Embracing Your Abundant Life

“I came that they might have life, and have it abundantly”
John 10:10

You know, contrary to popular opinion, Jesus didn’t come to earth to ruin all of our fun.

Nope. He didn’t come to earth to simply deliver a bunch of “no’s” so that we would miss out on the amazing life we could otherwise have lived if we didn’t listen to Him.

In fact, what I have discovered in my own life is that every single “no” He asks of us is a “yes” to something greater.

It really is.

After all, He came so that we might have an abundant life. Have you ever taken the time to imagine what that means for you in your own life?

I know I used to read that verse and imagine what an abundant life would look like for me — and I have to be honest, I was way off on a lot of things.

Honestly, in those early years of marriage and kids, a serious revamp of my concept of what exactly an abundant life looked like was necessary.

It was a slow and painful process, at times, but it left me with an awareness that God had been keeping His promises to deliver an abundant life all along, and I just hadn’t been able to see it.

Maybe you’re reading this and you’ve been waiting on that abundant life, too.

Maybe you are thinking that, somehow, Jesus forgot you in the mix of life (He’s got an awful lot on His plate, after all) and that He has never delivered on His promises to you.

Maybe you are in the midst of cancer treatments or a lost job or another breakup or mourning the passing of a loved one in your life and you are thinking, “God where is that abundant life you promised me so long ago?”.

Or maybe you’re simply bored with the life you are living or, on the other side of the spectrum, overwhelmed with all the details of life and feel you just can’t cope.

I don’t know what you, dear reader, are feeling or coping with in this moment. I don’t know the specific losses or pains or sufferings of your life — but He does and I know that He cares and He hasn’t forgotten.

He couldn’t even forget you if He tried (which He wouldn’t). I don’t mean to nerd out on you with some high-falutin philosophizing, but If God forgot about you for even a moment, you would cease to exist.

So as long as there is breath in your lungs — be you near or far from the Church — your very breath is evidence that He hasn’t forgotten you and is lovingly willing you into existence.

Now that we’ve established that, let’s look at our abundant lives. Right now, you and I are surrounded by an abundant life and it often only takes a change in our own perspective to appreciate that abundance.

This week is a perfect example of that in my own life.

I have sick kids and healthy ones, birthdays and weddings, potty training successes and potty-training failures, orchestra performances and rehearsal dinners and unexpected visitors — okay, more like I forgot until he called to tell me he was on the way — thanks Fr. Dave for always understanding our crazy life :).

Point is, this is an abundant life and sometimes I just need the proper perspective to realize that about the life I am living.

Sometimes I just need to step back and look at my life objectively and see the unimaginable beauty that lies before me — right now.

I guess what I’m trying to say is prayer helps me to embrace the life I’m living and to see it in all of it’s beauty and abundance.

*Prayer gives us perspective on the abundant lives we are already living.*

It also helps me to see the folly of reaching for some imaginary abundance that, in reality, would fall way short of satisfying me the way this life can — if only I let it.

If only I take the time to let God satisfy me and fulfill the very deepest longings of my heart, then I can begin to appreciate the abundance that is within me and around me already.

So if you don’t think you’re living your “best life” now, then I guess what I would say is maybe you need to take some time to pray so that your eyes will be opened to the beauty and abundance that you’ve already been given.

Even the bad stuff, guys — even the bad stuff — can be a part of your abundant life. In fact, it can become a pathway to a sweetness that the world could never offer you — if only you unite it to the sufferings of Christ.

So don’t waste the bad stuff, people — make it count!

Make every bit of it count — good and bad — and enter into this crazy, abundant life that keeps us on our toes and truly dependent upon Him.

Speaking of abundant life, I have to go now and figure out how to make a 4 year old “a green birfday cake with fogs on it”. Aye, Aye captain! Your 4 year old birthday wish is my command!

Then it’s off to a rehearsal dinner to celebrate an amazing niece whose getting married. Hooray!