This is the summer season — the height of it — and there are also seasons of life.
What season are you in? What does God want you to learn from it?
Some seasons are pleasant. Some are too hot. Some, bitter cold. All have one thing in common: they bear lessons; they have the potential to develop us. In all things and all seasons, we are called to clothe ourselves with the Nature of God.
That means discipline. That means resisting the constant lures of the world. That means warring against the flesh and the enemy.
Everything we go through is in the control of a Creator Who knows exactly what we need, where we need correction, what pain we have to face in order to control ourselves and evolve (toward Him).
When you find yourself in the “wilderness,” perhaps fatigued, perhaps lost, learn from it; discern from it; ask God what you need to change, develop, or cast away. Purify. The more you become like Jesus, the more you are clothing yourself with the Nature of the Creator.
Don’t waste your wilderness! Look at how the desert prepared the Lord. Until we restrict the flesh, we can’t walk with God. At every turn, at every time of year, follow the call of the Spirit. We walk with God when we listen to Him and internalize His love.
When in the wilderness, when fatigued, or lost, it is time to more closely listen to God and what He is trying to say to you through your circumstances, in your intuition, or through the words of others.
A key phrase here: “evolve toward Him.” That’s the goal of life no matter who or what or where you are — no matter the season. You have this in common with the billionaire, with a beggar, with the oldest person in the world, with a baby born seconds ago, with a doctor, with someone unemployed, with a hair stylist, a policeman, with someone who crochets, with a professional wrestler.
Every single person is called to unity with God.
The roads are different, the seasons come at various times — often, very different. But in the end those roads point (or should) to the Throne of the High Almighty God.
An accountant? A bricklayer? A housekeeper?
It doesn’t matter, points out a convert to Christianity named Rabbi Kirt Schneider.
What matters is heading to the Lord, and the closer we are to Jesus, the closer we are to God.
The Blessed Mother — Our Lady of Mount Carmel, from the highlands of Heaven — assists us in this endeavor.
It is a battle that we have to fight every day, to restrict the flesh — hold back lust, anger, criticism, accusation, gossip: those things that chase the Holy Spirit away.
Instead, we have to willfully choose to speak the words of encouragement and love.
Without that, we can’t walk with Him.
Gossiping breaks fellowship with Heaven. It diverts us. Look always first to what is in your heart before determining what is in the hearts of others. To walk with God, we have to understand our purpose.
Whenever we choose the spirit over flesh, we take another step toward fulfilling our purpose and toward the Most High Lord. Let yourself know how totally much God loves you, no matter “who” you are. In fact, those great in His eyes are not usually great by the standards of the world. It doesn’t matter if you live in Paraguay, or Nigeria, or the U.S., or Jerusalem: your purpose is to transform into His likeness and come into unity — lockstep — with Him. It can’t be repeated enough.
We are created in His image so we are designed to totally receive Him as pure vessels. Until we fight the fight of faith, we will not be in victory. It takes strength to hold back the tendencies in the flesh. But unless we restrict it, we won’t be able to walk with God. Engage in spiritual warfare and subdue the flesh and you will walk with Him; you will travel higher.
The purer we are (Our Lady of Mount Carmel, help us!), the more we coincide with Him; the more unity there is.
Once we are in unity with God — once we have our hearts totally to Him — everything is possible.
[Prayers to Our Lady of Mount Carmel:
“Thou who, with special mercy, look upon those clothed in thy beloved Habit, cast a glance of pity upon me. Fortify my weakness with thy strength; enlighten the darkness of my mind with thy wisdom; increase my faith, hope and charity. Assist me during life, console me by thy presence at my death, and present me to the August trinity as thy devoted child, that I may bless thee for all eternity in Paradise. Amen.”
This prayer is ‘never known to fail’ and is to be said for three consecutive days.
