Lent Devotional Day 27- Friday 4/4/14 The crowded bus, the long queue, the railway platform, the traffic jam, the neighbours television sets, the heavy-footed people on the floor above you, the person who still keeps getting the wrong number on your phone. These are the real conditions of your desert. Do not allow yourself to be irritated. Do not try to escape. Do not postpone your prayer. Kneel down. Enter that disturbed solitude. Let your silence be spoilt by those sounds. It is the beginning of your desert. Alessandro Pronzato -The Desert, An Anthology for Lent, John Moses (Amazon Kindle) Hebrews 12:1-2a (NLT) Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily hinders our progress. And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from start to finish... Reflection: Were not alone. Were surrounded by distractions and interruptions as well as witnesses. Each has its place in our lives. In the case of distractions and interruptions, we learn to stay the course and not get sidetracked. Alessandro describes these as the doorways to the desert in which we meet with God. They become the very things that help us realize the presence of God with us... in us. Rather than seeking to escape these irritants, welcome them as a vital part of life. Inevitable... inescapable. The disturbed solitude. The witnesses, on the other hand, are neither seen nor heard, yet just as real. Silently cheering us on in our race of life. The awareness of these who have gone before us can actually become a motivation for us to keep on running. What are the weights that slowed them down? What slows us down? What is the sin that hinders? Whats the difference? Yesterday we looked at sin, or self-centeredness as I described it. Now, lets look at the weights. What are the weights? If not sin, then what are they? Good things, but not best? Acceptable things, but not beneficial? Habits? People? Mind sets? Belief systems? Stop, assess, reflect. What are the things that slow you down in the race? How do you strip them off? Prayer: God of the start, the middle, and the finish, help me recognize the weights and shed them as I run the race with endurance. Teach me from those who have gone before. And most of all help me keep my eyes on Jesus, the initiator and completer.
Posted on: Fri, 04 Apr 2014 05:11:30 +0000
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