Consider a kite flying high up in the sky. The strong wind passes beneath it and lifts it higher and higher. Yet, it soars only as high as the length of its string that binds it to earth. It is, thus, not free to fly where it wills nor where the wind would want to take it. And it is a matter of time the strong wind will subside and then it will lose all energy it previously had to take it to its great heights. Another kite comes near and their strings entangle. The weaker string is cut by the other and its kite flies out of control before it finally crashes back onto earth, at times, so far away that it is never to be found or picked up again.
The spirituality of some are similar to a kite. Everyone is given gifts and blessings to "soar" high above the earth. Yet, attachments to the things of this world bind them and inhibit their freedom of sensing and responding to the Will of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit. There is always an excuse, a reservation, a worry or doubt, or simply an unwillingness to push oneself into a deeper spirituality. All these form the string that dictates how high the kite can fly. Such a spirituality is lifted up momentarily by exterior "energies" like the kite that flies high only when the wind blows strong. It withstands not the time, climate or other influences. It is unstable, unpredictable and short-lived.
Consider then a bird flying high up in the sky. It is alive and living by the breath of life God breathed into it. It goes wherever it wills, wherever the Providence of God takes it to. It builds its nest and knows well where Home is. It worries not about what it will eat or where it will rest; where there is food, it goes, when it is not looking for food, it flies freely in the sky, when it is tired, it rests upon a tree or even on an air conditioner's compressor. It is, thus, in tune with nature; it IS a part of nature, and it senses accurately and promptly an approaching storm or a devastating earthquake.
How wonderful if our spirituality may be like a bird's life - free, reliant on God's Providence, one with Him in His Will. Living our lives by the Providence of God allows us to be contented with whatever we have been given; there is no need for envy, jealousy, selfishness and sting. There is no need for pride too since everything we have comes from God and we are simply blessed because He has decided to be generous and kind towards us. We can live in unity with God and His Holy Will and in so doing, enjoy the peace and joy that only He can grant. We can experience true freedom from the things of this world that are meaningless but which the world enforces a false significance upon and demands our attention for.
The nature of every human being lies in its concrete need for a meaningful life. Everyone searches for meaning in life. The only difference is "Where do we search for this meaning?" If we search in the right place, equipped with a reliable map and an accurate compass, we will find our treasure sooner or later but surely. But if we take the wrong map or use a broken compass, we will exhaust our lifetime and find nothing.
At the beginning of a new year, amidst setting out the new year resolutions we aim to accomplish within the year, we might also want to be resolved about the spirituality we want for our lives, the type and depth of relationship with God, reconsider our priorities and open our hearts and minds more fully to God's ways, thus, closing our hearts and minds more tightly to the ways of the secularised, commercialised, materialised world.
02 January 2011, Sunday
10.21pm
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