God's YES to me

For all that has been, thank you.
For all that is to come, YES ~ Dag Hammarskjöld

When religious celebrate the anniversary of their vows, people might thank them for their ongoing, faithful 'yes' to God. And indeed: vows originally made with immense joy and fervour are lived, and tested and fulfilled, in times of doubt and difficulty and pain, as much as in contentment and fruition... through crises and periods of spiritual darkness, as well as quiet consolation... and in the ordinariness of the everyday. Through all this and more, just as in any vowed commitment, that original 'yes' is stretched and strengthened, and lies at the heart of the hundred thousand yeses uttered on all days, and in all conditions. So yes; we quite rightly thank people for their continual YES to God.

Today, I am quietly celebrating an anniversary; not of vows, but of the day I began the stage of initial formation in religious life leading to vows. Thirty years ago today I became a novice: or, as the initials on my celebratory cake declared, a Novice of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, new in his ways, and beginning my lifelong journey into that Heart; beginning, too, the intense formation and continual discernment which would lead to my vowed commitment. It was a day for joy, but especially for trust; for saying YES, to I knew not what... only that it was a continuing YES to the Love which had captured me and called me to this step. 

And today, as I look back, my heart is full of God's amazing, steadfast, transforming YES to me. I can remember my joy, yes, of course; but also, especially, my awe and gratitude, at the astonishing mystery of God's choice and call. God had gazed on me, seen my potential as well as my many limitations, and - even as my own 'yes' was still a hesitant whisper - had uttered an emphatic, everlasting, irresistible YES over me! 

And for three decades, God has continued to pledge himself, continued to keep covenant, continued to say YES in me, with unwavering, steadfast love. And it is that YES from God which finds its daily echo in my struggles and strivings, my longing and deepest desire, resounding within me, calling me, daily, to each of my own yeses. It is indeed the Lord who keeps faith forever... God who accepts my paltry offering, my waywardness and tepidity, and, through copious grace and unparalleled fidelity, transforms my every weed into beautiful, vivid poinsettias. 

So, for all that has been: thank you. And for all that is to come, a YES which is but an echo of God's eternal, unfaltering YES in me...