Get in touch with your spirit. With all your heart, accept your identity as a child of God - Daily Reflections August 9, 2016

REDEFINING OURSELVES

 

We level up in every game. We sometimes compare our level with others and make sure we are at the top. As we rise from stage to stage, we become confident with what we are doing. The highest is the greatest and the lowest is the weakest. We tend to make ourselves the measure of greatness.

      The call to become like children invites us to recover the strengths that we may have lost in the pursuit of exaggerated independence. The modern world would say that to depend on others is a weakness and a source of shame. But most of us have a need for the other in our journey, to have someone to depend on. We may have taken this for granted. Our imperfection makes us realize that we need one another. It takes a strong will and humility to admit that we need each other.

       To trust others, we must allow ourselves to be vulnerable to them. To accept your love, I must be strong enough to admit that I need you. The child’s ability to depend is transformed as a strength.

       All our lives, we remain children of God — dependent on His love. As His children, we face our true identity. We are not defined by what we do, by what we have, and by what we can achieve. It takes a humble heart to have courage to face the truth about ourselves. Because we are defined by God’s goodness, our life is totally dependent on Him. If we are proud of our achievements and even with our spiritual life, and set ourselves above others, we have not yet come face to face with the truth about ourselves. Many people cling fast to their own image, habits, possessions, professions and success.

       Jesus is inviting us to redefine ourselves, to return to our true identity as children of God. The call to become like little children opens the way to a deeper recognition of our God who is a loving Father. Fr. Alex Balatbat

 

REFLECTION QUESTIONS: Get in touch with your spirit. With all your heart, accept your identity as a child of God.

 

Jesus, grant us the wisdom to understand ourselves as children of God. Show us the way to see ourselves as we truly are. Amen.