WATCHWORD:
Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:18
How is it possible to obey this instruction to give thanks in all circumstances, especially when our circumstances are defined by isolation and the grief of thousands of individual deaths. What fuels thanksgiving when life seems to herald discouragement, disease and death? There is only one way (I am the way and the truth and the life… John 14:6) and shows the way. –Jon Bloom, desiringGod.org
Meditation:
Jesus speaks, Part 1
I have a weird mind, it plays out scenarios, some of which just turn up and I make them into meditations. Hello, here’s one now: I am sitting in my office (i.e. spare bedroom), at my MacBook, writing deathless prose, of course, when Jesus walks in! I knew it was him, now standing right there, beside me, smiling. I was shaken…I was awed…I was speechless. I fall from my chair onto my knees. He reaches out…lifts me to my feet and says: ‘Do you love Me?’ I stammer out a ‘Yes, Lord’. Then He utters those awful words: ‘Follow Me’.
My mind is suddenly in a whirl, I panic. I say, Master, I love you. Every morning I give the day to You. I read Your Word. I ask You to lead Me through all that I do.
He smiles, and says again – ‘Stanley, do you love Me?’ Yes, Lord, You know I do. ‘Then come and follow Me.’
‘Oh, sovereign Lord, I just have a little more to write on this wonderful tribute to you.’
Then, suddenly, my mind, turns to Peter. (How did that happen?) Peter got the same invitation, and he just left his nets and boats, friends and family and followed. That thought was followed by still another, “Peter could not follow on his own, he could not believe on his own, he could not cultivate his faith on his own, but he could take the first step…leaving his nets…and so his faith, his true love of the Lord, became possible.
For Peter, had he not followed, Jesus might have been his present help in trouble. He might have been the greatest man Peter ever met. But, He would not have been the Lord of his whole life. And Peter would not have become the denier, who was tempered into the Rock on which Jesus built His church.
So how does Stanley answer, there in that guest bedroom with Jesus? Why, he tries hard to do as Peter did; he leaves his nets; his boats, his busy work, his preoccupation with comfort, his low priorities were so important, and got untangled in those nets.
And Jesus says to me; ‘Come, follow me.’
Yes, Lord, I will follow, as I take one step away from my nets.
How would you have responded to that invitation? Jesus saying, ‘Come, follow Me’.
You know, the reality is that we received that call every day. Often it is obscured by all the noise around us, but if we listen carefully, it’s there. Do you hear it? That still small Voice of Him, there, inside your heart, where the Holy Spirit resides. The invitation: Follow Me.
–Stan
From Mac McKinley — Is your glass half empty or half full? Which way you answer depends on what we choose to focus on. Isolation and avoiding contact with other people is contrary to our norm. Yet it is the safest action to prevent infection of the virus plague. World society has experienced other geographic infections. The worst in history was the more deadly infection of the Black Plague in Europe. It has been estimated that 100 million people died. That pandemic started in Mongolia, China, 1347 thru 1351, traveled to Europe by infected rats on ships. I choose to feel my glass is more than half full. Each day I focus on the future, my yard, my garden and all the things I can do to figuratively keep filling my glass all the way to the top. Stay safe until we can safely meet again. –Mac.
Closing Prayer:
Good morning Father, we start this day trusting in you, that you would lead us, according to your Holy Will. We start this day with gratitude for all the graces the fills our lives, graces that we understand, graces that we can feel and see, and those other graces that are hidden from our sight, elements of your love for us. We thank you Lord for this day that you have planned for us and we pray that you would grant us the wisdom to follow your plan each moment of this day. Help us to find the joy of life each moment of this day. Lord we pray that you’ll give us the broad understanding, the broad vision to hold each one of our loved ones in our minds and in Your gentle care. And so, Lord, as we travel through this day, we pray that we will finish at day’s end, as we began, trusting you. With gratitude, Lord we give you all the honor and glory, in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ. Amen.
