That voice

Then Jesus left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples approached him, saying, ‘Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.’ He answered, ‘The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom (Matthew 13:36-38)

That voice

Listening to these words, I long for something the first disciples enjoyed every day. They could hear his voice. They could listen and ask him to explain what they did not understand. It is easy to imagine Jesus sitting among them, trying to explain mysteries they failed to grasp.

Understanding or not, they, themselves were grasped by the mystery of his presence, a presence that echoes through moments like these in stories from the gospels. Through them, his presence resonates through the centuries that, I, too, might be grasped and challenged to believe that the life I am living is ‘good seed.’

Would to God that it were always so. I’d like it to be so, but I wonder how many opportunities I’ve failed, times when attention or courage faltered, times when my words or actions might have blessed a soul or redirected a moment to something better than it was. And now more of this life lies behind than before me.

So I wonder: Is there time to become the soul God made in making me? Can this life shine with a love I have long felt but so poorly lived?

All of life is a becoming, at any age, and now I want nothing more than to hear Jesus’ voice resonating in my soul and to become what, he says, I am, good seed, destined to give the world a taste of his divine kindness.

More than his words, it is this presence, the sound of his voice speaking within, telling us we are more than we imagine, that frees us to become what we are.

Listen to that voice, the resonance of love incarnate.

Pr. David L. Miller