My Daily Bread

It's not about Roti and Daal. Jesus categorically said, do not worry about what to eat. We can be as inattentive to this as we are to our growing nails. This is because there are some real things we should be mindful of.

Consider an Artist, his Brush and the Painting. As time goes by, what remains and matters is the Artist and the  Painting, not the Brush. No body says this painting was done by the nylon, fan round, flat, size 8, French made, brown Brush. The Artist is God, I'm the Brush, The Painting is my life, a master piece in the making. In another words, Jesus is saying, be mindful of the Artist and the Painting and don't worry about the brush too much.

"Give us today our daily bread" alludes to our need for a daily doze of nourishment to translate, a day in our life into a fine stroke of the Artist on the canvas of life. In simple terms, the need for a personal time with God on a daily basis.

Since this is all about a relationship, Let us refer to God as the "Father" here on.

In an earlier post, we saw, how we need to raise ourselves above the physical, emotional, intellectual and social realms to meet with the Father in "Spirit", for we are to worship Him in Spirit and Truth. Some times we think we are so immovable and unshakable that we will need couple of tower cranes to lift us up and plug us into that spiritual spot. But the good news is that we can put away the immobility and the cranes because the lifting is not our job but His.

It all starts with a realization that we need this bread for the day. When this happens, often we find ourselves led to a quieter place. Here we present the real "us" in absolute honesty, totally unmasked, as an open book before the Father. A few words find it's way out from the depths of our being as a response to this admission of our utmost frailty and the magnanimity of the Father. Our spirit acknowledges the love that is lavished on us through Jesus Christ. As this reality slowly crystallizes into a conviction, we begin to see our iniquities, shortfalls and how it impedes this building relationship between us and the Father. So we allow ourselves to be purged little by little. And as this happens, we are enveloped in an ever increasing tranquility and inner peace. Our bodies groan and tears roll down. These tears are unmistakably that of repentance, forgiveness, unconditional acceptance and freedom, a foretaste of the reality of heaven.

Our hearts now delightfully resonate with verses such as "One day in your court is greater than a thousand elsewhere. Taste and see how good the Lord is. He is like the honey in the rock. It is no longer I but You who live in me. If you drink of the water I give you, you shall never be thirsty again. Let me dwell in your presence forever more...". 

As this experience recede and gently re-leave us into the reality of the world, our hearts want to tell Him, Lord use me. This daily doze of love is what sustains us for the day. This intimacy lingers through the day, as our eyes, hands and feet becomes that of Christ for He has none but ours.

Father, Give us today our daily bread.

The life and beyond

If our life on earth is a dot we make with a pen on a paper, our life after death is as much as going around the globe a million times. But this small dot decides how we will spend our life in eternity, that is in heaven with God or in hell in total despair.

A saint once had a mystical experience of God. It was so profound that in ecstasy he exclaimed, if paradise was like this, I wouldn't need another paradise. To this Jesus in a vision told him, If the experience you had is like a painting of sky, the paradise you await is the real sky.

All goodness we enjoy today is a foretaste of our ultimate union with God. Death we fear becomes a gateway to this reality. Maranatha, Come Lord come.

I'm Who I'm

Mighty God, you defined yourself as "I'm who I'm". I wonder why you did not speak anymore.

God is bigger, greater and super exceedingly beyond us. We are only his creation. if He were to define himself, our small brains could not have handled it.

Imagine, you created a creature like an ant using all your intelligence and this creature asks you to define yourself. What would you tell him?. I would think, You tell him, I'm your father, care taker, creator or friend. Would you tell him that you are a hominid, bipedal primate with a brain volume of 1400 cc, characterized by superior intelligence, articulate speech, and erect carriage, contains 23 pairs of chromosomes. He will never understand you. He will feel so little and will not be able to identify you as father anymore.

This is precisely why our father who is far superior to us just said I'm who i'm. In another words, He is what He has revealed to us. Rest we will know when we meet Him in person in the life yet to come.