Despite all the ways to be connected in this world – our ever-present cellphones, calls and texts, social media, email – I often feel disconnected and discombobulated. That’s a rather old-fashioned word that means confused or frustrated, out of sorts. What is with people? You can hear me saying that a lot as I’m driving, when I am foiled by technology or other times when my patience wears thin.  At those moments, I don’t feel very loved and I don’t feel very loving. The problems are minor, really, tiny ripples on the great sea of life. Yet, I let them wash over me like big waves. I let those things degrade my own way of looking at the world.

Today’s Gospel is yet another reminder of the great love that God has for us, but it’s love that we have to acknowledge. That’s what should be washing over me in waves, not the riptide of disconnection that threatens to pull me under. Jesus prays that he can help people see how much they are loved and how we should see God in all things.

What that message means to me is that I should work on not being so irritated when a driver doesn’t signal a turn. I can work on disconnecting from the electronic tethers and connect instead with God who is in me and in the people I see everyday. It’s not just letting the tiny frustrations of the day wash over me; it’s saving my energy for finding the love. But it may not be easy.

In the first reading, Paul had to be rescued because it was feared he would be injured for proclaiming what he believed. The Lord told him to take courage and continue to bear witness. The Lord didn’t say it would be easy. My own small battles within myself are not the same, but essential if I am to find God in all things, including myself.

I pray the words of today’s psalm : Keep me safe, O God; you are my hope.  You are my hope that I can feel connected to others and to the best part of myself.  You are my hope that I feel and live out the love of God.