September Awakens Learning in Us All.

It’s September and classrooms are filled with students who would rather be lost in their summer memories than learning anything new. However, learning time is not something just for kids in classrooms. It is for everybody.

This point was emphasized for me by a huge sign outside a country church. It proclaimed in bold letters, “Know Christ – Know peace! No Christ – No peace!”

Brief as this message is, it defines a profound truth. We have to know Christ in order to find inner peace. And knowing Christ means we have to learn about Christ. Not to do this would leave us unfulfilled and hollow. We look to Christ to teach us. Didn't Christ say, “Learn from me for I am gentle and humble of heart?”  This is why we look closely at Christ's life on earth and learn.

The Scriptures are filled with stories of Christ’s encounters with those he met as he traveled the roads of Galilee on his way to Jerusalem. And he made this journey to show us how to live this humble life of “loving God and loving our neighbors.”  He wanted us to get it right and so he did it first.

How did Christ respond to suffering? How did he live with loneliness? Where did he go to pray and get his strength? How did he celebrate with his friends? How did he spend his private time and how did he live with others in his life?

Jesus answered these questions and taught us by his example. From Jesus, we come to know how to respond in our own situations. Christ came to be “our way to his Father.”  Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life” then and still is today.

Take a closer look at Jesus and see what we can still learn from him. He never gives up getting us to follow him. It just is not in his nature when it comes to our salvation. He wants us with him for all eternity, and he is not giving up – ever!

Saint Francis de Sales writings favor a slightly different version of that church sign. Every day, de Sales offered his day to the Lord. By this prayer he directed every purpose and action in praise of the Lord Jesus. He called this his Direction of Intention.

“Live Jesus Live! So, live in me that all I do be done with Thee. And grant that all I think and say May be Your thoughts and words today!”

I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly. John 10:10

Live Jesus forever and ever. Amen!