[caption id="attachment_5732" align="alignright" width="233"] Blog by Sr. Amy McFrederick, OP[/caption]
Matthew 24:44 “You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”
Before computer games and virtual reality combats, when I was young my sis and I would often join the neighborhood kids in the game of hide and seek. The one who was the seeker would start by closing his/her eyes and count to 100, while all the others would scatter and hide.
As the seeker approached 100, they would count the last few numbers louder: “…96, 97, 98. 99, 100!” Then shout: “HERE I COME, READY OR NOT!” The seeker then opened his/her eyes and tried to find the hiders; the first one found became the next seeker, and the last was winner of the round.
Nobody liked being caught off guard—before finding a good hiding place, or when not ready or feeling unprepared.
Last Thursday around 8:45 p.m. a 50 mph wind whipped around our house and snapped off two huge branches of a two-pronged tree just a few feet from our house. Both of them came tumbling down onto our house with sudden thunderous crashes.
Shocked and alarmed at the suddenness of the noise, and not knowing exactly what was happening, I leapt up from the couch near a window and instinctively moved to the middle of the room. I could feel the house shake from the impact as one of the great falling branches hit the southwest corner of the attic, then land on the roof of our screened in porch. At the same time, the other dragged down gutters and molding on the north front rim and destroyed the roof of our front porch before landing on the ground just off the step.
It all happened quickly without warning. But thank God, no one was hurt.
After assessing the damage and doing what we could to keep water, wind and critters from coming in through one window pushed in by an intrusive branch, and satisfied we could do no more, our Clarissa House community went off to bed. But sleep? Well, that was an individual matter.
This scary incident reminded me that at any moment, whether we’re READY OR NOT, God may come seeking us. In the child’s game of hide and seek, those listening to the countdown have a fair warning when the seeker is coming. But in the game of life, there usually is no clear indication that one’s time is up.
Am I ready to go with God now or at anytime? Are you? What would you/I need to do to be ready?
Taking God as our Hiding Place, walking with the Divine Seeker moment by moment, and sharing with a faith companion and/or community day by day seems to me the best ways to stay alert and ready. What do you think?
Blog by Sr. Amy McFrederick, OP[/caption]
Matthew 24:44 “You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.”
Before computer games and virtual reality combats, when I was young my sis and I would often join the neighborhood kids in the game of hide and seek. The one who was the seeker would start by closing his/her eyes and count to 100, while all the others would scatter and hide.
As the seeker approached 100, they would count the last few numbers louder: “…96, 97, 98. 99, 100!” Then shout: “HERE I COME, READY OR NOT!” The seeker then opened his/her eyes and tried to find the hiders; the first one found became the next seeker, and the last was winner of the round.
Nobody liked being caught off guard—before finding a good hiding place, or when not ready or feeling unprepared.
Last Thursday around 8:45 p.m. a 50 mph wind whipped around our house and snapped off two huge branches of a two-pronged tree just a few feet from our house. Both of them came tumbling down onto our house with sudden thunderous crashes.
Shocked and alarmed at the suddenness of the noise, and not knowing exactly what was happening, I leapt up from the couch near a window and instinctively moved to the middle of the room. I could feel the house shake from the impact as one of the great falling branches hit the southwest corner of the attic, then land on the roof of our screened in porch. At the same time, the other dragged down gutters and molding on the north front rim and destroyed the roof of our front porch before landing on the ground just off the step.
It all happened quickly without warning. But thank God, no one was hurt.
After assessing the damage and doing what we could to keep water, wind and critters from coming in through one window pushed in by an intrusive branch, and satisfied we could do no more, our Clarissa House community went off to bed. But sleep? Well, that was an individual matter.
This scary incident reminded me that at any moment, whether we’re READY OR NOT, God may come seeking us. In the child’s game of hide and seek, those listening to the countdown have a fair warning when the seeker is coming. But in the game of life, there usually is no clear indication that one’s time is up.
Am I ready to go with God now or at anytime? Are you? What would you/I need to do to be ready?
Taking God as our Hiding Place, walking with the Divine Seeker moment by moment, and sharing with a faith companion and/or community day by day seems to me the best ways to stay alert and ready. What do you think?