Wednesday, April 2, 2025
(click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures)
Wichita
Say to the prisoners: Come out! To those in darkness, show yourselves! Along the highways they shall find pasture, on every bare height shall their pastures be, and they not hunger or thirst.
What a strange day. I woke up at 2:30 am and prayed in silence for 20 minutes, then had a bowl of crunchy raisin bran and went back to sleep. I got up again for two spiritual direction calls, both of which mattered to me and my friends. Margaret and I missed our couple devotional time, which includes prayer and singing as well as reading the devotion I’ve written for today.
A GE repairman came and unplugged our washer water hoses. Â Scott our maintenance hero installed a new shelf in our new refrigerator to replace the one we broke. Margaret struggled with and finally succeeded at sending a video testimony via Facebook to a group she belongs to.
I worried about it awhile and then decided to just call to make a service appointment in Austin for our new Prius. I got halfway through that with Veronica, and their computer system crashed. I tried to cancel (for the summer) our Big Ten Network Spectrum channel, but found it was already done for me.
So then I called our friend in Wichita for help accessing our “giving” checking account, but of course he couldn’t answer because this is crunch time for tax guys.
Our taxes are half done, and I think this week would be a good time to get them finished. I think I should stop with the distractions and just get to it. Maybe set up a card table in our living room and spread out a bit. I’ll get tired of the clutter and be finished in no time!
OK. So my problems are first world problems. Most of my problems aren’t problems at all, in fact. We have friends and helpers in every part of our lives, although sometimes we can’t get in touch at a moment’s notice.
Have I learned anything in 75 ½ years? Like … waiting is not a bad thing? I instinctively look for the shortest grocery line, but at least once in a while I remember NOT to look so hard, and just settle into the nearest line and relax. There are times when I’m in a hurry, but … not many times. The hurry is all in my head. On days like this I think I just harass and harry myself into fear and trembling. About … this stuff?
Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you.
I am remembering Jesus’ assurance that I’m OK. The lilies of the field and all that. It’s true, it’s true, the King has made it clear!
I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
For the many moments, hours and sometimes even whole days of my contentment, I am so grateful. For remembering to breathe deep and often, for gradually learning how to let go of my thoughts one by one, “ever so gently,” as Father Thomas Keating suggests, I am thankful. For having spiritual criteria to make earthly decisions, especially about my behavior, my words, and how I spend my time, I am deeply indebted to our Father. All good gifts God gives me to enjoy while we are at play in the fields of the Lord.
The hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.
My friend in Wichita did call back and help, in spite of his swarmed schedule. I will get the service appointment made today. Perhaps I’ll sleep a bit later than 2:30 am and still find some time to pray. Keep on learning to let go.
(Isaiah 49, Psalm 145, John 11, John 5)
(posted at www.davesandel.net)
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