May 21, 2013
PART 3
Counsel the second of the Sevenfold Gifts, St. Bonaventure
Second, grant us counsel, by which we may follow in your footsteps on the path of righteousness.
Have you ever been in one of those moments when the right words came to you? Have you been in one of those situations when the perfect words came to you 2 1/2 hours later than you needed them? If you’re like me, I tend to experience the latter of the two. I have had some of the best spiritual advice to offer, but it was in a presentable form when the situation had already come and gone. Some people might be frustrated by these experiences, but I would like to suggest that God can take those experiences, help us tuck them away, and then guide us back to them at a time when they can be useful. We didn’t have the right words the first time around, but God can take those moments and use them to counsel us for a future occasion. We tend to be short sided, but God is always thinking down the road.
Take a moment to reflect on an experience where the right words came to you at the wrong moment. What did you do with them? Are they tucked away? Be prepared to feel the nudging of God to look back into the old files of our experiences, blow off the dust, and use the unutilized words in another situation…but this time, when the words and the moment coincide.
