Seize Life!
“Yes, we should make the most of what God gives, both the bounty and the capacity to enjoy it, accepting what’s given and delighting in the gift. It’s God’s gift!...Seize life! Whatever turns up, grab it and do it. And heartily! This is your last and only chance at it…Go to work in the morning and stick to it until evening without watching the clock. You never know from moment to moment how your work will turn out in the end… Even if you live a long time, don’t take a single day for granted. Take delight in each light-filled hour…Life, lovely while it lasts, is soon over” (Ecclesiastes 5:19-29, 9:7,10, 11:6,8; 12:6, MSG).
For all of us, we are born, we live our lives and we die. Solomon asks the searching question, why bother? What have we been put on this earth for anyways? There is nothing new under the sun and anything we acquire we cannot take with us. Is life all vanity and chasing after wind?
I think at some point, all of us need to have this reflection in our lives. Why do we bother and how should we spend our lives on this earth? Once it is over, it is over and there is no going back to do it over again. Solomon came to the conclusion that whatever we do, don’t take a single day for granted. Seize every moment and embrace life.
It is easy to go through life half asleep and leave most if it on the table. Whenever we shrink back from life, run from it, or complacently go through the motions, we are wasting our lives rather than spending it wisely. When we rush and hurry through life trying to complete the next thing on our own agenda, we also waste lives. And when we chase after idols, hoping to get contentment and filling in our lives from pride, power, possessions, pleasure or performance, we are also wasting our lives. Paul says in Ephesians 4:17 (NJB), “In particular, I want to urge you in the name of the Lord, not to go on living the aimless kind of life that pagans live.”
As Thomas Dubay writes in his book, Fire Within, “Jesus said that He came not only that we might have life but also that we might have it abundantly, and St. Paul insisted that we are to live life so intensely that we are to be filled with the utter fullness of God, nothing less.”
Given Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life, it seems safe to conclude that living as one in communion with God, being filled with His love and the fullness of His Spirit, is the way that we intently seize life and live it to its fullest.
Dubay notes that it is an unfortunate truth that many Christians depart from life without ever realizing they were destined for a deep communion relationship with God. The only relationship and prayer they knew was vocal based upon what they were taught.
Prayer was never meant to be divorced from life.[1] Dubay writes, “The greatest of all the commandments is before all else a payer commandment. To have one’s whole heart, soul and mind filled to overflowing with the love of God is to be filled with the highest prayer. The core and essence of the transforming union are nothing other than complete identification with God in love.”
St. Theresa’s starting point in prayer (the first mansion), according to Dubay is “an earnest, continuing effort to rid oneself of sins, imperfections and attachments.” Communion with God cannot be maintained by techniques, it is above all a matter of relationship. It is killed by self love in any form. Often a failure to mature in one’s prayer life is the result of being smothered by the cares and riches and pleasures of life according to Dubay. To follow Christ, we must give up everything that does not lead to God, all our worldly ambitions, and live a life that is centered on the Trinity.
In the Second Mansion, St. Teresa notes that we must avoid close association with evil, embrace suffering, align our wills with his, exercise fidelity to prayer, practice obedience, love and patience, and be quick to repent when we are wrong.
What can I learn from this?
Living as one in communion with God, being filled with His love and the fullness of His Spirit, is the way that we intently seize life and live it to its fullest.
I long to be a person who walks and communes with God continually. There is no greater invitation in life than to walk with Christ. Fenelon, in Let God, notes that there are people who can’t help but pray. It is spilling out continually from a heart filled with desire and love for God. He says that “prayers are taking shape with every word, every action, every hope.” I deeply desire to be this person.
My initial reaction is to try hard to get everything right. Work at loving others better, letting go of worldly ambitions, detaching from the world and living free from sin. However, Dubay notes what we must first learn is receptivity. He writes that an infused contemplative relationship with God cannot be controlled by us, initiated, acquired, prolonged or intensified. By trying to make it come about results in resistance to receptivity to God. Receptivity speaks of emptiness of self and a continual openness to be filled.
