Journal of Michelle Smith

As we begin this semester in our new home, I hope we all can feel the love…a love of learning, a love of preaching the gospel, a love of teaching others to do theology.

There’s the love that was the force behind this beautiful building that Aquinas will now call home and along with it comes a love of community, a love of strangers, a love of God.

A love greater than human.

I feel the transformation taking place within me. I’m reaching out to become something better than I was the day before. I am not as bothered by things as I used to be. I feel more certain of my mission as a Christian and what that means for me in my daily life.

As I do things, not for my own sake, but for the sake of others, I show a little piece of that love that was shown to all of us when God so loved the world…

Where in your life can you feel the love and be love to others?

This is the time of year when we make New Year’s Resolutions to do everything from lose weight to spending more time with our family. The interesting part about it all is that resolutions are all about our plans for our life. What about God’s plan?

A friend told me a cute joke last week. She said, “If you want to make God laugh, tell God your plans.” It got a chuckle out of me because it’s the truth. You’ve already read about my plans for my career and how I stumbled into a vocation…I stumbled, God led me there.

As we begin the year, this is the perfect opportunity to reflect on what God has already resolved for us. I’ve noticed I’ve started using the words gifts and collaboration more. But I’m not just talking about gifts and collaboration, I’m using the gifts that God has given me in conjunction with those that God’s given to others and to sit back and watch the Lord’s beauty unfold when you lean on a power greater than your own is amazing.

I’m looking for opportunties for the people whose lives I touch to see that they have gifts that need to be shared with others for those who do not yet know the power of the Eucharist.

Whatever is in store for any of us was already in the plan. We should all pray for the Holy Spirit to shine the light on God’s resolution for us…it’s already been resolved; we just have to find it for ourselves. Happy New Year and God bless.