time, friday

Friday, August 22

Come to Stillness: Take a few minutes to allow your mind and heart to be still before God.

Opening Prayer: Lord, help me walk slowly and deeply with you through the hours and minutes of this day—that I might find all of you that is to be found within it.  Allow me not to miss you because of hurry or busyness, but let me sense the fullness of your presence in each moment.  Slow down both my feet and my heart that I might be more present to you as I go about my normal activities.  In the Name of Jesus I pray.  Amen.

Scripture Reading for the Day: Hebrews 3:7-15

Reading for Reflection:

 

     Not long after moving to Chicago, I called a wise friend to ask for some spiritual direction.  I described the pace at which things tend to move in my current setting.  I told him about the rhythms of our family life and about the present condition of my heart, as best I could discern it.  What did I need to do, I asked him, to be spiritually healthy?

     Long pause.

     “You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life,” he said at last.  Another long pause.

     “Okay, I’ve written that one down,” I told him, a little impatiently.  “That’s a good one.  Now what else is there?”  I had many things to do, and this was a long-distance conversation, so I was anxious to cram as many units of spiritual wisdom into the least amount of time possible.

     Another long pause.

     “There is nothing else,” he said.

     He was the wisest spiritual mentor I have known.  And while he doesn’t know every detail about every grain of sin in my life, he knows quite a bit.  And from an immense quiver of spiritual sagacity, he drew only one arrow.  “There is nothing else,” he said, “You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life.”

     Imagine for a moment that someone gave you this prescription, with the warning that your life depends on it.  Consider the possibility that perhaps your life does depend on it.  Hurry is the great enemy of spiritual life in our day.  Hurry can destroy our souls.  Hurry can keep us from living well.  As Carl Jung wrote, “Hurry is not of the devil; hurry is the devil.”

     Again and again, as we pursue spiritual life, we must do battle with hurry.  For many of us the great danger is not that we will renounce our faith.  It is that we will become so distracted and rushed and preoccupied that we will settle for a mediocre version of it.  We will just skim our lives instead of actually living them. (The Life You’ve Always Wanted by John Ortberg)

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

          

Closing Prayer: Lord, let me hear your voice…today.