Love did it.

As teenagers we seek freedom, but do we really become free  Today as I was driving down the road, I had that encounter that brought back so many memories of my teens.
Just like you thought, I stopped at the lights, and beside me, was a car full of teens; five of them, two girls in the front and two boys and a girl in the back seat. Minding my business, my head turned just as one of the boys in the back with the window rolled down was blowing a small pipe turned towards my car and waving. I took that as an invitation, and I rolled down my passenger window in response. With both their windows open, laughter was coming from both the front and the back of their car and they started talking to me, asking me where I was going and the like with the greatest simplicity and ease. The lights turned green and they drove off. As I rolled up my window, I caught all the writings on their car with hearts all over and in the back, with a beautiful calligraphy read "I love Sarah, she is my best friend." That finally confirmed my observations that what I had encountered was a company of friends who were enjoying each others company, and beyond that, they were also extending their joy to outsiders; and yes, I had been invited to taste that. The next five minutes as I drove, I couldn't help but feel joyous, but it also brought back both memories of my teenage, and memories of my conversion.
  Now to go back to my initial question, I think the problem is that as we grow older, we tend to stop living in the moment. We carry all the burdens of our past and all the anxieties of the future. This weighs us down and we miss the present moment which is where God is best to be encountered. We miss the opportunity to enjoy His company freely and hence we cannot be joyous.
   I remember when I was rediscovering my faith or may I say reverting back to Christ after a deadening lukewarmness. I so enjoyed His company that I could have spent hours in prayer. But just like those teenagers, I wanted to share that joy so much that I saw no boundary. Truly it was a company of friends. I would only say that "It was going back to my first love." Now if you have encountered that love of Christ, you can clearly relate. Best description of that love is in the canticles of canticles (8:6-7) "Set me as a seal on your heart, as a seal on your arm; For stern as death is love,..." 
   When we don't foster that devotion to love, we loose it and sadly that is the state of many. After that encounter with those teenagers, I had to reflect on how I have lived that commitment or how I've by God's grace maintained it. My answer is again from the canticles of canticles (1: 7) "Tell me, you whom my heart loves, where you pasture your flock, where you give them rest at midday, Lest I be found wandering after the flocks of your companions." From the answer that follows in verse 8; "Follow the tracks of the flock and pasture the young ones near the shepherds' camps."  
  From this conversation in the songs of songs, I can only say that the way that joy has and can be maintained is to stay near the "shepherds camps" so as to be fed. With Christ as our Shepherd, He feeds us with His own body and blood in the Eucharist and if we stay in his camps (The Church), we never stop having that joy of companionship, friendship and love like I encountered this afternoon. But those teenagers didn't just enjoy their companionship, they extended it. That is what every Christian is called to do, having encountered the love of Christ, we must invite others to come in and with the words of prophet Jeremiah from God, to "taste and see how God is good."
  We can all rediscover that love of Christ which after having put us aflame, will demand that we share it and then "Our joy may be complete".   Finally like those teens, we can truly say " I love Jesus, He is my best friend."