Loving the world as it is now

I have long been a seeker, seeking to create a peaceful existence where I might experience calm amid the clamor of daily life.

It was only after searching within myself that I finallysaw how I could love with the world as it is today.

It wasn't that I changed so much on the outside, but I changed within. I used to visualize living on top of a beautiful hill in the country gazing at rippling streams bubbling between tapering knolls and dipping valleys. While leisurely sipping my morning coffee I could sit and watch birds eating from feeders, always effortlessly filled.

I would watch farmers' cows grazing in nearby fields. Ah, what heavenly visions danced in my head? Unfortunately though, I was awakened from my dream by a dose of reality.

For starters, I work in town, so living in the country would only add to my busy day. I would have to spend time traveling to and from work -- and I enjoy my work. I could quit working and build my life around family, performing jobs around home like people supposedly did in the old days.

I remembered the time my children were being raised -- my husband at work all day. I imagined things could be like that again and promised to stop stretching myself thin like a rubber band. Did God intend that everyone rush to and fro as they do now?

Maybe if people changed their mind-set, things could go back to being more tranquil, like life must have been years ago. It seemed to me God was more visible in the simplicity of yesteryear.

Everything today seems to be busier and nosier with overcrowded stores, screaming automobiles, massive crowds of people and the overexposure of media. When I watched old movies on the Hallmark channel, babies even seemed more endearing-- dressed in long gowns and sleeping in pretty pink- and blue-ruffled bassinets. But the past I imagined could never return.

Instead, I must experience God's presence here and now. I paraphrased John 3:17 to read, For God did not send his Son into the culture to condemn it, but that the culture, through Christ, might be redeemed.

I studied how I could feel spirituality in today's world, looking at everything I could love about the universe today. Even though people live differently now, I must cease trying to recreate the past and bring Jesus' teachings to the world today through the many avenues available.

Babies today are just as precious as those in the past. People talked about hardships of yesteryear and how prayer got them through hard times. People still rely on prayer.

Even though more eat in restaurants than at home nowadays, they're the same people having the same needs. We have the option to analyze questionable scenes in TV shows and movies, looking for messages of the story rather than the crudeness of its presentation. People can use their Christian values to decide what's suitable. God is indeed everywhere -- now, as in the past. Spirituality is still seen, felt and heard all around us.

Even though our society is a mobile one and people relocate often, families can still adjust and find ways to keep in touch. Through modern technology there are more opportunities than ever for us to bring Jesus to others.

Wow! After evaluating the avenues available today to bring Christ to others, I resolved to stop imagining a past I never really knew. Instead I recognize the blessings and opportunities available now, and resolve to love the world the way it is -- integrating modern life with the sight and sounds of spirituality.

Ellen Shuck is director of religious education at St. Mary's Cathedral Parish.