“God is in every person’s life. God is in everyone’s life. Even if the life of a person has been a disaster, even if it is destroyed by vices, drugs or anything else—God is in this person’s life. You can, you must try to seek God in every human life. Although the life of a person is a land full of thorns and weeds, there is always a space in which the good seed can grow. ” ~Pope Francis
Think of the stem of a rose. It’s not particularly beautiful. In fact it has thorns. We don’t look at the stem, except to avoid it. Instead we look only at the beautiful flower.
This is often the way we view people. We like the flamboyant, the showy. We pay attention to the beautiful, the successful. Most especially we pay attention to people we think will do something for us. We want flowers. We don’t want thorns. Thorns are dangerous. They can hurt.
But don’t we have thorns as well? I know I do. There are times when my own actions disappoint me so much that I feel very unworthy to be God’s child. But I am, and so are you. Even when– not if–we are covered by the thorns of life. God is in with us—-in fact, within us.
Between our thorns, no matter how thick, stiff, or close together they are, there is a small space. And often from this place comes the brand new sprout of something we may never have considered. It is tender and new in the beginning, but it has the possibility of becoming something gorgeous. We ought to look at others in this way, too. The thorns don’t take away from the purpose of the Rose.
Translating a World on the Edge 