If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.
John 15: 7-11
This past June, we celebrated the 10th anniversary of my father’s death. At the time, I feared that he was lost forever even though I knew that this was not the case. Emotions probably got the best of me, but when we experience death I can imagine it’s similar for all of us. Yet since his passing, I found him with me almost every single day. Whether it’s a thought or in the telling of a joke or just seeing some thing, my father has been present to me. I’m starting to realize what it means to abide in my father’s love. Jesus speaks of His father’s love in this way too. He tells us that if we abide in His love our joy will be complete. Abiding in love is not bound by place, time, or even death. It is everlasting, it is eternal. How is Jesus abiding in your life? May you find within you – and in others – His everlasting love, and in His love may your joy be complete.
By Hobie Murnane
Retreat During Daily Life 