Since I work in education, my year is marked by fluctuations in workload. While I don’t have the blessing of summer break (someone needs to approve payroll), the meetings are canceled and I can scale back my projects. My family appreciates this time: my children love impromptu Friday afternoon ice cream trips, and my wife appreciates extra help. Yet each fall brings back projects and days filled with meetings. It can be easy to dread the inevitable day when my meetings exceed my working hours and ice cream is replaced with expense reports. Instead of truly valuing my family and my time with them in the summer, I can begin to instrumentalize them: wanting to hold onto the feeling of those carefree moments.
The same can happen in the interior life. Our Father will bless us with occasions of a clear sense of his presence. Spending time with him in prayer becomes easy. Meditating on his life becomes a consolation. Such moments refresh our longing for the eternal things. Yet, if we are not careful, a subtle fixation on the feeling, and a fear of losing it, can creep in. Instead of rejoicing in this gift from God, we think of him merely as a conduit of the feeling itself.
Behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age. Our Lord was clear: He is always present. He is there in both the metaphorical ice cream trip and the metaphorical budget meeting. His presence may not be felt, but his love is everlasting. It is our great gift to be able to receive with gratitude all that he offers.
(Trevor Sorensen lives with his wife and children in northern Indiana. He is the Senior Director of Finance for Seton Education Partners.
