"Availability is letting God have his way, even when it leads us to the cross. For those who are available, life is at God's disposal, kept in readiness for what he may be up to." - Fr. Richard John Neuhaus, Death on a Friday Afternoon
I've included the first part of this quotation in a post before, but again, I have a different perspective in mind now than what I did before.
I'm amazed at how much of our lives, of our availability, we waste by having our eyes fixed on our own goals, our own agenda, our own ideas about life. We are, each one of us, called to serve God where we are, in the current circumstances of our lives. Yet we spend so much energy on trying to work toward the goals and dreams we have for our lives.
Not that I'm discarding the value of goals and dreams. Without them, we can let inertia keep us stuck where we are. But sometimes we focus on our plans, our ideas, and our vision, even when we don't have any way to bring those to fruition. We let what we want in life drive our attention and actions--or our frustrated inactivity--to the point that we miss the wonderful chances to serve God and the people he loves where we are right now.
But when we make ourselves available to God now, we often find that he has something in mind for us that is far different from our dreams and desires. There's an old country song about overlooking an orchid while searching for a rose, and our lives can become like that. There is incredible wonder that God wants to work through us, and he just wants us to be available so he can pour out his blessings in and through our lives. Instead, we keep beating our heads against a closed door rather than finding the one that God is holding open for us.
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