Joyful Words Blog
Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light for my path.
– Psalm 119:105
– Psalm 119:105
Welcome to the third week of Lent. So, how’s it going? Are you feeling yourself growing in holiness through your prayer, study and discipline? Maybe this Lent isn’t quite what you planned and imagined on Ash Wednesday. I have discovered that life itself has provided my Lent through events and situations that were not on my radar. Completely by the grace of God, I have been able to abandon my plans and just roll with the things He’s put in my path. We did however have a couple of tuff days where I tried to convince Him we needed a re-route because my first Lent as a retired person was a star-spangled holy plan for sure. It was full of doing and serving and giving and leading and had a very “worldly” focus because I had the time…or so I thought. But then life just started shifting and I had to let go of my plan to take care of the world!
I sure have a knack for overcomplicating things sometimes! I was still trying to convince myself that my extra retirement minutes gave me time to tend to the world and God helped me see how easy it is to get tangled up in the stories and happenings in others’ lives and forget that we aren’t saddled with the job of deciding and judging and sorting it all out. Thank goodness that’s the work of the Father. I’m simply called to love God and to love others. Seems simple but rest assured, I can goof up even that very simple instruction. God always has a way of yanking me back when I’ve wandered too far off. The first few days of Lent he did it with a teeny, little story. A wise, old middle eastern mystic said this about himself. “I was a revolutionary when I was young and all my prayer to God was: ‘Lord, give me the energy to change the world.’ As I approached middle age and realized that my life was half-gone without my changing a single soul, I changed my prayer to: ‘Lord, give me the grace to change all those who come in to contact with me. Just my family and friends and I shall be satisfied.’ Now that I am an old man and my days are numbered, I have begun to see how foolish I have been. My one prayer now is: ‘Lord, give me the grace to change myself.’ If I had prayed for this right from the start, I would not have wasted my life. Jesus is calling us to notice the need, the want, the holes and flaws in our own life. Allowing Him to love us and fill those places with His mercy and love is much harder work than trying to change the world. Maybe you will join me during the second half of Lent to let Him help us with the beam in our eye and leave the splinters to Him. A Seed To Plant: Just read that little story a few times and ask the Lord to let it wash over you and change you. I think the world will look a whole lot different if we get this one little prayer right! Blessings on your day!
1 Comment
Therese
3/6/2024 08:57:08 am
Thank you, Sheri! I, like you, had the same thoughts about retirement. The Lord had different plans. Still trying to get it right. The mystic has set us straight. Blessings on your day!!!
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