Opening Prayer: God grant me the serenity to accept the things
I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the
difference.
Living one day at a time; enjoying one moment at a time; accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will; that I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him forever in the next. Amen. ~Reinhold Niebuhr
Living one day at a time; enjoying one moment at a time; accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will; that I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him forever in the next. Amen. ~Reinhold Niebuhr
Scripture: Psalm 91:1-2
Journal: How does dwelling in God give rest to your
soul? How do you need God to be your
refuge and fortress these days? Your
refuge from what? How is that “storm”
keeping you from resting in him?
Reflection:
We mostly spend our lives conjugating three
verbs: to Want, to Have, and to Do.
Craving, clutching, and fussing, on the material, political, social,
emotional, intellectual—even on the spiritual—plane, we are kept in perpetual
unrest: forgetting that none of these verbs have any ultimate significance, except
so far as they are transcended by and included in, the fundamental verb, to Be:
and that Being, not wanting, having and doing, is the essence of a spiritual
life. (The Spiritual Life by Evelyn Underhill)
To want, to have, to do, or to be. To which of these will the majority of my energy go today? And which of them is really worth my energy and attention anyway? I have a suspicion that unless all of the others (want, have, do) flow out of that deep inner place of being—particularly being with Jesus and being in Jesus—then all of them will amount to nothing of Kingdom value or Kingdom significance in the long run. All must flow from that place where Jesus resides deep in my soul; call it dwelling, call it abiding, call it whatever you wish, but the bottom line is that it is all about being.
To want, to have, to do, or to be. To which of these will the majority of my energy go today? And which of them is really worth my energy and attention anyway? I have a suspicion that unless all of the others (want, have, do) flow out of that deep inner place of being—particularly being with Jesus and being in Jesus—then all of them will amount to nothing of Kingdom value or Kingdom significance in the long run. All must flow from that place where Jesus resides deep in my soul; call it dwelling, call it abiding, call it whatever you wish, but the bottom line is that it is all about being.
Prayers
Closing Prayer: Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; our God
is merciful. The Lord preserves the
simple; when I was brought low, he saved me.
Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the Lord has dealt bountifully with
you. ~Psalm 116:5-7
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