Like many of us, you may have had the following experience: You know that in your circle of friends, an event that you valued very much and looked forward to was coming up, but in the end, you found out you were not invited. The feeling of not being valued, being excluded, being given the cold shoulder, or even being shut out is very painful. The feeling of being rejected and excluded can have a lasting impact on us, and may even hurt us deeply. As the “victim”, if we are open-minded and proactive, we may say to the host: “Be sure to count me in next time!” and then look forward to being invited to the next event. But if we were not invited again, we would be even more sad and disappointed. We would lose confidence in the host, and the relationship would turn sour. The damage to the relationship may be difficult to repair! You may say to yourself: “What kind of a friend is this? Forget it!”
But have we ever imagined that the wrongdoer is us – you and me – and the victim is God?
Ask yourself, have we ever actively invited God into our lives, every aspect of our lives? We usually only take the initiative to invite God into our lives when we are faced with serious matters, when we are in crisis, need help, or need to make important decisions. Our defense is: “God is so busy. I shouldn’t disturb Him. How would He have time to get involved in the trivial matters in my life?” But is that true?
We need to have a better look at the true face of God! If God really only wants to be involved in important things but doesn’t want to be troubled with small things, then why would Jesus enter the world as a baby and spend thirty years with people in seemingly insignificant details of life before beginning His public ministry? If God doesn’t want to bother with the details of our lives, as we imagined, how is it possible that He desires to build the most intimate relationship with us?
Think about this. Hasn’t He shown fine attention to the details of our lives and has taken tender loving care of us? In the Gospel, when large crowds of people kept following Him, wanting to hear Him speak, pleading Him to heal them, or just hoped to catch a glimpse of Him, didn’t Jesus express His concern about whether they had anything to eat, and then, performed the miracle of “five loaves and two fishes” to feed everyone?
Not only did God love us so much that He sacrificed His only begotten Son and suffered for us, but He also cared about our daily needs and was willing to enter our lives. To be more precise, He is not just “willing to”, but “desired” to enter our lives!
He wants to enter into the details of our lives, not just to relieve us of troubles or provide for our needs, but to accompany us through the ups and downs, joys and sorrows. This is our God!
Do we want to see such a God to be rejected by us?
Our God is a gentle God. He is not willing to impose His will on us. He will not take the initiative to ask us to invite Him. He will only wait silently outside our door, waiting for us to open the door and invite Him in and be with us every moment of our lives.
Reflection
Try to recall an experience of being shut out. Relive the experience of being rejected and excluded. How do you feel?
Have you ever shut God out of your life? Imagine how He felt. How will you avoid putting God through this painful experience?
Please allow your Heavenly Father to tell you His feelings, how He wants to accompany you and pay attention to every detail of your life.
Today’s Prayer
O Lord! Have I ever hurt You because I rejected you? Now I understand how painful it was for You! You love me so much, but I…
Dear Lord Jesus, I sincerely invite You into my inner chamber, my heart, and the details of my life. I want to be accompanied by You, cared for by You, and loved by You!
Lord Jesus, please forgive me for all the harm I have done to You. I love You!
You are invited to visit the YouTube channel, where all participants are encouraged to join and share their reflections.
Fundraising Appeal
Thank you for participating in this 40-day Lenten spiritual journey, Finding God in All Things. We hope you have been inspired and have benefitted from it! For the spiritual benefit of all of you, Fountain of Love and Life devotes a lot of time and effort in producing various spiritual projects every year, and all our ministries are sustained by the generous donations of our supporters. We hope you will support us with prayers and donations. Please make an online donation using the button at the top of the website Lent.FLL.cc. Thank you very much for your support. God bless!
The following is the “Farmer of Hearts: Finding God in All Things” team, including FLL staff and volunteers.
Please kindly pray for them. May God protect them and sustain their physical, mental and spiritual well-being.
Project Manager: Michael Lam
Writer: Paul Yeung
Editors: Bonny Chan, Rosa Tse
English Editors: Bonny Chan, Paul Yeung
Mandarin Editor: Anthony X.
Cantonese Narrator: Margaret Woo
English Narrators: Bonny Chan
Mandarin Narrators: Rene Ren
Audio Editors: Fonte Ip, Sander Lee, Margaret Woo
YouTube Editors: Fonte Ip, Sander Lee, Arnold Chan
Graphics: Francis Lai, Rosa Tse
Website: Patricia Young, Angela Wong
Podcast: Angela Wong
Social Media: Yollie Leung, Carmen Tsang, Rosa Tse
Theme Music:
“Friends Only” by Introvert Pianist https://www.youtube.com/@introvertpianist
“Watercolor Lilies” by Aaron Kenny https://youtube.com/@contactkennya