The presence of God

On social media these days, we’re bombarded with requests to pass along memes and other agenda driven posts that, if we’re honest with ourselves, are filled with derision, division, misinformation, and hate.  What makes me sad about these posts is that a lot of them are being forwarded by some of my own family and friends.  I dare say that some of them at times consider my own posts to be disappointing.  It’s one of the directions my reflection took today after reading Scriptures.

Jesus’ encounter with His own kin in His own town was disappointing (Mark 6:1-6).   They were amazed at His wisdom and the mighty deeds He performed.  But despite this amazement at Him, they “took offense at Him.”  They took offense because they didn’t understand how someone whom they knew well, one of their own kin, could be someone special.  They allowed their closeness and familiarity with Jesus to cloud their ability to have faith in Him and to rejoice in His greatness.

We don’t have this same struggle in a direct way.  None of us are from Jesus’ own town or members of His extended family by blood relations.  But we can still fall into the trap of turning Jesus away as He is present in those closest to us, within our own family and among our close friends.

This struggle that Jesus encountered reveals our tendency to look at those closest to us without the eyes of faith.  Though Jesus was falsely judged, we can, at times, enter into judgment of those close to us on account of their sins or even our false perception of their good actions.  We’re called to see others in the light of truth, to look beyond the weakness and sins of others, and see the presence and grace of God alive in their lives.  To see their goodness and allow God to speak to us through those closest to us.  This can be more of a struggle than we may realize.

If it happened to Jesus, it will happen in our families too.  The lesson we should learn from this is to identify the temptation to see only the negative in the lives of those closest to us.  If we can overcome that temptation, we’ll be able to focus in on the presence of God alive in their lives.  This should be the first and primary thing we seek to discover each and every day.

My reflection today is upon how well I see God present in those closest to me.  Discovering the presence of God alive in those around us will help us to grow in love of them and love of God.