“I say to myself, I will not mention him, I will speak in his name no more. But then it becomes like fire burning in my heart, imprisoned in my bones; I grow weary holding it in, I cannot endure it.” Even though Jeremiah is ridiculed, has become the object of laughter and is being mocked by everyone, he still speaks of the Lord. He can’t help himself. I can only imagine, and hope for, a faith like that. A faith so strong it becomes who I am, not something I do. A burning desire within me so strong that I would have to fight to keep it in. A desire so strong my bones ached to just speak of the goodness of the Lord. Now I know we are not all Jeremiahs, but I wonder what we could accomplish if we had a fraction of his zeal? If you’re like me, then you’re thinking “but how do I GET that zeal?” How do we transform our lives so God is so prevalent that everything we do or think involves a thought about how it will affect our relationship with God or how it will reflect on God. I think the only answer is time. But I think the old adage “you only get out what you put in” doesn’t quite apply in this case, but is close. I think in this case you actually get out more than you put in, unlike so many of the things that keep us busy these days. Imagine if you spent as much time in God’s word and prayer as you did on Facebook, watching CNN or Fox News, watching your favorite team or TV show, playing on your phone, etc? How about if you even split the time in half that you currently spend doing one of those activities and devoted it to reading scripture? Speaking personally, I can tell when I get away from my habit of reading scripture and praying, and quite frankly, I don’t like that guy. When I stray away from those habits, the world slowly creeps in and my thoughts change, so rather than being of God, they are of the world. But it doesn’t have to be that way. We just need to put the time in. We need “to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.” We need to change ourselves to be what we want to be, what God knows we can be. We have to fight the temptations of today, stop listening to what the world is telling us, and listen to the timeless Word of God. “Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.” I promise if you put the time in with God, you will get far more out of the relationship than you put in. And hopefully as we all start to do this, God’s word will become like a fire burning in our hearts, so much so that we can’t keep it in.

Pax Christi,

John Mihalko