I was hacked today on one of my social media accounts (Linked IN) and I couldn’t get back into my account, as if someone had stolen it – not to mention sent messages to people I know that I was trying to get them to buy into some make believe investment scheme. I guess I’ve been lucky up until this point in my life that this hasn’t happened to me before. But this on top of a rough day at work and the cold, gloomy weather outside made me feel like moving to some remote warm place away from the world, away from social media and the Internet and all of the evil humans trying to scam and harm people out there. Just let me be a recluse and write, I thought. But life doesn’t work that way now does it?
It also made me think of Jesus’ ministry on earth and how he sometimes felt like a stranger in his own land…and how the Jewish leaders (His own people!) questioned His authority, His very identity and called Him a liar and a cheat and many other things that just weren’t true. Meanwhile they just didn’t want to see or hear the truth – that He was the Son of God, sent to save the world. Or perhaps they couldn’t handle the truth because it undermined their power…so when He wouldn’t bend His own truth, they ridiculed and tortured Him and sentenced Him without a fair trial to die. When I reflect on all that Jesus went through to give us His message of truth and salvation, it makes me feel like what I go through is so small. Still there is evil in the world, and sometimes it gets easy to feel self righteous, which is an egotistical, dangerous place for me to be.
It also made me stop and reflect on my own truth and how it aligns with God’s. What has God sent me here on this earth to do? Why did He put me here? The answer they taught us in Catholic school was “to know God, to love Him, and to serve Him.” As a kid, I didn’t pay that much mind…but today I believe that is still my purpose and when I am doing something that falls in line with that core truth, it is the right thing to do. But how easily I get distracted or think of ways to justify what becomes a gray area of “truth.” I tend to pile stuff on my plate and lose focus on what’s important – such as getting to know God through prayer, meditation and reading the Bible; coming to love God more through improving my relationships with other people; and serving Him through writing Bible-based novels, speaking messages of inspiration and hope to others, and helping other writers on their journeys. That means I need to spend quiet reflective time, social time and work hard in my calling. Not go in a hundred directions and get lost on social media or in frustration over it!
No one said life is easy and people are perfect…but I do have faith that if I can stay true to God’s purpose in my life, and not sweat the small stuff, everything will okay. In fact, St. Paul confirms it with my favorite Bible passage: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)
