MISSION:DESTINY & PURPOSE  10

Nicolas Herman was born in the Lorraine region of France in the middle of the 17th century.  Largely uneducated he worked briefly as a footman, then a soldier.  At the age of 18 he experienced a spiritual awakening, and from that moment on his life had one goal:  “to walk in God’s presence.” In 1666 he joined a Carmelite monastery in Paris and served there until he died at 80 years of age, “full of love and years and honored by all who knew him.” His Carmelite name was Brother Lawrence and a group of letters he wrote during his lifetime were collected into a book called “The Practice of the Presence of God.”   Though he never intended his correspondence to be published, this tiny book as sold millions, challenging centuries of Believers to a closer walk with God.  His is a picture of a life devoted to God – a truly fruitful life.  In uncomplicated but striking detail he shows that it’s not just what we do for Messiah that matters, but how we go about it.  He learned the secret of fruitfulness in a kitchen. Yes, in a kitchen.  He wrote:  “The time of business does not with me differ from the time of prayer, and in the noise and clatter of my kitchen, while several persons are at the same time calling for different things, I possess God in as great tranquility as if I were upon my knees at the blessed sacrament.” What a goal!  To be so in tune with the presence of God that even washing dishes becomes an act of worship.  That the moments of our lives, no matter how mundane become aflame with the divine.