Vibrant Christians

In 1692 a short book was published under the title, The Practice of the Presence of God.  The author was a wonderful French monk named Brother Lawrence. His little masterpiece was published after he died. Brother Lawrence fought in the 30 Years War, then spent the rest of his life in a Carmelite monastery where he worked preparing food in the kitchen and making and repairing the sandals he and his brother monks wore.

Brother Lawrence opened his teaching like this: Everything is possible for those who believe. Even more is possible for those who hope. And yet more still is possible for those who love. If a person should dare to put the three together, belief and hope and love, there is no end to what is possible.

My sense is that with the 3 braided together what you have is a vibrant Christian. A vibrant Christian is one who wastes no time on guilt and anger and complaint, rather he or she lets go of anything and everything that is less than love, then proceeds to love whatever and whoever is right in front of them at any given moment with God. That sounds impossible because there are a whole lot of people in this world who don’t give us much cause to love them. But Br. Lawrence taught us that anything is possible if we put belief, hope, love into action at the same time. I’m in because I want to be a vibrant Christian. How about you?