One Moment of Focus

God is always present in our daily life. As people of faith we know this is true. God did not create and then abandon his people. God is with us in the joy filled moments as well as the times when we feel tension or sadness.  

If we fully believed in God’s intense love for us we would run to Mass to share our gratitude and be with our Creator and to spend time with Jesus. All our actions would reflect our desire to live our life to reflect His mercy and Love.  

Often, we need to slow down or stop our busyness to reflect on this fact.  

We do not Often, take the time to do this. 

It is in the time we spend reflecting where we can really see God’s movement in our life.  

I was away on vacation last week and the time away gave me a chance to reflect on some of this summer’s moments where I was keenly aware of God’s Grace and presence. My prayer is for all of us to include moments of reflection and prayers of gratitude into our day and to freely share these God sightings with each other. It is in the sharing that they become real. God is Good...All the Time  

 In June, our Lord Have Mercy service weeks brought 25 young people the chance to live our gratitude to God, in the form of serving others. When they took time each day, to reflect with scripture on their experiences and share with each other, we all grew in faith. Having the ability to listen to their stories and listen to them make connections to the Word, is a blessing in my life.  

In July while experiencing ND Vision, I, along with our group of attendees heard a presentation from one of the speakers. His name is Mike Patin and he calls himself a faith horticulturist. I like his perspective on who he is as a person of faith. He fertilizes growth in faith by offering a different perspective. In his talk he mentioned FOMO. Fear Of Missing Out, is a real thing in our culture and it can keep us from being present wherever we are because of a worry about what’s happening, where we are not. This happens often for our teens these days.  Mike challenged them and all of us to flip FOMO. When you flip FOMO you have OMOF. OMOF is One Moment of FOCUS. I liked the reminder to be present to every moment. Thanks be to God. 

This year we offered Vacation Bible School for our young kids, led by our parish teens, for the first time. The teens that led the small groups put in 10 hours of preparation and 30 hours of serving during the week of VBS. Without their willingness to get involved and share their faith, we could never have offered this experience at our parish. I am/was so impressed by their commitment. These young people shared their stories of struggle and what they worry about with the little kids to help them know that we are never alone and Jesus is always with us. During the time we talked about our struggles we also talked about how we can help others when they struggle. It was a blessing to help them unpack how they act as God’s love for their friends and family.  I know the excitement and enthusiasm that the little children brought to this experience and the witness of faith that the teens shared with all of them and us will not be forgotten. Thanks be to God for giving us this experience of Faith. 

I pray that we all take some time to reflect and give thanks for God’s Love in our life. I also pray that we talk to each other about our experiences of faith because it is in the sharing of faith that we grow stronger in faith. Live each day  OMOF! 

Kim McMillan

Director of Youth Ministry

Keep up with current news and events by visiting the Youth Ministry page!