PAIN AND SORROW are never wasted when given into God’s hands, and their transformation is far beyond our imaginings. But in this life, we will experience a poignancy, a regret that harm was done when our actions could have been different. This poignancy is a valid, healthy part of our journey of release. The deepest comfort in our mourning is to know that God not only has compassion but actually feels our suffering with us. Jesus tells us that not even a tiny sparrow will fall to the ground “apart from your Father” (Matthew 10:29). To me this means that God’s heart so enfolds and unites with the sparrow (and with us) that the suffering of the tiny creature is shared, felt by that supreme heart. The creature’s suffering resounds through God’s whole being.
- Flora Slosson Wuellner Forgiveness, the Passionate Journey
From pages 46-47 of FORGIVENESS, THE PASSIONATE JOURNEY by Flora Slosson Wuellner. Copyright (c) 2001 by Flora Slosson Wuellner. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission. http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/. Learn more about or purchase this book.
THE LATIN ROOT of the word discernment has to do with sifting and separating. … The work of discerning one direction or choice from among many may require that we separate ourselves, that we go into a desert: a figurative one, if not actual. Removing ourselves from at least some of our usual routines, for moments or for months, can shift the way that we view our life. …
So here I am, come to ask you: What’s discernment like for you? When you have a choice to make, when something needs sorting and sifting, what do you do? Is there a place, a person, a practice that helps you see what you need to see? … How are you keeping your eyes open for the sustenance that comes even in the deepest wilderness?
BLESSING In every desert, let clarity come. Let discernment drench you. Let angels attend you. Let them give to your hunger their sweetest delights.
What is my calling? Is there something specific I’ve been called to do?
Which path do I take? There are so many choices. Which one do I choose?
Is there really One who can guide me, help me make the right choice? If God is really out there calling me, why can’t I hear that voice?
When will I be given a sign? How do I know when to take a chance? Can that serenity be mine? When do I let go, let my heart dance? — Courtney Thompson, age 20
Prayer: God, there are so many choices in front of me and so many decisions to make! May I feel assurance that you are with me and will guide my path. Amen.
WHEN THE PRESENT IS DIFFICULT, we too easily forget past experience of God’s bounty, the tables spread with blessing when we were most conscious of our poverty and need. If we choose to remember the grace of God toward us in the past, the present is transformed by hope, and dry places become rich with the soul food for which we long. The gift of memory keeps us on the path. The wilderness of silence and solitude beckons us to discover once again that God loves and yearns for us. We are lured again and again by the Lover of our souls, whose unconditional love always waits to take us back, to forgive all our unfaithfulness.
Start with prayer. Ask God for the grace to enter into this special time with an open mind and an open heart.
Create a sacred space in a quiet corner, near a window if possible. Let that be the place where you pray. Find a cloth for the table. Assemble objects that feel sacred — an icon, candle, Bible, photograph, a book of poems, roses, stones. Take your time, and ask God’s help in gathering what you need. Don’t settle until the space feels right.
Find music you love that lifts you, whether from Taizé, John Michael Talbot, Anonymous 4, drums and flutes — whatever. Music is a wonderful way to enter into prayer. Put a portable CD player within easy reach of the prayer space.
Devise a simple rhythm for the day, with the understanding that it can be adjusted in keeping with God’s lead. I chose to opray the Liturgy of the Hours for morning and midday. … this rhythm joins me through Psalms and other scriptures with praying Christians all over the world. …
Take time after your prayer period for journaling. Record what came to you from your readings, what stirred you during the silence. You might also want to record your dreams. The psalmists tell us that God speaks to the beloved in sleep.
Take a midmorning walk — rain or shine. Notice things: the sound of birds, the smell of earth. Spend time with a flower. Let yourself be awed by the wonders of the world.
When you feel hungry, enjoy a light lunch, then take a nap or rock yourself to rest, or do some spiritual reading.
Make time for midday prayer. Return to the Psalms or dip into a favorite prayer book. Let God lead you. Practice lectio divina with scripture. Read a passage slowly and notice what draws you. Ask God to guide you as you ponder its meaning for your life.
- Johnson & Lang Time Away: A Guide for Personal Retreat
GOD’S GUIDANCE COMES TO US not only in prayer and through practices such as lectio divina [meditative reading of scripture and reflecting on what God might be saying to us through the passage], but also in the activism of tending the wounds and needs of others. While we are serving others, God’s persistent, nudging voice whispers: What would it look like to love this person standing in front of you? So instead of telling someone off, we might grin. Or rather than nursing our hurts, we could reach out to wounded ones.
GRACE OFTEN COMES in unexpected ways and unexpected places. However it comes, it is always unmerited, pure gift. We cannot earn it, purchase it, or even destroy it. The writer of Ephesians makes this clear in the second chapter: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God — not the result of works, so that no one may boast” (vv. 8-9).
Why would God choose to gift us so lavishly when all of us have been disobedient — sometimes willfully and sometimes unknowingly? As the letter explains, it is simply “so that in the ages to come [God] might show the immeasurable reaches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:7). It is God’s nature to love with overflowing kindness.
- Rueben P. Job Embracing the Journey Participant’s Book, vol. 1, Companions in Christ [#9830]
HOW COULD A GOD so amazing and perfect love me? God’s thoughts are constantly on us. God loves us, and the power of that love is more than enough to help us weed out the troubles in our lives.
How can we love God? We can start by embracing God’s love and making God part of our daily lives. We can wake up to the truth that we are important because God made us, loves us, protects us, and preserves us. — Breana Coppess, age 19
GRACIOUS LORD, you are the beginning and ending of all things, my center and my circumference: root and fix me in you in such a way that my soul finds rest in its true home and never stops growing in grace, safe and secure in your loving embrace. Amen.
- A Life-Shaping Prayer: 52 Meditations in the Wesleyan Spirit by Paul Wesley Chilcote.
From p. 23 of A Life-Shaping Prayer: 52 Meditations in the Wesleyan Spirit by Paul Wesley Chilcote. Copyright (c) 2008 by Paul Wesley Chilcote. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission. http://www.upperroom.org/bookstore/. Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Question
Think about how rest in God and growth in God’s grace complement each other. Share your reflections.
THE PARABLE OF THE GOOD SAMARITAN is one of the most well known stories in the Bible and one most of us have heard many times, either in Sunday school or from the pulpit. And thanks to the marvels of YouTube, you can watch scores and scores of different visual interpretations of this parable. While many of these versions are fabulous and thought-provoking, most of them present the Levite and the priest to be the villains of the tale. . . .
Our daily lives are filled with responsibilities. We have jobs, tasks to accomplish, grocery shopping to do, laundry to fold, meals to cook, not to mention family members to look after and love. People depend on us. On our way to pick up our children from school, would we stop and fish a guy out of the ditch? On our way to catch an airplane for an important meeting out of town, would we stop and tend to an accident victim while dressed in our best suit? Would you risk losing your paycheck by taking time off to swing by a motel and offer to pay for a stranger’s care/ It’s worth considering.
O God, give us the heart, soul, strength, and mind to go and love our neighbors. Amen.
