.

A few years ago I bought a couch for my little living room. After some research I discovered that a modular design was the best fit enabling me to fit pieces together into the corners and along the wall without wasting any space.

One Trademe advertiser had a warehouse in the city where I could test couches for comfort and pretty quickly I had found exactly the pieces I was after.

Later that day I borrowed a trailer happily took my purchase to its new home. Set-up was easy and I was soon trying it out. Initially it wasn’t exactly as I remembered it in the store, not quite as comfortable, a bit lower maybe, but I couldn’t quite pin-point the difference.

It was a good purchase and in the years since it has been the place for hours of relaxing, with books, movies and good conversations.

Yesterday I had to shift a part of the couch and as i tilted the section I noticed a zip in the fabric on the base, a discreet entrance to a hidden compartment. When I unzipped I found a plastic-wrapped package tied to the frame and when I opened the package I discovered the screw-in legs of the couch.

I spent much of the day laughing at myself and wondering how many other important things in my life remain hidden.

Last Sunday I celebrated Mass at Sacred Heart in Timaru and picking up on the Gospel reflected on the many rooms in the house of God. I suggested that in fact there are as many ways of living in relationship with God as there are people living in relationship with God.

Yet most people hardly scratch the surface of their human potential instead at home with simply fitting in, existing under the radar, letting fear set boundaries, maintaining silence in the face of injustice and settling for earthly comforts and excesses.

Sadly many of us think that life in a hidden compartment is the reality we have to get used to and make the best of.

Instead God has created each of us uniquely and for abundant living. This is the Will of God for us, that we become fully who we are created to be.

Mature faith inspires and enables such abundant living, filling us with a naturally inquisitive nature and a hunger to move beyond all that feels like captivity. We are made for freedom and full freedom is only possible with faith.

I never imagined when I shifted my couch this morning that it’s secret compartment could lead me to a deeper hunger for God who knows the hidden places of my heart, and who has created me to live abundantly.