time, thursday

Thursday, August 21

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: John 2:1-12

Reading for Reflection:

 

“My hour has not yet come” (John 2:4).  Jesus lived with a keen sense of the opportune time.  He recognized the deep rhythms of God’s purpose flowing through his days, and sensed when they would coalesce into the weighty hour.  There would be the hour of the final table fellowship (Luke 22:14), abandonment (John 16:32), glorification (John 17:1), departure (John 13:1), and unexpected return (Luke 12:40).  There would be episodes of healing (John 4:52), seasons of true worship (John 4:23), and moments of remembrance (John 16:4).  So conscious was Jesus of the steadfast love of God enduring throughout the meandering course of human history that he could give himself freely and fully to the current events surrounding him.  Far from being swept along by time’s rush and tumble, Jesus lived life purposefully and therefore patiently. (Weavings, July/August 2003, John Mogabgab, p. 2)

Reflection and Listening: silent and written

Prayer: for the church, for others, for myself

          

Closing Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you that your sense of timing is always perfect, even if it doesn’t always agree with my own.  Forgive my impatience and my lack of trust.