November Gratitude: Thankful for the God of Mystery
Correction: I realized a mistake in the November 4th post. I said there were 47 presidential flags at the Regan Library. Actually, there are only 46 since Donald Trump was just elected the 47th president. I apologize for that mistake.
May the God of Mystery be with you. May you embrace all that is unexplained and unclear in your life. In that embrace may the God of Mystery reveal your true self. May you trust the answer as you live into the questions of your life and may God, whose ways are far above your own, bless you with an abiding presence to mystery. May the God of Mystery bless you. --Maxine Shonk, OP (grdominicans.org)
Where I live, November is the foggiest month of the year. In one job several years ago, I was responsible for arranging travel for administrative staff. More flights were cancelled due to fog during November than any other time of the year. We needed to reconsider plans and deal with the mystery of how business travel would work out.
More than once in my life, I have been accused of thinking too much and having too many questions. While I have often felt hurt by these accusations, I have come to believe it is impossible for a finite person, who is sincerely and reverentially seeking truth, to think “too much” or ask too many questions about an infinite God.
Always, though, there comes that time when I realize there is a mystery about God and God’s Divine ways which I will never understand—at least this side of heaven. Once upon a time, I found the realization annoying, but as I write these words, I can truthfully say, I find it comforting and even exciting.
Faith is defined as confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. (Hebrews 11:1) The more I have thought about and traveled my journey of faith and the more questions I have been unafraid to ask, the greater my confidence in God, who yes, is mysterious and whose ways at times are exasperating, has grown.
What confidences help me trust the God of Mystery?
The deep assurance God loves me unconditionally and will never ever abandon me. (Romans 8:38-39
In-retrospect-memories of times when I doubted God cared but eventually learned in real definable ways that was not truth. (the Bible is full of these types of reminders)
Believing without a doubt that God is like the Good Shepherd who leads his sheep onto right paths in his ways, right times, and for his good purpose. (Psalm 23:3)
May you be blessed today with confidence in the God of Mystery,
