A shrub by water

Jeremiah 17:5-10

            I have been truly blessed. I know I say that a great deal. I have a wonderful husband, great children, soon grandchildren, the best cat known to man, a beautiful home to live and love in.

Yet that is not to say that life has always been easy. Far from it. Coming out was seismic.  One of the things that I believe helped me was my faith and my spiritual training.  For all that I had accomplished, 'toys' I had gathered, none of it was of any true value to me. When push comes to shove, the most important thing was my very life, acknowledging who I am and that God loves me. No 'things' involved there, just faith, hope and love.

               We often delude ourselves. I have written a little about this. We search for wholeness in things we own or do. Big boy toys, belongings, trappings, titles. You name it. And all the while we may make attempts to be faithful. We may attend church and abide by the rubrics of the faith we belong to. Faith in this sense meaning a specific religion. When a time of crisis comes, and they always do, we are lucky if we can connect with our faith, in this sense I mean a personal relationship with our creator. In spite of going through the motions of faith, very often our true faith has become the 'things' of our life. We may wonder why we are finding no comfort in God. It may be because we have de facto already chosen our God and it's all the 'stuff' around us, the stuff we have amassed, the wholesale  material life we have lived. Blessed is the person who realizes the differences. I have been truly blessed in this way. I know what is really important and it is not the things of life. I realized that from a whole slew of events in my life, the latest of which was my coming to terms with my sexuality. I am a blessed and happy man.

      It is the perfect time to do some serious soul searching, a really hard and honest look at our lives. We can be become more human. We can forge a deep and lasting relationship with our loving God aside from all the fluff and finery that religions often seem awash in. There is no sin in having all the 'things' of life as long as it is placed in proper perspective and it does not become our God. That I suppose could be a mortal sin, a wholesale turning your back on God by seeking pleasure. What's the word for that? Materialism? Hedonism?

      Do not be like a shrub in the dessert, be a shrub near water. Nourish your soul this Lenten season.

Thus says the Lord:
Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals
   and make mere flesh their strength,
   whose hearts turn away from the Lord.
They shall be like a shrub in the desert,
   and shall not see when relief comes.
They shall live in the parched places of the wilderness,
   in an uninhabited salt land. 

Blessed are those who trust in the Lord,
   whose trust is the Lord.
They shall be like a tree planted by water,
   sending out its roots by the stream.
It shall not fear when heat comes,
   and its leaves shall stay green;
in the year of drought it is not anxious,
   and it does not cease to bear fruit.