October 28, 2010

“Contentment with your lot in life is a great source of eternal peace. Souls desire change and variety. The mundane bores them. My life was the glowing example of a hidden life considered mundane in the eyes of the world as I toiled with My father in Nazareth. My duties daily did not change. I did not seek to be known. I did not seek esteem or praise, even though it was I who created the sun and the universe. I gaily whistled in our little shop as I cleaned the floor, toiled in the heat, greeted neighbors, or obeyed My parents. I knew that God had granted Me this little station in life to glorify Him. Though I was hidden to the world, I was known to heaven. The angels watched Me perform the duties of a fragile man and wondered at My condescension. The fallen angels watched Me very closely, wondering at My humble service.

My heart was the heart of a humble God of love. Nothing was too little or demeaning for love’s embrace. My heart gloried in the simplicity of life’s daily joys and sorrows. Everything was important to Me, for I knew that every one of My steps were ordained in truth. I sought nothing beyond the present moment of grace. Time held Me in the arms of God’s love. Eternity was My domain, yet I slipped into time’s restrictions.

My example of hiddenness is the lesson of all holy men and women. “Your life is hidden with Christ in God.” To hide from the world’s pride and to slumber quietly in the hiddenness of God’s heart is the pathway to sanctity. Seek not great things for yourself. Allow yourself to be crushed and trampled by a greedy world always looking for praise, security, and possessions.

Follow Me to the manger of hay, the bed in the barn, prepared for Me to lay My head upon on the day of My entrance into time. See our poverty, our simplicity, our joyfulness in obscurity as we work tranquilly in the carpenter shop. See how we interact with the common men and women in our daily life; loving them, helping them, befriending them, seeking out their company. Our holy family was hidden from the world, but greatly blessed in our simple existence.

I have prepared the paths of holiness for My children to observe and emulate. Blossom where God has planted you. Thrive where you are placed in the world. Be content with the daily duties God has required of you. Make your little plot of ground in this world a holy altar of love, offering fragrant sacrifices of praise throughout your day, spreading God’s glory throughout the world by your faithfulness to God’s gracious plan for you.

The lesson of holy simplicity and abandonment to God’s designs for you will make you a saint. Do not look beyond where you are stationed. It is here that you will see the fruit God has destined for your life.”

Jesus, God’s Harvester