Saturday, March 4, 2023
(click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures)
Almost heaven
Moses spoke to the people. Today you are making this agreement with the Lord: he is to be your God and you are to walk in his ways.
Oh thank you, Moses. Thank you Lord. Your promises I will take with me to the grave.
Provided you keep all his commandments, he will then raise you high in praise and renown and glory above all other nations.
I had a feeling that we were better than everyone else, Lord. Thank you for agreeing with me.
And you will be a people sacred to the Lord, your God, as he promised.
So, Lord, let’s get to work. I have a long list of projects and possibilities that I’d like to run by you. I’ve been waiting for such a time as this. You are a good good god. And now that we’re on the same team, we can finally get what we want away from those other folks, who want something else.
Jesus spoke to the people. Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of the heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. Be perfect, boys and girls, even as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Lord, being your chosen people is more complicated than I thought. I thought we were a privileged few, but maybe not so much? Everyone is in the fold, everyone is chosen. Love your enemies? God, that changes everything. They are so different from us, and you want us to invite them into the tent? Our tent?
Your tent?
Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
Please teach me this new way; wean me from my prosperity gospel. Please be patient, Lord. Jesus, your ways are gentle and lowly. Open and fill my heart with confidence in all the ways you are making us new, making us whole, moving us toward singularity, toward your Omega Point, toward heaven.
In every spiritual journey
there are the seasons.
A time to be found,
a time to be lost.
A time to rejoice,
a time to stand and shake our fist at God and scream
“What the hell were you thinking?”
A time to stand weeping,
hand over mouth, in awe, feeling
“What was I thinking?”
A time for dryness,
a time for tears,
a time for tears in the dryness.
A time when we need to try our hardest,
and a time when we harden our hearts by trying.
A time to seek,
and a time to wait.
A time to embrace our desires,
and a time to surrender everything, including our desires.
A time for confusion,
and a time for clarity.
A time for a glimpse of heaven on earth,
a time for a taste of hell,
and more than a few times to tell Satan where to go.
A time to take Jesus’ hand,
a time to let Jesus give us a hug,
a time to weep in his arms,
and a time to be cradled by our Grandma God like an infant.
A time just to be,
a time just to do,
and a time for both.
But it’s always a time for love
because love is in all times.
Oh Master Lover,
give us the grace to know this even when in doubt,
to see this especially in times of obscurity.
Give us the grace always to trust and be grateful
that you love us all the time,
at all times. – Clarence Heller
(Deuteronomy 26, Psalm 119, 2 Corinthians 6, Matthew 5)
(posted at www.davesandel.net)
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