Put on your 3D Glasses

Dimension: a measurable extent of some kind, such as length, breadth, depth, or height.

Recently in my life I have been faced with the task of viewing things multi- dimensionally. This quest has been handed to me in the many areas that I face on a daily basis; conversations with those around me, in looking at our created bodies, in looking at the creations of nature that we pass by without notice, in looking at our salvation history, in looking at the Church, and in our view of not only God, but of how God works and moves in our lives. EVERYTHING that God created, and I mean everything, has dimension to it. Nothing is "flat". Even our very God Himself has a tri-dimensional nature. Father, Son, & Holy Spirit.

As many of you know, I love to fish. On my last trip out I was recently in a river in search of the biggest smallmouth that I could find, but instead I found something much greater. When fishing a river we typically fish as we walk upstream, fighting the current. As I was walking along, trying to pay close attention to every little change in current and every rock that may be holding the exact fish that I was after, I got excited when we came upon a section where there were many visible objects sticking out of the water; rocks and fallen trees; strong areas of current leading to still pools (basically a visual heaven for a fish to sit and feed), but I lost that excitement when we came to a section of the river where there was a stretch of still water; a section where I could see absolutely nothing other than the still surface. I thought to myself as to why we would even be fishing in this section...I wanted to move on to 'where the action was'; a section where I could see what was going on and an area that gave me confidence in where I thought a fish should be.

So, against my judgment we continued to fish this 'dead' section which required a bit more time and work to fish and pretty soon to my surprise, a bite; a fish caught out of this 'desolate' part of the river. After fishing there for a while we walked further to the next section and I was now walking in the area where we had just fished. I began to see things that were hidden to me earlier. We walked around many rocks and boulders hidden under the surface of the water; there were different sand bars and different depths where I could feel current moving under the surface. Pretty soon a fish jumped out of the water nearby and I could see a little school of minnows swim by. You see, this area was deeper and in this deeper water it was hard to see all of the 'treasures' that were hidden beneath it's surface from a distance, but it contained much more than I imagined. The same river current was there; the same rock formations were there and in fact there were many more places for fish to live in this area of the river due to it's depth. It was dimensional beyond my comprehension at first glance. If I had acted on my first feelings, I would have walked through this area and ruined my chances at catching the fish that it contained.

Our lives are like that river. God is constantly working and moving just like that current is constantly moving and feeding life to those beings that are contained in it. There are times in our life where God isn't showing us all that He has in store for us at first glance. We must slow down and study the depths of the water and act in faith, trusting that God will show to us Himself on a deeper level; we must know that God IS at work even if we can't see Him working...we must pay closer attention to what's beneath the surface in order to find out what God may be trying to teach us. God wants us to know to Him fully...to seek Him out and seek out His truth even when we think we know what's best, or when we think we have truth already; then to our surprise, a bite, a fish. Our God and His truth is shown to us in all of His creations and when we actually take the time to look into them, we can see God at work...even in the blades of grass; in the smallest molecules of life; in the very atoms that make up our being.

It's in the dimensions of life that we grow; it's in the dimensions of God and His Church, and our understanding of that Church, that cause us to grow in our relationship with Him (1 Tim. 3:15). There is nothing created by God that is worthless or useless to us, sometimes it just requires a bit more attention to detail in order to grow and know Him better. We must let go of our own understanding and look to God in order to gain.

St. Ignatius of Loyola said, "Man is created to praise, reverence, & serve God our Lord, & by this means to save his soul. All other things on the face of the earth are created for man to help him fulfill the end for which he is created."

Thank you God for humbling me and showing to me your multiple dimensions; thank you for helping me to continue to seek you out in everything in my life. Thank you for your Church and the authority of that Church that hands down to us your Word and your Holy Spirit, for without them we would not have the opportunity to know you, to love you, & to serve you!

Praise be Jesus Christ, now and forever!