Even those of us who are well able to cope with most things alone, will enter places and times which are passed through more easily in the presence of a spiritual friend.
When we have begun our walk with Jesus as our true companion, the presence of others is no longer essential, though always remaining a welcome blessing. Until that time we may have to lean heavily on another.
God will have provided for us, but it is for us to recognize that provision.
When He places people in our path, shall we know them? Will we be able to accept the help or guidance offered? Shall we allow ourselves to be honest with them?
The most important question perhaps, is whether they will be able to recognize us as those in need of their support? Will they know us as having been placed before them? Will they respond to their prompting? Will they believe that, at that moment, they are God’s provision for us?
One day we may have those same questions asked of us.
We are all called to travel in the same direction: by our own separate routes, but all heading towards the same goal.
Jesus had his followers - at times thousands of them – but he had a group of close friends: the twelve apostles, Mary Magdalene, and others such as Martha, Mary and Lazarus, whose home provided him with a safe haven. These companions were led and taught through their closeness to Jesus; they were chosen; they had a developing faith; and they were always present to each other, supporting one another through the confusions, the doubts, and the astonishing experience of living with Jesus.
This is what we all need.
It is what I need to continue my journey, and it is what you will need in the future if you do not have need of it now.
If we place ourselves mentally, emotionally and spiritually in a group of travellers, as though one of the twelve, we shall be carried as we are helping to carry others; we shall have support in the knowledge of the existence of others, without knowing who they may be, and without ever knowing how many they really are. Our fellow travellers should not be thought of as individual characters so much as bearers of the gifts they have already received; they bring these gifts to share with each of us, as we bring our own blessings to share with them.
To have reached this point of awareness or belief, we have each been blessed in some way.
Do not doubt it!
Ponder on it; allow faith to grow in its search for an awareness of what you have already received.
When we have begun our walk with Jesus as our true companion, the presence of others is no longer essential, though always remaining a welcome blessing. Until that time we may have to lean heavily on another.
God will have provided for us, but it is for us to recognize that provision.
When He places people in our path, shall we know them? Will we be able to accept the help or guidance offered? Shall we allow ourselves to be honest with them?
The most important question perhaps, is whether they will be able to recognize us as those in need of their support? Will they know us as having been placed before them? Will they respond to their prompting? Will they believe that, at that moment, they are God’s provision for us?
One day we may have those same questions asked of us.
We are all called to travel in the same direction: by our own separate routes, but all heading towards the same goal.
Jesus had his followers - at times thousands of them – but he had a group of close friends: the twelve apostles, Mary Magdalene, and others such as Martha, Mary and Lazarus, whose home provided him with a safe haven. These companions were led and taught through their closeness to Jesus; they were chosen; they had a developing faith; and they were always present to each other, supporting one another through the confusions, the doubts, and the astonishing experience of living with Jesus.
This is what we all need.
It is what I need to continue my journey, and it is what you will need in the future if you do not have need of it now.
If we place ourselves mentally, emotionally and spiritually in a group of travellers, as though one of the twelve, we shall be carried as we are helping to carry others; we shall have support in the knowledge of the existence of others, without knowing who they may be, and without ever knowing how many they really are. Our fellow travellers should not be thought of as individual characters so much as bearers of the gifts they have already received; they bring these gifts to share with each of us, as we bring our own blessings to share with them.
To have reached this point of awareness or belief, we have each been blessed in some way.
Do not doubt it!
Ponder on it; allow faith to grow in its search for an awareness of what you have already received.
