Outlook

It is a highly personalized outlook or vision of reality that shapes the dimensions of our lives and our world. It is this vision that brings us a fuller life or a shriveled one.

Our vision of reality either releases us into a large and lovely world or paints us into a small corner. One of the most important parts of this vision is our perception of God. Each of us has a different "felt sense" of God. Though it is hard to admit, some of us are really frightened by God. We are afraid of what he might ask of us or do to us if we really turned over our lives to him.

To reflect on your own personal perception of God, consider this; If you were dying and the doctors were to tell you that "it will be just a short time now," would you be happy or terrified?

Jesus compares death to two very different things. He says that death can either be for us a bridegroom coming to claim his bride, or a thief coming to rob us of all that we treasure. Ask yourself, "What will death be for me; a bridegroom or a thief." It is our concept of God that shapes our reactions to living and to dying, to life and to death. What is your "felt sense" of him?