faith in God, I would just turn my worries over to Him and I would be sleeping now instead of typing my deepest thoughts. I guess my resolution for 2016 should be to worry and fear less. God help me.
Finally in October, with the help of angels, I was able to get out of the somber mood of my "storm" meditations and I was inspired to begin a Christmas journey surrounded by angels. I must say that it was a nice way to end the year, even if at times we were visited by some "evil" angels.
And this brings us to 2016... I have been praying for guidance regarding this year of mercy. I have asked the Holy Spirit to fill me with inspiration so I have a clear vision of which path God wants me to follow. If he led the Three Magi, whose feast we celebrate today, to Jesus, I know that He can show me the way. The message that I keep receiving is to meditate about relationships. I feel it's a tall order but if I made it through 2015 with 109 meditations, I feel pretty confident that I can trust Him fully and that He will guide me on this journey. All I have to do is follow the "star" just like the Three Kings did over 2,000 years ago.
Therefore, the topic of this year's meditations will be relationships... within the family, among friends, co-workers, strangers, etc. I'm not sure how many relationships I can cover in one year, but we can start off and let the Spirit lead the way. We will begin within the family because that is where we all are born, in a family.
I hope you continue to accompany me on this journey because life is better when we are surrounded by people that care. I treasure your comments, emails and encouraging words. Also, your constructive criticism and edits. Unfortunately, this blog does not allow me to see who is receiving the meditations by emails or who is reading them directly from the blog, so the only way I have of knowing if you are with me is if you reach out to me. Last year, every time I felt discouraged, God would move someone to send me an email or a text or to approach me with a comment. That kept me going because I knew that I was not alone on this journey and that we are one body with the same worries and fears as everyone else.
I wish you and your families a blessed New Year 2016 and I hope we all grow together as we learn and hopefully improve our relationships with those persons that God has placed in our lives.
God bless you.
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