Free to worship God without fear

Today's Gospel is on the Benedictus, Zechariah's prayer after the birth of his son John. We sing it every morning at Lauds. One of the lines says, "free to worship him without fear, holy and righteous in his sight, all the days of our life".
I am a Christian, and I consider it one of the biggest blessings of my life to be so.
But I am thinking, is the worship of God (any god for that matter), something natural to a human being, as natural as breathing?
I think it is.
Let me put it this way, all our decisions are based on some criteria. I think that the criterion that tops the rest is, sort of, what we consider "god" in our life.
As a Christian, I am called to more and more pattern my choices after that of Christ. No Christian perfectly embodies Christ's mind and heart. We are all on a journey of becoming better.
I think people misunderstand when they say they don't want to be enslaved by believing in God. We are already "enslaved" by something, call it God or something else. Even when we don't make decisions because we want to keep our options open, we are sort of enslaved by something; call it fear, uncertainty, a past experience.
The question is, "is this 'God' worth our loyalty?"

If Mary and Joseph didn't say yes

If Mary and Joseph didn't say yes, we wouldn't have Christmas as we know it now. Of course, God could have done it another way, but Mary and Joseph would have missed their chance to enter into this amazing story.
Surely Mary and Joseph didn't know how their decision would have huge consequences. Yes, really huge. Talk about a decision that cuts across generations and assumes global consequences.
That is also true with us. We will never know how our "yes" or our "no" affects people and history itself.
History isn't something that happens outside of us. We are all contributors to it, for better or for worse, In fact, I think it should be called "our story".

Look up!

To "look up", to "seek the things that are above" doesn't mean to turn my back on the world or not to engage in the wonderful adventure called life.
No, to look up means to remember the bigger picture. There is a God who lovingly holds the universe in His hands.
It means that when I make decisions, discretion and practicality, though they are good, should not have the ultimate say.

Crossover

We are constantly called to crossover. When God beckons, we must take the  risk of leaving the safety of the shore in order to discover new lands.

Faith matters

It is faith that makes all the difference in the way we see, understand and act in a situation.
Lord, increase my faith ...
  Where some people might see trash, may I discover a hidden treasure;
  Where some people might see meaningless suffering, may I see a call to growth;
  Where some people might see deprivation, may I see a choice for the essential;
  Where some might see defeat, may I see renunciation for a higher good.
Every choice we make is based on what really matters to us. The challenge is to ask ourselves whether at the point of death they would really matter.

Obedience to God

The journey to interior freedom is a long and never-ending journey. We never arrive. The moment we think that we have everything figured out and we safely use categories, is a sign that we are off-course.
It doesn't mean, though, that we don't have principles or convictions. Nay, it means that we are open to look at our values and see shades of egoism and self-centeredness in them. It is to admit that our motivations are never perfectly pure.
Left to ourselves, our criteria of judgment are always relative.
And so we need the light of Someone higher than ourselves. I call this Someone God, others might use another name.
Our choices are a constant search and dialogue. And so the journey goes on and on.

Stripped

In today's Gospel from St. Mark, Jesus goes to the desert and stays there for forty days, and he is tempted by Satan.
To stay in the desert is to stay before God, free from distractions and bereft of our securities. We remain by ourselves with God. And it is only then that we recognize the lures of the tempter. We see clearly the essentials and how the journey to disillusionment is always sugarcoated, passing off as desirable to our senses. We are called to make a choice.

Personal

No decision of ours is ever "not personal", for every decision we make defines the person that we are.

It's personal

No decision of ours is ever "not personal", for every decision we make defines the person that we are. We are not made in one day. Who we are is a slow evolution. Every step forward and backward form part of who we are, of our life story.
That is why no one can be perfect. We all make mistakes.
When we make mistakes we can  choose to regress by sticking to that mistake, or we can choose to stand up and make a difficult but courageous decision.
The rest of the factors may be overwhelmingly favorable or unfavorable, but ultimately the one to make the decision is you alone.