fbpx
34.8 F
Spokane
Thursday, March 28, 2024
HomeCommentaryFinding my true self

Finding my true self

Date:

Related stories

My Journey through Homelessness Part Five: Learning to Live Outside the Box

The value of my homeless experience lies not so much in having learned how to live outside — at least not in the geographical sense. The value of my homeless experience lies in having learned how to live outside the box.

Lost in Translation: Isn’t It Time We Moved Beyond a Fear-Based Repentance?

When I hear the kingdom is at hand, followed immediately by the command to repent, the good news is overshadowed by the fear that I’m not good enough to be part of the kingdom of God.

Inspiring Others: How Our Marriage Turned 50

As we prepare to celebrate 50 years there are so many thoughts and memories going through my head. I have joked about how I don't know how you've put up with me for this long, which is really true in a sense with my Irish enthusiasm and temper.

Taking the Road ‘Less Traveled by’ Has Made ‘All the Difference’

Pete Haug remembers hearing Robert Frost read his poem "The Road not Taken" 65 years ago. It reminded him of his spiritual journey out of the Christianity of his youth into choosing the Baha'i faith as an adult.

Ask an EOC: Can You Confess in Private to God but not in Church Confession and be Forgiven?

Concerning the sacrament of Confession, Christ directly gave the authority to his Church to remit or retain the sins of the penitent. 

Our Sponsors

spot_img
spot_img

By Mark Azzara

Dear Friend,

I am feeling a little guilty lately because of something very simple. I can’t read enough. I manage to glance most days at The New York Times’ daily email summary, and maybe once in a while select a tempting article to read there or somewhere else.

But there is no time to go through the vast array of news I face every day. Nor is there time to wade through all the great books being published these days, or even all the unread books that now gather dust in my bookcase or on a side table where they have been strategically placed so I will devour them one by one. And thus I remain, to some extent, uninformed.

I am not psychoanalyzing myself. I simply don’t have whatever I would need – the time, energy, passion, mental capacity, etc. – to become fully informed and then to take up the sword of righteousness by doing my utmost to make things right in the world.

Some will say that my words are just a cheap excuse for avoiding any sacrifice, any call to greater involvement. But my faith dictates that I am not meant to know everything, let alone make everything right. That’s God’s job.

I must heed Jesus’ words in Matthew 7:21-23 (NIV): “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”

I’m not big on obligatory service that is supposed to do good because well-meaning obligation can unwittingly lead me to do evil.

I remember a friend who had been a “candy-striper” (a/k/a hospital volunteer). She quit after about a decade and asked God to forgive her, telling him, “I just can’t do this anymore.” And then she was shocked by God’s answer, “I never asked you to do it in the first place.”

I am trying to connect more deeply to the God who is love. The God whose voice I can hear. Only when you really know someone do you know who they are and what they want. And only then can you provide it. I want to know this God who loves me so that I serve him out of love.

I need God to teach me who I am, strange as that may sound, which means showing me I am not yet the person he envisions me to be. I need to know who I am so I can understand my relationship with God. But part of learning who I am meant to be means allowing God to tell me who I am not meant to be.

Those who think they don’t need God to inform and empower them become their own “god.” But none of us is God. And thank God for that. How thoughtful of God to offer to teach us who really is God. How kind. How forgiving.

All God’s blessings – Mark

Your donation can help us provide more content like this

[give_form id=”53376″ show_title=”true” display_style=”button”]
Mark Azzara
Mark Azzara
Mark Azzara spent 45 years in print journalism, most of them with the Waterbury Republican in Connecticut, where he was a features writer with a special focus on religion at the time of his retirement. He also worked for newspapers in New Haven and Danbury, Conn. At the latter paper, while sports editor, he won a national first-place writing award on college baseball. Azzara also has served as the only admissions recruiter for a small Catholic college in Connecticut and wrote a self-published book on spirituality, "And So Are You." He is active in his church and facilitates two Christian study groups for men. Azzara grew up in southern California, graduating from Cal State Los Angeles. He holds a master's degree from the University of Connecticut.

Our Sponsors

spot_img
spot_img
spot_img
0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
guest
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
spot_img
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x