Seek Jesus

My little foster brother was cutting a paper at the kitchen table, then he said, "I make Jesus really super happy." I asked, "How?" He said, "Wait. I'll show you." Then he finished cutting his paper and gave it to me. He drew Jesus on the cross with a smile on His face. My little brother said Jesus was dead but he made Him happy. I said, "You do make Jesus happy. He LOVES this picture." I tried, a few times before, to explain how Jesus is alive now but he always looks at Jesus on the cross and says, "No, Jesus is dead right there." So he's just not old enough to understand that yet but as he grows, he will begin to understand, as he continues to seek Him and grow in relationship with Him. The same for us - the more we grow in our relationship with Jesus, the more we encounter Him consistently in our lives and in ourselves. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life so the more we seek Him, the more He prepares us to carry our cross with Him, to understand His love and mercy in our lives, and to serve with Him in everything we do. Jesus is more than just a picture on the wall but the picture serves as a reminder for me to be thankful. The amount of ways for us to encounter Jesus and grow in relationship with Him are endless, but the first and true way to seek Him is through His mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary. When Mary said "yes" to be the mother of our Lord, she also said "yes" to be our mother after Jesus was crucified - her purpose is so much more than giving birth to Jesus, but to also be a mother to us all as children of God and she guides us as we walk with Jesus in our lives.

We can look at the Blessed Virgin Mary as a compass, because we're lost spiritually. Since I started hunting, I've had to remember my way around the woods, hills, and fields; learned how to be safe, carry my gun, when and where to hunt, tracks, buck rubs, and what ever else because that's all important in order to be a hunter - I have to teach it to my son also. If even knowing how to be a hunter is important, then knowing ourselves as children of God should be also. Do we know where we are spiritually? Look to Mary and ask her, "Which way to Jesus?" We also have to remember that she wasn't made divine, but she is obedient to His will in everything. She wasn't made with extra thick skin to help shield her from all that she experienced as the mother of Jesus on earth. She had to deal with all the emotions of giving birth to her son in the same place that animals ate and slept, she had to deal with knowing someone wanted to kill her baby and they had to flee, she had to deal with losing her child and finding him three days later in the temple, she had to deal with watching her son be persecuted, carry His cross, and then be crucified. Mary was a woman who loved her Son and was obedient to God's will in everything, so she had peace in all that she faced because she knew it was only through the will of God that all came to be for her. In obedience she prayed and listened for Him, felt His love in all things and in all people, and was moved by the Holy Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit we are moved to love by love.

The closer we become in our relationship with Jesus, the more we seek Him in ourselves. Jesus isn't in a far off place - He is in us and that is where we seek Him first. The Blessed Virgin Mary shows us to the way, the truth, and the life by guiding us through all the trials we face to help us find Jesus in ourselves and help us realize that Jesus is in all - He is in the joy, sorrow, pain, hurt, and there is nothing that would stop our growth in our relationship with Him. When we experience regret, shame, guilt, and wonder why certain things happen to us, that can be good too, because that means we are questioning which means we are seeking answers, and Jesus is the truth that we are seeking. Jealousy can also be directed toward God and ask Him why we feel that; what can we do to change that jealousy into a prayer and offering? What do we need to question about ourselves, in order to see Jesus? When we go through those emotions, it's important to direct them to God and ask Him, just like Mary did when she asked, "How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?" (Luke 1:34) We are also told to put on the armor of God for our battle against evil. I would question 'why' when I feel shame, regret, guilt, and all things like that toward God and ask Him, "Why do I feel this and how does it bring me closer to You?" Those challenging emotions, like pain, guilt, regret, shame, jealousy, can allow satan to have a foot in the door, but shut it by looking to Jesus on the cross - there is reason for those feelings and they are meant to bring you closer to Him. Don't dwell on those challenging emotions but thank God for them and ask Him, "How does this humble me?"