When Life Seems Too Much To Handle

What happens when life seems just too much to handle, when we feel we are at that jumping off point? Life is certainly not easy. While it is a gift from God, because of the broken world we live, we still face a variety of challenges, sometimes on a daily basis. Often life doesn’t seem fair. Sometimes it is simply hard and seemly malicious. The challenges we face often appear insurmountable. But are they?

Certainly we are forced to make difficult decisions as well as take arduous actions. All too often we feel trapped and see no way forward. Unpleasantness and despair seem like our constant companions. Faith and hope are so distant that we can’t even imagine what life might be like with them as our rock and guide. God is a vague concept that perhaps once existed in our life, but now seems distant and abstract. This is a point in life in which we face the harsh crossroads of faith. Do we continue to believe in the benevolence of God, or do we search for the answers to our life’s problems elsewhere?

This is an important place in our life. Faith is the hard road, while the other path is much smoother and easier. With what do we fill that hole in our soul? The choice is ours to make, but deep down in our hearts if we have had any kind of relationship with God, we know the answer. The easy path leads us into all kinds of dysfunction and unhealthy lifestyles, while the path of faith leads us through trial and tribulation, but ultimately to a healthier and stronger relationship with God.

So what happens when our faith has run dry? Do we automatically take the path of least resistance or do we trust in the God that we no longer believe and take the path less travelled. The emptiness in our lives demands to be filled and the path of least resistance offers us all sorts of unhealthy ways. But they are short lived and soon become a burden themselves adding to the ones that we already carry.

The path of faith is the correct choice. Even though we feel distant from God, perhaps even angry with God, in our hearts we know this is the route that will fill our souls with spiritual fortitude and grace. But pride sometimes won’t let us take the faith path. Our egos are fragile and easily hurt, thus we rebel against the God in which we no longer believe and strike out on our own, determined to find peace in our own way. Many have tried to carve their own path or take the easy route in order to fill their hearts with something, anything that will kill the pain in which we live and exist. We soon find that we are in more trouble than ever before. Our lives have become miserable, lost and full of anxiety. Alcohol and drugs no longer relieve our pain; promiscuous activity no longer fills our need for real love. Perhaps we have even turned to other religions that are incapable of filling our hollow hearts. It is then (if we are fortunate enough) that we lay aside our pride and ego and look to the true Living God for help.

Jesus reminds us that he is the way, the truth and the life. It is through him that we come to the Father. Christ welcomes back the lost and spiritual destitute. He embraces us even if we are still skeptical. His is the peace that passes all understanding and through that peace we find refuge and hope. We are redeemed and renewed by his body and blood. The gift of forgiveness is there for us to merely accept without any strings attached. Gradually our faith is renewed as we begin to relax and trust God again. That hole in our soul is filled with God’s grace and we come to believe in the same God we had forsaken.

Life is difficult enough in this broken world, but if we forsake our spiritual lives and practices it becomes much more difficult. Remember, faith is an action verb. It requires us to actively participate. To grow in faith and our relationship with God we can’t just sit there passively. If we do so many spiritual opportunities will pass us by, and we will not only remain in that same spiritual void, but actually regress as well. It is then that we come to that jumping off point. So exercise faith, even when it is trying and difficult. God is present and will ultimately reveal Gods self in our lives.

The Image of God

When we imagine the image of God what do we see? Do we see the grey headed old man with a long white beard sitting on God’s heavenly throne? Or is our image vague, almost misty and in the shadows? God gives us plenty of images throughout Scripture. While God is still a mystery we encounter God in many ways, through many of our senses.

We encounter God in Scripture in the burning bush as a fire that burns but doesn’t consume. We encounter God with our sense of smell through the rising of incense and the sawdust of carpentry. We encounter God in the mud and straw used to make bricks. We see God in Trinity at the Oaks of Mamre.  We see God in the heavens as Abram looks up at the billions of stars. The list goes on for quite a while.

But the question is how do we encounter God with our senses in everyday life? Through sight, smell, touch, hearing and taste God is present in our lives. We see God in the homeless and rejected outcast under the bridge. We smell God through the springtime flowers and plants. We touch God when we hold a child’s hand. We hear God as the wind blows through the trees on a fall morning. We taste God in the Holy Eucharist, in the breaking of the bread and consumption of the wine. In other words, God is all around us in so many ways.

Quite often we encounter the image of God in the mirror. Not that we are God, but we are each (both male and female) made in the image of God. Therefore we are innately good. The image that stares back at us is touched and blessed by the love of God through Christ Jesus the Son. Thus we delve into the Incarnation.

God is part of all things created, for he made them all. While we don’t know God’s name, except for what God told Moses, I Am, we are assured that the Incarnate God has touched everything upon the earth and heavens. We are a part of God’s great creation and divine plan of the universe.

So take heart and know that God surrounds us. God is not some aloof deity that sits on a throne and casts life into motion only to ignore it. God is active and ever changing, a part of all things and in all things, including each of us.

Traversing the Road to Emmaus

We have all been in a dark place at one point or another in our lives. A place where our faith fails us, and Christ seems aloof. Abandoned and forsaken we feel that huge hole in our spirits that nothing seems to fill. We are tempted by the Adversary to walk away from our faith and fill our lives with all kinds of sinful things; things that bring instant gratification, but never last. We curse the morning sun as it drags us into a new day. We are left helpless and hopeless, full of self-loathing and shame. Loneliness and despair are our only companions, continually knocking on the door of our hearts.

Perhaps we feel trapped in a rut and see no way out. Dirty and tired we raise our fists towards heaven in deep despair. This feels like another day of misery and dread. By all accounts life appears to have abandoned us, leaving us for dead. We beg Jesus to talk to us but there is seemly no response, as the sultry air from the east beats down upon our spirits.

This is what the travelers on the road to Emmaus must have felt. These two faithful disciples witnessed the death of their Lord, a man they had placed all of their hope and life’s commitment. Heads down, feeling confused and lost they surely must have felt a mixture of anger along with a genuine sense of loss.  Cut off from God or at least they thought, they felt deprived of the glory that they so believed and sought.

Yet quietly a stranger walked into their midst and told them everything concerning the Scriptures from the prophets until now. Their spirits filled with hope as this man discussed the promise of God’s grace along the way. Their hearts burned with a renewed fire the more he spoke, but it wasn’t until the breaking of the bread that they recognized their visitor. Jesus lived!

Jesus does live and he lives in our hearts. He promised to never forsake all who believe, and he is there even in the silence of our despair. Sometimes like the travelers on the road to Emmaus, we simply don’t recognize that we are in his presence.

Don’t give up hope. Don’t give into the lies of the Adversary, for Luke tells us that he is the father of all lies. Life is often difficult, and as we traverse its path we are going to encounter hardships and disappointments, but Christ is there in the midst of them. Can we slow down long enough to recognize him? Can we quiet our hearts and minds so that we can listen and hear his voice?

Remember this: No one, absolutely no one is beyond the grasp of Christ’s grace. Even though we may feel lonely and deserted on occasions, Jesus is that stranger walking along beside us telling us everything we have ever done. He is that traveler who reminds us that we are forgiven for our sins. He is that wayfarer that consistently reminds us that life does have meaning and purpose. For life is a precious gift from God, even in the difficult times.