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| Lord, fill me, use me... |
"Pure Capacity"
"I can be MORE"
Lord, the image I used from The Cup of Life journaling came to my mind. Lord, today my cup...it is full and yes, it is cluttered; but Lord, I think I would be able to deal with that if I wasn't so tired! You know my day, you know it is full and that it will be long. Spirit, I ask for your help. Help me to step carefully and gently through this day. Help me to allow myself some of the grace I strive to offer others. Spirit, I do want to be more and with your help and your encouragement I know that today I can be that for God, for myself, and for others. AMEN.
Once again my Soul Sister has blessed me with thoughts and music to include in my journal today.
Macrina offers me examples of crumbs that have both nourished and blessed from her own life experiences as a way to help me discover my own. Crumbs that call me back to my center.
"Although the experiences I mention here have indeed blessed me, there is a quality of presence and discipline still lacking in my life, which accounts, I suppose, for the fact that I still live so half-heartedly...On days when I am honest I see clearly and will not hide behind the lame excuses of my humanness. I have been called to be divinized. My baptism loudly announces that call. There is no such thing as an ordinary Christian. My baptism calls me, in Christ, to be like God. If we want to become like God, we cannot eat the whole loaf at once." (Wierderkehr, p 27)
There is no such thing as an ordinary Christian.She's right, you know. To say I am a Christian is to claim Christ's life living through me. At the time, Jesus was seen as being only an ordinary man. Jesus was anything but ordinary! He knew who he was and whose! He knew his purpose and he stepped into that purpose with a focus that the outside world was unable to distract him from completing.
I am reminded once again of the powerful poem, One Solitary Life...
No, Jesus was anything but ordinary. I often remind myself and my congregation that he was actually a radical! Nearly everything he taught....went against popular thought. In the devotion I prepared for the Teams and Elders for tonight's meeting, I offered some insight on John 14:15-21 from Janice Scott. Scott asks me to consider that few if any of the instructions on Christian living came from Jesus. Even in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is more interested in telling people how to be happy rather than how to behave.
John 14:15-21: 15"If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.
Role of the Spirit
16"I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;
17that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.
18"I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
19"After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also.
20"In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.
21"He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him."
"If you love Me, you will keep My commandments...He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me, and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him."
Macrina encourages me by saying:
"We start small. We remember out littleness, our great need for nourishment. We remember, too, our call to greatness, our pure capacity for God. Yearning to be faithful to such a call, we reach out for every crumb in our path. We meet them face to face. We give them our real presence. We, so to speak, eat them." (Ibid)
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| Would you believe, I nearly missed the call because I was "too busy"???? |
Lord, this morning I did not feel as though I had the time to sit down and read and journal. I intended to share the video given to me, make an excuse, and jump into this full day. My tired brain struggled to even write the title for today's entry! Five times, I had to correct typos and that seemed to confirm my resolve that I did not have time to spend with you this morning! Still...your Spirit nudged me to continue reading, to continue writing and reflecting... Thank you. No, I didn't read a lot, but these few crumbs have me stepping into this day with a different attitude than when I began. I am more peaceful within and my brain no longer feels as foggy. Praise be to God! AMEN.
Now, just to make sure I am fully awake, my wonderful Soul Sister also shared this song with me. Enjoy!!
Wow...what a song!! AMEN and AMEN!!
Many Blessings ~ Sandi
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