Most people want an abundant life that includes: engaging in activity that is both meaningful and life-giving, finding a personal center within ourselves where we encounter the holy, and having a general sense of feeling and peace. The journey of life is a process that seems to move through these areas, but my experience is that it's often a bumpy ride!

            I find myself working hard to discern what it is I really want to do in terms of activity, ministry, and even work. No job or ministry is really a perfect match. Some have bits and pieces of what I consider life giving opportunities, but these are accompanied with lots of demands that are, frankly, deadly. On the other side of the road, my efforts to become more centered are often hijacked by forces around me. Instead of feeling peaceful and centered, I feel anxious and driven from outside myself.

            If my experience sounds at all famliar to you, I suspect we have lots of company. I have two suggestions. First, this is the way life is. If you are familiar with a "mobius strip," it is a great image for a life journey that moves back and forth between outward striving and inward releasing, but not always gently. And it can be difficult to know if you are even growing spiritually or not. The best thing is to keep moving forward and doing the best you can to seek meaningful activity and nurture inner peace at the core of yourself.

            Second, there is another facet of the journey-one I find myself missing all too often. It is to move from looking for meaning, direction, and identity outside yourself to discovering it within yourself. God intersects each of us at the core of ourselves. In that intersection, that center, there is identity, direction, and authority for life. I believe God has created us to be more independent than dependent as persons. There is no shortage of voices around us, trying to tell us who we are and what we should do. We need to become more independent of those voices. The key is to find the Holy who lives within us and who is always encouraging us to trust who we are and to choose what we will do. As we live this way, dealing with the risks and challenges this path inevitably brings, we will find the peace we've always been seeking.

Thanks for continuing to bless me as we journey together.  

--Jack F. Price

To read more by Jack, be sure to order your copy of Finding Faith: Honest Answers about God, the Bible, and the Church Today at:  www.findingfaithnow.com or www.lulu.com/buy (download available)

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