Doing or Being

Saturday 4/12/2014 6:20 AM

Over the course of the past couple of months I have wondered about the effectiveness of my life in pointing others to God.  As far as I know there are very few people who are Christians because of my interactions with them.  Jesus said that if his disciples remained in him they would bear much fruit and sometimes it seems as if my life is a barren tree, with no fruit visible to those who are looking on.

In his book The Living Reminder, Henri Nouwen addresses this issue.  He writes, “The main question indeed is not a question of doing, but a question of being.  When we speak about the minister as a living reminder of God, we are not speaking about a technical specialty which can be mastered through the acquisition of specific tools, techniques, and skills, but about a way of being which embraces the totality of life, working and resting, eating and drinking, praying and playing, acting and waiting.  Before any professional skill we need a spirituality, a way of living in the spirit by which all we are and all we do becomes a form of reminding.  One way to express this is to say that in order to be a living reminder of the Lord, we must walk in his presence as Abraham did.  To walk in the presence of the Lord means to move forward in life in such a way that all our desires, thoughts, and actions are constantly guided by him.  When we walk in the Lord’s presence, everything we see, hear, touch, or taste reminds us of him.  This is what is meant by a prayerful life.  It is not a life in which we say many prayers, but a life in which nothing, absolutely nothing, is done, said, or understood independently of him who is the origin and purpose of our existence.”

As I walk through my day I am constantly reminded of God in the things I experience and through the people I meet.  I am aware of God’s constant presence within my own mind but I wonder if others watching my life are made aware of God’s presence.  Somehow it still seems as if the love and care of God that I experience in such a real way needs to be communicated to those with whom I have contact as I move through my life.  It is one thing for me to see the Lord working and moving in my life but, ultimately, others need to see and experiencing the Lord moving in their lives.  And how that is communicated is the conundrum I struggle to understand.