Christi Wirth-Davis writes...

In the preface to his little book How to Find Your Mission in Life, Richard Bolles refers to "one of the indignant Biblical questions": "Has God forgotten to be gracious?" (Bolles says the answer is a clear No.) This is a helpful question for me--akin to someone looking me straight in the eye and saying "Snap out of it!" Life has serious ups and downs and sometimes I allow the particular bumpy road I'm traveling to take over my consciousness. Bolles suggests the beginning of each of our missions on earth is to seek to stand hour by hour in the conscious presence of God, the One from whom our missions are derived. Before we go to work in the world, we need to establish contact with the One from whom we came and the One to whom we shall return.

Our scriptures and tradition tell the story of God who is always with us, who loved us first, forgives us when we need it, and loves us forever. This grace--the graciousness of God--means I don't have to justify my existence or prove my value with cultural status symbols. In the Connectivity class at Centennial we just completed a study of The Centered Life, an initiative based at Luther Seminary. The Centered Life suggests that in the "whosoever love" (John 3:16) of God we can find a dependable center for our lives. In Soul Cravings futurist and postmodern pastor Erwin McManus reminds us that Jesus Christ called to those with exhausted souls, encouraging them with the good news "that God will be for us our place called home." We can depend on God's faithful love and then live out of that center into our callings. Being awake to God's presence and graciousness is essential for living a faithful life moment by moment. Grace--let's stay awake for it!