January 2014
Reflections of God's Goodness
A new year beckons us to be still and reflect on our lives, our world, and the year just passed. Technology has brought us more information than we could ever use. It can bring the wonders of the world and the universe to our laptop.
In 2014, our monthly reflection will explore the wondrous works of God in the human heart through friendship. This is another sacred space of our lives with often unexplainable dimensions. Facebook technology and other social media cannot perceive it.
You see, we are chosen! Chosen by God to be his friends. Jesus said, “…I call you friend…you did not choose me but I chose you…”
God literally loved us into existence. He loved us first, and He has given us the gift of each other so that we can experience, on a small scale, the love He has for us. We are invited to join in the eternal relationship of love between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Scripture tells us, “…if we love one another, God remains in us and His love is brought to perfection in us.” 1 John 4: 12
What is friendship and how does it happen? Friendship is a gift we give to one another and it is important to our own spiritual growth and development. Being a friend calls us out of ourselves to think of another.
Friendship is always about learning to love. It encourages us to be our best selves as we choose the good of another over our own good. True friendship is love in action. Love is always a decision to accept another in their human brokenness without requiring them to be more than they are.
God’s friendship is a mystery to us. We know our faults and failures and yet God reaches out to us. God wants us to know Him, to know ourselves, and to know one another. Friendship is a mysterious gift…a journey to know another. Day in and day out, we are invited on this journey of coming to know and to love God and each other.
I invite you to reflect on the gift of friendship in your life, and to thank God today for the invitation to love. May this new year find you enriched by your friendship with the living God and His people!
Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God…Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another. No one has ever seen God. Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and His love is brought to perfection in us.
Happy New Year!
Sister Mary Ann Barnhorn
Director of Development
Stand still and consider
the wondrous works of God!
