Luke 7:24-30 God First
Lord, increase my faith for I long to see your face!
Every day begins the same way. I wake up early in the morning and set out for the chapel for my daily meditation. Some days I have no idea or premonition on what I will write. Other days, the Lord has given me a good head start by placing something close to my heart. No matter what, at the very end of the meditation, I must search for a painting or photograph that best communicates my reflection for the day. I was looking through hundreds when I came across a photograph of a sign that read, “Danger! This sign has sharp edges. Use with care.”
It is so easy for my life to become like this sign: Useless, pointless and yet, with sharp edges.
So, the question is this. Why am I here? Who am I here for? A million questions with only one real answer. All life’s questions ultimately lead toward God.
As I journey along towards the Christ-child, I must remind myself on a daily basis why I set out on this journey in the first place: to be with God. The end justifies the beginning. The journey that I have taken must lead me towards Him. If it doesn’t, then I need to stop, turn around and head back to where the great divide began. How do I know? It’s simple. When I have placed myself before others or have leaded them in harm’s way; when I have broken a friendship or caused another to sink in despair. When I have attacked my greatest friend and befriended my greatest enemy. All these roads lead to a dead end.
God must always come first – in my thoughts and in my words, in my actions, in my life. Otherwise, I will forget who I am and what I am here for. My life will meaningless and useless, but with sharp edges! That is, I will end up hating who I am and harming those around me. We see it, hear about it or experience it every day, especially right before the holidays: people who have lost their way and end their journey in a very tragic way.
During these final days of Advent, the Lord calls out to each of us to follow the star that leads to Him, to someone great! As you travel along the way, allow the Lord to do something beautiful and meaningful in your life. Greatness leads to great things! Keep your eyes focused on the brightest star and be careful of the shooting stars that come and go.
When I put the Lord first in my life, do I know what he does? He puts me first in His life? This is our God. This is why He is GREAT! And this is why life is worth living. The Lord brings meaning to life.
It’s not easy. It’s never easy to travel during the night. We grow weary. We question our decisions. We are enticed to go for shortcuts. As the night grows awfully dark, it is very easy to stray off the path. How in the world did we ever lose our way? How in the world did we ever get so far away? It starts when I forget who is in charge; who the boss is. It starts when I forget who created the world and placed me here, lifts me up and gives me life. The one who does all these things is meaningful, useful and beautiful. He is the One the star points to in the night. Pointy, meaningful, and with sharp edges!
"... All these roads lead to a dead end."
ReplyDeleteI’ve been at that dead end and turned around and Wow! What God can do with a little cooperation!
So far I have spent this advent reconciling, renewing and even relieving myself of damaged, estranged, broken and distanced relationships. I have humbled myself like NEVER before and it has been HARD. The fear, anxiety and dread I experienced before facing these people, was a little like it used to be waiting to go to confession, only worse because I wasn’t facing a loving, merciful, forgiving, compassionate God that would definitely take me back. There was no guarantee that I would be forgiven or even heard. But I sucked it up and went for it.
I started with the hardest one, the one that I had the most fault in it’s demise, that I had the most anxiety about and was met and left with forgiveness, love and hope.
Next I contacted a friend of my daughter’s who’s a teenage mother without a mother of her own and offered myself as a surrogate if she wanted or needed. I left there feeling good that I can be a support spiritually, physically and emotionally to this young woman.
Then I contacted a friend I was extremely close to through my teens, twenties and thirties but had lost touch with over the last 8 or 10 years. What a wonderful reunion. It was like we were never apart.
Then I went to my family and invited my niece to lunch. She was flabbergasted and thought something was wrong, I guess like I was dying or something. We were once very close, but our differing lifestyles and values got between us. We haven’t met yet, but plan to soon.
The next relationship I faced had been very close years ago, we ‘broke up’ three years ago, we reunited six months ago, and it ended about a week ago. I had forgotten the reason for the ending of it years before and it all came back to me last week when God knew I was ready to let go in peace. I had to humble myself in a way that made me so fearful that I wanted to throw up, but I did it. And I was rejected. It hurt for a few hours. But when the reality of it hit me, I was relieved because it was an unhealthy relationship for me and I was free of the anxiety it caused that I hadn’t even realized until it was over.
So, we’re about a week away from Christmas and I have, not one decoration in my house. I have made no cookies, candy, or anything else. My family decided to have our celebration for Christmas at my house with 15 people and I said okay, bring whatever you want, it doesn’t matter to me. And we’re doing it in 3 days! I have not dusted, mopped, or cleaned anything. The only gifts I’ve purchased are gift cards and a few stocking stuffers. On top of that, my 20 year old, 'sewing her wild oats' daughter that I miss and love dearly who I haven’t seen since last Christmas will not be home. And I am not stressed in the least and I don’t even care if I get these things done. The family will come, we’ll eat, talk, play some games, watch the kids open gifts and just be together.
This is SO not like me because I’m a perfectionist, over achieving, controlling, ‘Martha Stewart’ workaholic.
So, I have either lost it completely or I’ve given control over the Holy Spirit and truly have peace.
I’m hoping it’s the latter.
Father, your suggestions lead me here. Thank you.
I have to say that for my part, humility and a sincere desire for change is what has propelled me this far. I have been hearing, reading, talking about, preaching to others and thinking about humility for a while now, but it is all worthless unless I put it into practice and just do it!
Thank you Father for your constant reminder and encouragement to let go of my pride and humble myself in other to become free and peaceful.
I just wanted to share what God can do in a few weeks with a life that has been in much turmoil for a long time. And I hope that you can find peace too.
"It’s not easy. It’s never easy to travel during the night. We grow weary. We question our decisions. We are enticed to go for shortcuts. As the night grows awfully dark, it is very easy to stray off the path. How in the world did we ever lose our way? How in the world did we ever get so far away?..."
ReplyDeleteI know exactly what you are talking about here.
It IS so easy to get distracted and forget the purpose of my actions, the reason I'm doing what I'm doing. As soon as I take my eyes off the road He has paved for me, I start to veer off and am very likely to crash into something or someone.
It's like texting while driving. I cannot take my eyes off the road for a second. It's a life and death distraction that doesn't only effect me but those around me.
Thank God I can mess up and come close to wrecking and He leads me back into the lane where I'm supposed to be and back toward my destination. But how long will He do that before He lets me learn the hard way and accept the consequences for my actions?
Thank you Father for reminding me of my destination, who is in charge and who my navigator is.
Hello I really appreciate your meditation
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