The book Invitations by Francis Dewar has been a tremendous influence on my life, my thinking, and my ministry. This book is about the journeys of our lives in response to God's invitation and God's calling. Dewar says, in essence:
God is present and a genuine response to that presence happens along three lines: to the world and people as they are, to yourself as you are (with all your strengths and weaknesses, warts and secrets), and to the tiny nudges of God who invites you to put yourself, as you are, at the service of other people as they are. (Francis Dewar, Invitations, from chapter four, "Be Still and Know").

We respond to God by responding to the world as it is and people as they are. To do so assumes that we are able to perceive the world as it is and people as they are. Too often, human beings transgress the healthy space that naturally exists between us and others. We fill that space with our opinions, categories, worries, and judgments about the world and about people. When we can let go of the need to categorize and control, we are better able to perceive the world as it is and see people as they are. In that process, we respond to God's presence in a way that is more genuine.

We also respond to God by responding to ourselves as we are. This might even be more challenging than monitoring our responses to others! Discover who we ourselves are requires an inward journey of letting go and being open, a discipline of reflection and introspection, and some time and effort spent being rather than doing. Such a journey requires questioning many of the rigid categories and negative judgments we have come to assume about ourselves.

Finally, we can respond to those tiny nudges of God - very subtle and easily missed amid our anxieties, busyness, and task orientation. The "still, small voice" of God's Spirit nudges us to place ourselves as we are - not our best selves, but just ourselves - at the service of the world, of other people as they are - not necessarily as we wish they were! In this way, as we empty ourselves, we become filled with purpose, meaning, and God's Spirit.

I invite you to make space in your life in this New Year to listen, see, hear, and love your family, friends, community, and world as they are - without needing to fix them and without needing to understand them. This is the same invitation I am hearing for myself. Ask questions without needing to control the answers. Allow yourself to be filled up like a reservoir that can then give of its abundant overflowing. And give thanks for the peace of Christ -- the oneness of our lives in the life of God.

Thanks for continuing to bless me as we journey together.

--Jack Price

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