To whom shall we go

We need a break even for a short period of time to relax. A vacation or a time away helps us to manage stress better. If we are constantly building up stress without ever finding the time and outlet to relax, it can turn into chronic stress and eventually burnout. Taking a break can help us to reduce and prevent stress. But, where do we go?

Throughout our lives, we can be assured that many times we will encounter a lot of challenges. It may come in the form of a tragic experience, a deep wound inflicted by the people we love, the effects of our own sin or some other painful experience.

We live in a world influenced by many means and ways that provide temporary rest to our tired selves and distort the attention we should give to our spiritual life and sanity. So, amidst the never-ending challenges that we wrestle and face every day that may seem insurmountable and would make us give up let us look and examine ourselves, where do we normally go?

Considering the challenges and stresses in our life, whatever it is: physical, emotional, financial, academic, career, or relational; whatever the difficulty we face, to whom do we go? Too often, the tendency is to develop a vice like drinking, gambling, procrastinating, etc. and to worry about everything that has brought us to where we are. We blame ourselves for not taking better care of ourselves or those we love or we remember all the poor decisions that we or our loved ones have made. We focus on ourselves and our earthly circumstances. When we do that, we are losing our direction to whom shall we really go. We are not looking to the greatness of God and his provision for our life. We are acting as though it all depends on us, and that we have to take care of everything.

When we are in the midst of difficulty, disappointments in life, we must have faith. But what does that mean? It means that we must know, with a deep admittance, that we need Jesus in our life. We must know, with a deep certitude, that if we place all our trust and hope in Him, He will never abandon us, even though we tend to backslide ourselves.

In our world today that is faced with so many challenges and many stressors finding
happiness and fulfillment is something that is still possible and real.

Reflect, today, how deep and sustaining our own faith in Jesus truly is. When the storms of life come, and they will, who will we turn to for help? We are encouraged by the word of God today to stay and to remain in Him.

by Fr. Jericho Venarta, OMI

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