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| My nephew and his high school sweetheart or perhaps an updated image of a youthful Jesus and his Church |
The LORD called to Samuel, who answered, "Here I am."
I am sure I’ve reflected on “Here I am” often in this blog, but just as a good meal need not be original to be satisfying, so does a good word bear repeating.
“Here I am” is a good word for the eleventh day of a new year. It has kinship with yesterday’s word, immediately; it is, in fact, Samuel’s immediate response to God.
If we were reflecting on any other relationship Samuel’s eagerness might not be so hard to imagine. In most restaurants – and in all good ones – you’ll get an immediate response as you enter and whenever you need attention. Banks tellers, too, are eager to greet anyone who enters. (Eye to eye contact disarms would-be bank robbers.)
When I was a boy if Dad woke me up at four in the morning and said, “We’re going fishing.” I was up in a flash. (Otherwise, forget it!)
Is it really so difficult to cultivate that attitude toward God? I think it comes with a deeper acquaintance with God. If we approach religion with apprehension about what God might ask of us, we’ll have no eagerness. But God wants our love and affection even before he wants our obedience. Gradually we learn to trust him, and that he wants nothing but what is good for us. It’s the rare bird he sends off to darkest Africa, if there is such a place anymore.
Daily prayer with the church and alone; study of the scriptures and the lives of the saints, conversation with reliable persons; learning to make ordinary sacrifices with a generous and willing spirit: in all these ways and more we become acquainted with God. Eventually we realize that God asks nothing of us he would not give of himself; and he has in fact given infinitely of himself even as he asked but little of us.
Long before you say “Here I am” to God, you will know God is near to you, closer than the blood in your veins, more dear than your mother’s smile.
Here I am, Lord, I come to do your will. I just don't know what your will is anymore. What is it that you want from me?
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