God-Moments in Our Lives

I was watching the film Alfie on DVD. Its about a guy who enjoys being single and has a lot of one-night stands. However, in the midst of his hedonistic lifestyle, he begins to encounter issues that bring his life to a standstill, or at least a very uneasy forward movement. While he is in the midst of this time, he experiences what I call a "God-moment."

We all have them if we have ears and eyes to notice them. God is indeed moving through each of our lives, trying to get across to us that God loves us and desires for us to be in relationship with God. Usually when life is going our way, when we are in control, we are too focused on ourselves to notice others, let alone God speaking to us. But when we experience some kind of pain -- emotional or physical, some kind of news that knocks us to the ground, we are vulnerable, our insides are open -- and these times are God-moments in our lives. These are times when we cry out, we long for a different direction, we long for hope -- and if we open up our ears and eyes we will discover that God is next to us reaching out to us, to walk with us, to touch us and bring healing and hope to us. But most of us remain somewhat blind and deaf and don't take the opportunity to see God in these God-moments. We figure out a way to get out of the situation we are in and find a way to go on -- when the life God gave to us was meant to be more than a mere "going on."

I don't know if Alfie was ever open to the God-moments in his life, though he came close -- but one thing he did realize (at the end of the movie): though he was single, unattached, had freedom to do whatever he wanted to do, he did not have peace of mind -- and as he stated, "Without peace of mind, you've got nothing."

I want to try and be open to God in the God-moments that make themselves visible in my life, and perhaps somehow discover God in ways I never experienced before.

Roland