Email: Riches of faith [DW]

We can talk, or we can do (prayer, generosity, faith). Words without actions ain't nuthin'.

I agree that trials are not to teach us to be magnanimous of our own resources but of God's. It is about having a spiritual connection, a living-and-breathing relationship with our Father in heaven. The parental images of God that the Bible gives us are very important to me: "Can a mother forget her baby at the breast?" "Who among you, if your child asked for bread, would give him a stone?" "Like a mother hen, he gathers you close." I also know the love I feel for my sons, yet God has infinitely more love for each of us. I am uncomfortable with people who feel they have to wear their relationship with Christ on their sleeves (methinks they profess too much). Yes, it's important to sow the seed of Christ far and abroad; but to me, it's more important to tend the seeds that have taken root so that they grow to maturity. Do we want a world of grass and scrub and brush -- or of mature, fruit-bearing trees?

Like the writer who can only learn to write by the discipline of facing the page each and every day, so the person of faith can only cultivate a personal relationship with his or her Maker in the still, calm places of the heart.

We are a relatively rich nation, though our riches are not solely due to our own efforts. God has blessed this land from the start -- for a purpose. Discerning and acting on that purpose is, I think, our unique responsibility as Americans.

How can we justify the biggest and the best (SUV, TV, DVD etc.) for ourselves, when others must do without basic necessities? If everyone went on a mission trip to Mexico or India or Indonesia just once, it just might make an impression that would stick and influence our investment decisions for a lifetime. "Do not store up treasures for yourselves on earth, where moth eats and rust corrodes; stores up treasures for yourselves in heaven."

I know what you mean: Beyond just a daily spiritual discipline, when we feel drawn to come into the Lord's presence to pray or give thanks; when we feel led to speak to a stranger who turns out to be struggling with just the thing we felt prompted to say (or give); when we feel "a peace that passes understanding" in the midst of trials and deprivation; then we know what developing a relationship with the living God is like. Faith building occurs not just in the language of the heart; we can see it in action too. The only question is: Are we listening?