Today’s readings: Click on today’s date at http://www.usccb.org/bible/
Living verbs
Thursday, March 6, 2014
Thursday after Ash Wednesday
Luke 9:22
Jesus said to his disciples, “The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected … and be killed … and be raised.”
In Deuteronomy 30 Moses begs his listeners to “choose life.” But when I am feeling full of myself, I find that very difficult. Whether I’m defending my position or giving it up, feeling righteous or sorry for myself, I don’t WANT to choose life. I feel this other thing coming over me, and I don’t know how to stop it. I don’t want to stop it. I want to be the center of attention. And then suddenly … I am in the midst of death.
I think there are two parts to God’s rescue. Mostly it’s what God does to lift me out. The mental quicksand grabs me and I can’t even stretch out my arms for him to grasp, but God gets underneath me and holds me up. The sand does not suck God in the way it does me. God stands up, and I stand up too. Then I can slowly shake off the sand and step out on solid ground.
The second part of God’s rescue is what I do. Moses uses a bunch of action verbs: “Obey, love, walk, keep, live, grow … and be blessed.” DO SOMETHING! The sand swallows my mind, and I’m caught; so my body has to do something. Like obey, love, walk …
It does little good to talk about it. But to walk about it, to do something for somebody else makes a difference.
Anthony DeMello refers to an old story about a young monk and an old monk. The old monk says God is responsible for the sunrise, and all good things. The young man asks, “Then what am I supposed to do?” The old monk says, “Get to sleep early enough so you’ll be awake when the sun comes up.”
Lord, it is here that my suffering turns to life. There is no mystery and no magic, but instead just learning and practicing the skill of showing up and doing what you’ve told me to do. When this simple thing takes me my whole life to learn, please forgive me. Thank you for your strength in my weakness.
http://www.christiancounselingservice.com/archived_devotions.php?article_id=1235
