Praise be Jesus Christ! Praise be His holy name! He is all-good, all-knowing, all-merciful. He exacts perfect love and justice. He is God!
Thank You, God for Your most holy and perfect love. Thank You for the gift of holy conversations and holy friendships. Thank You for trials in this life that train and form us for the next. Thank You for all Thy benefits.
We are sorry for our forgetfulness. We so often forget Your many works and Divine Providence. We are so limited in our knowledge and understanding that we fail to “connect the dots” of all that You are and all that You are doing and how we, Your Body, are all connected. We are sorry for our pride, our self-centeredness, our refusal to sacrifice our plans to accomplish Yours.
Psalm 37 states “Commit your life to the Lord, and He will help you. The LORD watches over the lives of thewholehearted; their inheritance lasts forever. They are not put to shame in an evil time; in days of famine they have plenty.”
Yesterday, separately and unbeknownst to the other, a friend of mine and I forwarded this Psalm to the same group chat. Something in this Psalm caught our eye, each of us a different part, and we both felt prompted to share it with the same people. That cannot be a coincidence.
The word “wholehearted” caught my eye for a few reasons. Upon reading the Psalm, I asked myself, “Am I wholehearted? What does that even mean?” What do you do when you are searching for meaning in Scripture? I do several things. First, I look at different bibles. The New American RE Bible uses the word “blameless” instead of “wholehearted”. This helped me a little, but I must say, I was not satisfied. My next step is usually to search the footnotes or look up the meaning in the dictionary. Webster’s uses “completely and sincerely devoted,” and “marked by complete earnest commitment; free from all reserve or hesitation.” Now, that is it!
That is what God continues to whisper to me, year in and year out. Stay focused on Him with my whole heart! Seek Ye first! He has given me this message over and over and over and over again! From experience, I know that when I focus on Him, when I am completely His without reserve or hesitation, I seldom notice the trials around me, and if I do, I see them in a way that reminds me of God’s perfect plans for everyone’s salvation.
My friend noticed the part of Psalm 37 that states, “in times of famine, they have plenty.” I have often shared about “God’s math” and the “multiplication of the turkeys.” When we are wholehearted, we see everything in a different way. We are thankful for everything; we tend to see God’s hand in everything. We see plenty, when “the world” does not. We “look on the bright side”, while “the world” reports and reposts all the negative news.
Of course, the word “wholehearted” also reminds me of Jesus and His most Sacred Heart. I am currently reading a book by Fr. Ken Geraci, CPM, Spiritual Warfare and Divine Mercy: The Weapon for Our Times. This book connects the devotions of the Sacred Heart to the devotions of Divine Mercy, and I love it.
I love making connections, and I know that is guided by the Holy Spirit. I love that my friend and I both shared the same Psalm with the same friends. I love how looking up a word allowed me to connect the Psalm to my life. I love how the word connected me to a well known image and to a book I am reading. All of it deepens Scripture for me and allows it to change me.
Have you had similar coincidences in your life? Have you made a connection with others who share what strikes them in Scripture? Have you connected Scripture to your life? How is God working and moving in your life that allows you to become wholehearted? Share, share, share… you never know who needs to hear your God story!
Photo by Museums Victoria on Unsplash
