SO WE get to the other matter. When the Pharisees asked John who he was and what he could say about himself, he merely replied "I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness." He sidestepped the question because it was not really about him but of Jesus. He was not important because in his own words he was just a "voice."
Now try comparing that with persons who trumpet their way around. Compare that humility to the puffiness of others who like to swagger their way to anything. Some people think they are the center of the universe and we have seen that so many times. Some people cannot break free from the material shallowness of existence.
But the answer of John is spiritual as he says he is just a voice.
If we have the courage to ask ourselves who we really are we can answer on so many levels. We can answer with our name, age, status etc. And we can add what we do, what we like etc and yet that is still a far cry from the spiritual level of us.
We are stuck in the what and the how. And that we forget the why. And yet it is the why that defines the what.
The truth is simple. If we are rooted in spirituality we have no need for anything. Our whole outlook will change because we see things in a different light. We see our why. Our reliance on God will be the basis of all that we do.
And our problems can have a different reality because if we are indeed trusting we will view our problems as opportunities of God's power and grace. Because of our faith in Him we will sit and say to ourselves, how will God handle this? How will God turn this around? And we will not be even thinking of ourselves and how we did it because we did not.
I was watching a documentary about Carmelite nuns. And I was struck with what an elderly nun shared. She said, "here in the monastery you will quickly learn that prayer is not what you do but what God does." Not about us, never has been and never will be.
The tragedy is we think we are running the show. We are what matters. We are more than the voice. We are not. All this swagger and pomposity that we exhibit only shows us how far and distant we are from what we are supposed to be.
The true measure of our obedience to God is summarized in one word. Peace. If you obey God, His gift to us is His Peace. Not the peace of the world but a divine Godly peace. And that shows us, that shows me how far and distant we are from what God wants us to be. And we go on with this journey, this daily struggle to seek our light because it is only the inner light that truly matters.
And the inner light is divine.