Nothing

God always asks for more because He knows we can do more, give more, and become more through Him, in Him, and with Him. How poor is our response to His request. We delay, we defect, we evade, we elude, we hide, and we hesitate. How patient is our shepherd – always trying to win our trust, our confidence, our faith; always waiting for the stubborn sheep that we are.

In reality, we are much more detestable creatures than the timid sheep. When we examine our sins carefully and truthfully, we are disgusted out how stained, how flawed, how defective we are. And yet God – our very Creator – loves us. We are so unlovable, and yet He loves us. How do we return this love?

Often, we are afraid of what reciprocity entails. Loving God is loving Christ. And Christ is inseparable from the Cross. To love Christ is to embrace Him – to feel wounds and scars on His body on your soul; to be smeared and stained by His most precious Blood; to have the crown of thorns prick, pierce your head. To love Christ is to be covered in His Blood. And this is an image our soul, nurtured by worldly affections and comforts, finds repulsive.

Think about it. We are nothing and yet God loves us. It’s so simple an idea; it’s so easy to write, spell out, or recall. But what it means is something we must let our hearts, and not our minds, comprehend, believe, accept, and love.