This article, as I look back over the last several weeks, is really just a stream-of-consciousness about what I have termed our call to holiness. As I reviewed the last several weeks, it is evident that I think the call to holiness is a call to truly understand and to accept life as God created it and intended it to be lived. It is a call to humbly curb our desire to have life as we want it to be and to accept life as we find it to be. This means, I guess, giving up the idea that life would be much better if it was exactly as we want it to be. It means giving up our natural tendency to be anxious about life and how it will turn out. We can never predict what will happen in life. It reminds me that the real challenge of life is not to allow life’s uncertainties to make us anxious.

As I share this I have become aware that it has taken me a considerable length of time and a number of real challenges to come to this conclusion. I’m not sure but maybe age has had a mellowing effect on me. I do know, however, that the serious health challenge I faced has truly changed my way of thinking. It allowed me, I think, to really realize that life is short and to spend time being anxious about it only robs you of the joy of living it.

The call to holiness is God’s call to all of us to appreciate not only the life that He shares with us but also the opportunities He continuously gives us to come to a deeper union with Him. As we come to a deeper union we begin to realize – to know and feel – how much God loves us and that His love is unconditional.

The reality is, however, that we can’t come to this realization without work – without leaning to meet the challenges of life in a “Jesus-like” way. We know how He meet the challenges of His life. When we decide that we want to meet life’s challenges as He did, then life begins to change – we begin to change.

The interesting thing is that when we embrace personal change, life becomes much more wonderful.