{"id":23,"date":"2014-01-12T03:24:45","date_gmt":"2014-01-12T03:24:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/?p=23"},"modified":"2014-02-14T03:25:12","modified_gmt":"2014-02-14T03:25:12","slug":"god-co-weaver-of-our-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/god-co-weaver-of-our-life\/","title":{"rendered":"God: Co-weaver of our Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

A talent that comes so naturally to a child but one that sometimes fades as we get older is the ability to be sur-prised or delighted. Those of us who think they have seen it all, can be slow to hear new things or consider different ways of doing things. It\u2019s called being \u201cstodgy\u201d or old fashioned or \u201cset in your ways\u201d.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m dangerously close to that. But something happened last weekend while I was in Syracuse that really surprised and delighted all of us. A young man (now a deacon in Syracuse, soon to be ordained a priest) gave a talk on \u201cdiscernment\u201d. How do you figure out what path in life God wants you to take?
\nHe used this image. See what you think.<\/p>\n

Picture you\u2019re weaving a cloth with a shuttle and yarn attached to it. Only this cloth is suspended over your head. The garment you\u2019re weaving is, of course, \u201cyour life\u201d.<\/p>\n

You view your cloth from the bottom and see several openings which will receive your shuttle. So, seeing the pattern you\u2019ve already begun, you choose an opening that seems to best add to your cloth. You push the shuttle through and wait for its return.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, God is there above to receive your choice. He takes His time in returning the shuttle. He\u2019s partnering with you as co-weaver! Finally, He drops the shuttle back down to you, but not exactly where you thought He would. It\u2019s \u201cover there\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh,\u201d we think. \u201cThat changes things. Now what? Where do I send my shuttle back to Him?\u201d
\nAnd up and down the shuttle of life goes. Each time we make the best judgment we can about life\u2019s choices . . . Is this the person I should marry? Do I work or stay home with the children? Do I apply for the new opening at work? Where do we send the children to school? What should I say about recent developments in the family? How do I handle this new problem? Etc.<\/p>\n

Get the picture? It\u2019s really a nice meditation on the part-nership God has with us in guiding us through our lives.
\nTwo points seem critical to me in this process.<\/p>\n

1. When we ponder where to send up our choices, (the shuttle) there needs to be some sort of prayer. \u201cOh Lord, please guide me, enlighten me. Show me where to send this choice in life. I give it to you. Help me.\u201d Then act with the confidence that God will indeed help your choic-es. He loves you!<\/p>\n

2. When God drops the shuttle back down to you, no mat-ter how unexpected its placement— trust that it is God\u2019s answer to your prayer. The events of our life that follow our prayerful action is what we call God\u2019s Providence (His loving grace given to us, His children) Trust that He has heard you and has answered your prayers.<\/p>\n

Case in point: We prayed for months that God would guide the selection of our next bishop. Bishop Salvatore Matano is God\u2019s answer to us! Welcome bishop. Now let\u2019s all get to work.
\nGod is waiting for your next prayer.<\/p>\n

Bless you.<\/p>\n

Fr. Tim<\/p>\n

PS. Your garment is going to be breathtaking!<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"linkedin\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A talent that comes so naturally to a child but one that sometimes fades as we get older is the ability to be sur-prised or delighted. Those of us who think they have seen it all, can be slow to hear new things or consider different ways of doing things. It\u2019s called being \u201cstodgy\u201d or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weekly-column"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23\/revisions\/24"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holytrinityweb.com\/weekly\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}