One month ago, this very weekend, I was participating in a wonderful spiritual retreat at Grace Point on Watt's Bar Lake here in East Tennessee. It is an experience that I will always treasure and an experience that made me feel, "perhaps this is is just a smidgen of what Heaven is like." There were no angels and cherubim and celestial choirs singing in front of golden gates. But there was an abundance of love and servitude and camaraderie, and an unmistakable knowledge that God was present amongst us. In this place at Grace Point, I walked the path to a life in Grace with our Maker with complete strangers who became as close as brothers and sisters. I climbed the difficult terrain of putting my life truly in God's hands through a leap of faith. I found myself at the peak of the mountain stripped of my old self and clothed in the light of God's love.
In coming back down off the mountain, I knew I was different, that there was no return to the old, although the old was still there. The world around me was different too with my new found perspective; however, the busyness, distractions, and conflict seemed bigger and more intense than ever before. How could I deal with this? How could my new self make it in a counter cultural world in which every second of the day is devoted to some form of busyness other than that of sitting in the presence of God? But that's just it. Everyday life and all of it's busyness is not opposite of God. All that we do in our lives is in the presence of God. If we look for Him in all that we do and if we give thanks to Him for the ability and purpose for which we do everything, we are living fully each day in the presence of and in communion with God. God is not distant from us; it is us who are distant from God. We need not look only for God under the eaves of our church buildings and in the practice of worship on Sunday morning. We can find God in every person, every thing, and every action in our daily lives if we choose, choose, to look for him in those things.
Tomorrow, we will hear a reading form the Gospel of Luke about Jesus and the apostles on the road to Emmaus. The apostles were busy with their own concerns over Jesus' death as they traveled to Emmaus. They suddenly encountered Jesus, but they did not recognize him. They invited him to stay with them after they had reached Emmaus because it was late. These apostles were good people who had loved and followed Jesus, however, their own concerns and busyness with their life after Jesus' death on the cross kept them from seeing that Jesus was actually right there with them!
Isn't the same true with us? Our lives are consumed with countless daily tasks. We hurry about from one place to the other trying to get it all done. We land exhausted upon the weekend and perhaps even then we don't have a chance to rest. We long for God's presence and we think we'll get our chance on Sunday to sit and listen and be uplifted by the sermon delivered. The last hymn is sung, the church doors close, and our busy lives encroach upon our one true moment of peace in living in God's presence. But wait! Stop! That's not exactly how it really has to be.
The apostles invited Jesus into their dwelling after they had reached Emmaus. It was late, they had been traveling for a while and this stranger really shouldn't have to travel on without rest. So they invited him to stay with them for the evening. Jesus accepted their invitation. They sat down together for a meal. Jesus took the bread, blessed it and broke it. The apostle immediately recognized him and then he vanished from their sight. It is at this point of grace that the apostles realize that Jesus has been with them on the entire journey and that he would always be with them in everything.
In my time spent at the spiritual retreat one month ago, God showed me in many ways symbolically that he has been with me on my own journey throughout my entire life up to that point and that he would be with me from that point forward in all that I do. Like the apostles, I had not fully realized that Jesus had been walking along with me in all the busyness of my life. This realiztion may be true for many of us. Jesus has always been there for each of us. He is always with us now, and He will always be with us in the future in everything that we do. If we look for him in any area of our lives, we will always find that Jesus is right there with us!
This is the peace that Jesus offers us. He is with us
always, always. Like the apostles on the road to Emmaus, all we have to do is invite him in and look for him to receive our very own grace point.
