Meanwhile, a young woman my friend met at her current job has started to talk to her about faith because she wants to become a Catholic. I chuckled and said, "Yes, once you've given yourself to God as His instrument, He'll always find ways to use you." Undoubtedly my friend is right that she's in a holding pattern. But my friend is also in the right place and the right time RIGHT NOW for God to work through her to bring to completion a yearning in the heart of the young woman she's met at work - a yearning to deepen her faith and come closer to God. How mysterious and unsearchable are the Ways of God!
Jesus - as well as many other great spiritual teachers in other faiths - is always calling us to wake up: to be alert, alive, attentive, and aware of what is REALLY going on during every moment in our lives. To be awake is to delve below the surface of people and events to see the Bigger Picture. We can do that by mentally stepping back, untangling ourselves from our knee-jerk thoughts and emotions, and then asking God to allow us to see with His mind and heart - with faith, hope, and love. Fr. Richard Rohr says,
"Only this Big Self ( God and me) has the strength and capacity to fully observe each passing moment in all its breadth, depth, risk, and daring invitation.....Such seeing takes away your anxiety about figuring it all out fully for yourself or needing to have the perfect or right formulations."
Only God can deepen our faith that we are His Beloved. Only God can deepen our trust that He knows our deepest, truest selves. Only God can comfort us with the knowledge that His plan for us and our well-being has already started in our lives, and that He promises to bring His plan for us to completion. We don't know totally what His plan for us is; we don't know how and when all will be accomplished. But we know that God loves us and will bring everything to the good for us. Every moment of every day, God is moving His plan forward; all we need to do is to stay awake and aware so that we don't miss His "cues" and His "signs" to us.
"The core task of all good spirituality is to teach us to 'cooperate' with what God already wants to do and has already begun to do. In fact, nothing good or life-giving would even enter our minds unless in the previous moment God had already 'moved' within us." (Rohr)
God the Indwelling Holy Spirit stays active in us night and day. The Spirit is our Holy Memory, reminding us of the Father's promise to be faithful to us, and also Jesus' parables, teachings,and lifesaving life and death for us. Through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, we can both rest in "holding patterns" and rise and act when God calls to us to change directions. Jesus tells us, "The Helper, the Holy Spirit, will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you." (John 14:26)
We can have faith that we are where we're meant to be. We can trust that even when we feel useless, or less than loving, God is alive in our thoughts, words, and actions, not only for our benefit but for the benefit of those whose lives are connected to ours. And, if we stay aware of the Big Picture, sometimes we can even see this happening. Sometimes when we feel we're in a "holding pattern" and our hearts are yearning for the Future, God puts someone in our Present who needs us Here and Now! Then, if we're awake and alert, we can become the answer to someone else's prayer, a step on the path of their life being brought to completion. The Holy Spirit, our Helper, is with us to empower us to be a Holy Helper for others. Wherever we are, whatever we're doing, God works through us, with us, and in us - NOW.