I fell

Yesterday I tried to express an idea, a concept on faith. I did a very poor job, I knew that as soon as I posted it, but I want to post a blog everyday if I can, be it good or be it bad. And yesterdays was bad! I like the idea of where I was headed and in my mind when I was thinking about it on the way home from vacation it all sounded good, but in the end it missed its mark. I fell short, some would say that I didn’t even come close, and that would be correct, I’m not even sure if the reader would have gotten anything out of what I wrote. So I apologize to you, I say with a humble heart “Sorry for wasting your time, for posting ramblings and such on the blog.”

 

But to every negative there is a positive, and the positive to a bad blog from yesterday has inspired me today. At first I thought I would just try to rewrite the blog from yesterday, but I decided that I would let that dead dog stay dead, so instead I decided to write about how we fail how we miss the mark in our faith walks.

 

To many their walk in faith ended at confirmation, but for some we continue to walk, sometimes alone and sometimes with others, but the walk continues. Along the way we see many things, much like a nature walk or walk in the city, each time you walk your bound to see something different or in a new light. Our faith walk should be like that, although we may walk the same path each day, we should see things anew, differently each time.

 

We attend mass each Sunday and most of the mass is the same each week, we sit in the same spot, say the same prayers and most likely have the same priest the only things that change are the songs and the readings. All of us, at some time or other have zoned out, missed the readings or really didn’t hear the songs, the sameness of the mass allowed us to drift off. We missed the newness because of the sameness, but it was there. This is a fact, and it is also a liability for Catholics, we are not a high production mass with light shows and sound systems to rival the latest rock concerts, we are calm and subdued we are the Lords Mass, the last Supper not recreated but the Last Supper for all times.

 

In our fallen nature, we fall not because we want to, not always, but we fall because we are made to. God created us with free will, and with free will comes failure. We are bound to fall, to trip and stumble along the way, the path to salvation may be freely given to us by the death and resurrection of Christ, but it’s not easy, nor is it for the lazy.

 

We have a hard road to salvation, our Calvary is high up and the road leading to it is covered in stones and pot holes. We stumble and fall because we are of a fallen nature, not because we choose too.

 

We make attempts, take leaps and travel the road blind, and sometimes, just sometimes we hit out mark, get it right, but more often then not we fail. We fail due to our humanity not due to our desires. We attempt, and we fail, such is our life as a fallen race. But the main thing is that we attempt that we keep tiring, that we keep the faith and keep walking.

 

The challenge it to learn from our failed attempts, to learn and grow, and f we can do that, of we can see the same walk as new, if we can learn that our faith walk is one of sameness not to bore us, but rather to allow us to learn and grow, to allow us to see our failed attempts and to allow us to retry, to get a do over or for you golfers a mulligan.

 

Life is full of sameness, its part of our fallen nature, and its part of Gods graces to us, God allows us to redo, to see it again and to try, try, try until we get it. God understands that we are fallen people that we are sinners, and perfection is not part of our nature. God allows us to fall, to miss the mark and to walk blindly because he understands that sometimes that all we can do. We are just simple servants, with limited abilities to understand, we are only human, and we are only perfect in our imperfection.

 

So yah, yesterdays blog missed its mark, I fell short and I walked in to it with my eyes closed. Yah the message was most likely missed by all, but I am walking blind along this road. My faith walk is along a very steep and high road to Calvary and it is covered with rocks and pot holes and I seem to find each and everyone. But I am not discouraged nor am I  to overly concerned because I know that I am not alone on this walk, I know that many ate with me, and the some are falling as much as I am and the many more are finding the clear path, and some are clearing the path for me. God has given me the gift of faith, and the desire to teach and share it, so I know that God has also given me the ability to deliver his message, all I need to do is open my eyes to the sameness to see the newness. That is what I attempt to do each and every time I blog, I try to see something new, I try to clear the path for you, to move one stone, to fill one pot hole, and to hold your hand when you to are blind. But sometimes I fail, sometimes I miss my mark. Such is life of a human.

 

Paul