Availability

This is a central word on our spiritual journey. Availability is our openness to God and to our neighbor. Being available to God means that we open our heart to the Living God. We hold loosely all that we have and are in our being, our heart or core. Those things which we have defined ourselves by we make available to the Spirit of God to blow away or to say. To be available is to abandon ourselves to God for their is nothing greater in life than total abandonment to God.

This is my personal quest, that is why my teachers are people who have done this and are doing this.

A sage once said that a saint is available to be used by God or left in the corner by God, they are content either way. An available person opens their whole being to God and this takes great trust in the mercy and goodness of God. To be available means to spend time with God, how can once hear the voice of the Divine if they never listen? Listen in silence and stillness. This is what my friends at Sky Farm teach and model for me.

Being available also implies a willingness to let go and to change to become even more in tune with the will of God. Jesus was always available to the will of the Father, he did nothing of his own, only what he was called to do. Wow.

Availability to God also means that we are available to all that God loves, which means we are available to all. We don't need to seek people out per se, rather we should welcome all that God sends our way and give them what they need at the time. This is a radical call to hospitality, and one I find challenging. Sometimes we make our material goods available, other times we make our wisdom available, sometimes it is compassionate listening.

A person who is available is truly present to whomever they are with, they are not planning or thinking about the next thing to say, or the next task or the plans for later in the night. They simply are present to Christ as he comes in the disguise of our neighbor. I long to live this way.

Reflection Questions

1. How available to God are you? What do you desire in terms of your availability to God and others?

2. What are the ways you make yourself available? For example do you attend worship, small group, pray regularly etc...

3. Who can help you grow in your understanding? For example Thomas Merton helps me understand the contemplative life.

4. What holds you back from being more available, what are the thing you hold tightly onto that may not be worth holding?

Journal about these issues....