Lord, I long to be someone who spends their life wisely. I long to be someone who sells all they have to purchase the Pearl of Great Price. Teach me to seize life in You!
[1] Dubay, Thomas, S.M. Fire Within, Ignatius Press, San Francisco, CA 1989, Page 89.
For all of us, we are born, we live our lives and we die. Solomon asks the searching question, why bother? What have we been put on this earth for anyways? There is nothing new under the sun and anything we acquire we cannot take with us. Is life all vanity and chasing after wind?
I think at some point, all of us need to have this reflection in our lives. Why do we bother and how should we spend our lives on this earth? Once it is over, it is over and there is no going back to do it over again. Solomon came to the conclusion that whatever we do, don’t take a single day for granted. Seize every moment and embrace life.
It is easy to go through life half asleep and leave most if it on the table. Whenever we shrink back from life, run from it, or complacently go through the motions, we are wasting our lives rather than spending it wisely. When we rush and hurry through life trying to complete the next thing on our own agenda, we also waste lives. And when we chase after idols, hoping to get contentment and filling in our lives from pride, power, possessions, pleasure or performance, we are also wasting our lives. Paul says in Ephesians 4:17 (NJB), “In particular, I want to urge you in the name of the Lord, not to go on living the aimless kind of life that pagans live.”
As Thomas Dubay writes in his book, Fire Within, “Jesus said that He came not only that we might have life but also that we might have it abundantly, and St. Paul insisted that we are to live life so intensely that we are to be filled with the utter fullness of God, nothing less.”
Given Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life, it seems safe to conclude that living as one in communion with God, being filled with His love and the fullness of His Spirit, is the way that we intently seize life and live it to its fullest.
Dubay notes that it is an unfortunate truth that many Christians depart from life without ever realizing they were destined for a deep communion relationship with God. The only relationship and prayer they knew was vocal based upon what they were taught.
Prayer was never meant to be divorced from life.[1] Dubay writes, “The greatest of all the commandments is before all else a payer commandment. To have one’s whole heart, soul and mind filled to overflowing with the love of God is to be filled with the highest prayer. The core and essence of the transforming union are nothing other than complete identification with God in love.”
St. Theresa’s starting point in prayer (the first mansion), according to Dubay is “an earnest, continuing effort to rid oneself of sins, imperfections and attachments.” Communion with God cannot be maintained by techniques, it is above all a matter of relationship. It is killed by self love in any form. Often a failure to mature in one’s prayer life is the result of being smothered by the cares and riches and pleasures of life according to Dubay. To follow Christ, we must give up everything that does not lead to God, all our worldly ambitions, and live a life that is centered on the Trinity.
In the Second Mansion, St. Teresa notes that we must avoid close association with evil, embrace suffering, align our wills with his, exercise fidelity to prayer, practice obedience, love and patience, and be quick to repent when we are wrong.
What can I learn from this?
Living as one in communion with God, being filled with His love and the fullness of His Spirit, is the way that we intently seize life and live it to its fullest.
I long to be a person who walks and communes with God continually. There is no greater invitation in life than to walk with Christ. Fenelon, in Let God, notes that there are people who can’t help but pray. It is spilling out continually from a heart filled with desire and love for God. He says that “prayers are taking shape with every word, every action, every hope.” I deeply desire to be this person.
My initial reaction is to try hard to get everything right. Work at loving others better, letting go of worldly ambitions, detaching from the world and living free from sin. However, Dubay notes what we must first learn is receptivity. He writes that an infused contemplative relationship with God cannot be controlled by us, initiated, acquired, prolonged or intensified. By trying to make it come about results in resistance to receptivity to God. Receptivity speaks of emptiness of self and a continual openness to be filled.
Lord, I long to be someone who spends their life wisely. I long to be someone who sells all they have to purchase the Pearl of Great Price. Teach me to seize life in You!
[1] Dubay, Thomas, S.M. Fire Within, Ignatius Press, San Francisco, CA 1989, Page 89.
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