“Seek good that you may live,” God offers us in today’s readings.He desires life for us, and not just earthly life as we know it. His offering is of a life lived full, lived true. We may not be able to continually experience the fullness of life during our time on this earth. However, He still desires that we come to understand Life even in a limited way, so that we may recognize it as something familiar and longed for when we come to experience it fully in Heaven and revel in its promise and reality here and now.
It is easy to get swept up in our own definitions of life. Sometimes our understanding is aligned with the truth of what life is meant to be. This earth is not perfect, but there are innumerable places on this planet that immediately draw us into wonder and awe at His hand reflected in creation’s beauty. This life is not perfect, but there are so many moments that take our breath away—the birth of a child, the smile of another, weddings and graduations and moments that remind us what it means to be alive. Other times, our definition and understanding of life is jaded by the weight of this world. This earth can seem too far gone—broken and destroyed. This life can feel the same. We can get caught up in the mundane, the taxing, the discouraging.
In today’s readings, God offers us something we can do and work towards to participate in receiving this abundant life: seek good. Yet again, not our definition, but His.
His dreams are bigger than our wildest hopes. His plans are more fulfilling than anything we can dream of. Our most brilliant ideas pale in comparison to what He can orchestrate—we are limited to what we think is best. He knows not only what we need better than we do, but also what would be best for all those impacted around us, tangibly and through grace. In this way, we can participate in the offer He gives us of abundant life. If we are not led by Him, we cannot reach our full potential. Our efforts will still be blessed, but when we move in Him, “then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your wound shall quickly be healed”.
Not only will he break through our limited understanding of life, but His promises and actions always deliver far more generously than we can imagine. Your wound shall quickly be healed. He wants to love us. He wants us to live fully alive. The life He offers us can overcome all darkness and breathe life even into the face of death. A life lived in this way, then, will lead us to be able to move when He moves, to let Him dream in us, and to let Him lead us, that we may truly live.
[Readings: Is 58:1-9a; Mt 9:14-15]
By Unity Flame/D’Souza Family