Frantic or Fulfilled: on “being known” by God
In his book, New Seed of Contemplation, 20th century mystic Thomas Merton invites us to get behind the masks of our many false selves to discover the true self at the center of our being. This is the self that God knows and loves. To know ourselves as God knows us is the first step toward living an authentic life.
“God utters me like a word containing a partial thought of Himself. A word will never be able to comprehend the voice that utters it.” (New Seeds, p. 37)
For Merton, the spiritual life is about “being known” more than “knowing.” God’s knowledge of us is what matters most. We cannot comprehend God, but we can come to know and love ourselves as God knows and loves us. In this way we discover who we are meant to be, and what we are meant to do.
This idea of the true self being known by God coincides with a book my wife just finished reading, The Tree Big Questions for a Frantic Family, by Patrick Lencioni. The author asks (1) What makes your family unique? (2) What is your top priority – rallying cry – right now? (3) How do you talk about and use the answers to these questions? http://www.tablegroup.com/books/frantic/
These are questions aimed at getting to the heart of who we are as families. Just as with an individual, families and other groups (such as congregations) can operate as false selves, frantically diverted into every available activity. Without a sense of who we are and what we are about, life can become fragmented so that we are going everywhere and nowhere at once.
Whether individuals, families, or congregations, the goal of the Christian spiritual life is to live into our true selves as we are known and loved by God in Jesus Christ. To stay focused on our identity in Christ is no small matter, and it is unlikely to happen unless we make our spiritual lives a priority. Nonchalance about prayer leaves us vulnerable to every passing fancy. Ignorance about the Word of God leaves us without the wisdom to choose among the many voices that compete for our attention and allegiance.
Do you know who you are? God does. And you can discover what God knows about you. This is the beginning of the fulfilled life.
We put on many masks in our daily lives, but no matter how much we try to disguise ourselves to the outside world,
God can see us for who we truly are. We can not escape that.
We need to ask God who are we to be, and wait………..
He will speak to us and when He does , we can remove that mask .