June 8th, 2021: Our Inconsistency

 

One of the most known facts about Alberta is how fast our weather can change. We can have almost 20°C different from the morning to the evening. I always have a jacket in my car because of that. It can be challenging if we do not prepare for it. It is a common joke: "If you don't like the weather here, just wait a couple of hours."

We might complain about the weather and yet pay very little attention to the ups and downs of our spiritual life. We are not always consistent in what we are about in terms of our faith. Sometimes we can be so unpredictable. We can criticize other peoples' behaviors and realize that we do the same thing. We can be so loving at one moment and then become frustrated in the next. How we relate to others is a manifestation of how we experience God's grace in our lives.

We might participate in all religious activities and don't even feel God's presence and closeness. It appears as if we practice acceptable hypocrisy. The contrast between our inner life and our public life is troublesome. We might want to ask why?

Our need to be accepted is so overwhelming at times. We want so much to belong to God, and the temptation to belong to the world is also there. We find ourselves waffling when things are hard and painful. We believe that God is there, and yet we don't always experience it. Maybe we just need to take a moment to be still and allow God to be God.

Matthew 23: 3

"...therefore, all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things and do not do them."

James 2: 14-16

"What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith, but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and be filled," and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?"