Where It Comes and Where it Goes

“No one can have anything except what is given him from Heaven.”

 –St. John the Baptist

Do I believe this?  No one...can have anything…except…what is given…from Heaven.  Wait, wait I have many things that were not given from Heaven (or from God) right?  I worked for my house, car, food and vacations.  I have thought this in the past as I bless God before eating with my family as I say something like, “Lord we thank you for this food.”  Didn’t that food come from the grocery store?  Didn't I work for many years (perhaps harder than others) to have what I now have?  Consider that for a moment.

What do I need?  I need eyes to see in order to believe that I can’t have anything unless it comes from God.  I also need faith to believe that the only good things I have are from Him.  This is a problem inherent in our reality due to our darkened minds…believing that food and all other good things come from God when we ourselves stood in line at the grocery store to buy them.

Think of farmers who were not removed from the soil to such a degree as many of us.  They could see that the seed, soil, water and sun produced their food…it might have even fed their animals.  But even for them, it would be easy to consider their work their own and to stop there with their gratitude.

What I have realized this very day is that the Lord Himself has given all good things to me and hasn’t given me more nor less than what I need to lead me to eternal life.  He knows full well my blindness and brokenness of mind and heart.  He has been faithful and with me all along. 

Perhaps a strange conclusion but this is the connection I see in all of this to my life.  Since it is the Lord that gives what is good I don’t need to worry about anything.  I do not need to be afraid of the world or even for preserving my life.  Why?  Because I am in the Lord’s hands.  I am His and to Him I hope to return.  This is the simple hope of my life.  This does not mean that I go upstairs lay down in my bed and hope food will float into my mouth and that I shirk my responsibility.  No!  After all the very work and struggles, pains and problems I face (both internally and externally) are allowed by God to allow me to come to conclusions such as this one.  That you and I have been called by God for a purpose and that is, first, to be children of God and believe in the One whom the Father has sent.  Second, to co-labor with God and continue the work Christ began.  We are both the inheritance and the inheritors of the Kingdom of God.  May our time on Earth be characterized only by love for God…all good things are surely given by Him and even better things are still yet to come.  Far better things are ours, unseen as yet, that God has in store for those who love Him and surrender all temporal goods for the sake of the One, the eternal Good, Who loves us and gave Himself for us that we might in Him have all things.

You believe you've earned what you have and to a degree you have.  But nothing is yours, as you can see, and if you keep it for yourself you have lost everything already.  Raise your heart to God and you have everything.