What We Can Trust
Posted on: November 17, 2014
- In: Everyday Life | Faith
- Comments Off on What We Can Trust
Squirrels and chipmunks have been busy building up their winter food stores for some time now. Spiders have been spinning their webs in quiet, dark corners. And our zebra finches (well, Syd, anyway) have been weaving nesting puffs and timothy hay into their nest inside a fuzzy tube.
All these creatures, relying on their instincts, recognize that colder weather looms and that they need to prepare.
Too often we don’t pay attention to our instincts and ignore our good judgement. For example, we take our time having winter tires put on our vehicles, even though winter is on its way; the calendar doesn’t lie. Or we buy products with unbelievable performance claims, even though we should recognize the claims are too good to be true. Or we believe someone is acting in our best interests, even though their past behaviour doesn’t support that belief.
But there is one person we can always trust, and one thing we can always believe in: God and his faithful, merciful love for us. Why do we doubt it?
Think about some of the things people say:
- “There must be more to life than this.”
- “It can’t all be over when we die.”
- “Someone up there is looking out for me.”
If they come to mind at all, concepts like a God-given purpose, heaven, and guardian angels are dismissed by many of us. Instead, we put our faith and energy into our work, our leisure pursuits, or anything else we think might help us find the answers and the sense of purpose and belonging we’re looking for.
While some people feel certain science, medicine and research hold all the answers we seek, I believe there will always be something they’re missing. And that something is faith in God and the knowledge of his love. As St. Augustine said, “You have made us for yourself, Lord, and our hearts are restless till they rest in you” (Confessions, quoted on the Midwest Augustinians website).
I pray that we would find a faith like St. Peter’s, as we read in John 6:67-69*:
Jesus said to the Twelve, “Will you also go away?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life; and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”
(*Scripture quote taken from the Holy Bible, Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition.)
A Catholic Convert in Ottawa 