from leading to being led

Opening Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus, I am still so divided.  I truly want to follow you, but I also want to follow my own desires and lend an ear to the voices that speak about prestige, success, popularity, pleasure, power, and influence.  Help me to become deaf to those voices and more attentive to your voice, which calls me to choose the narrow road to life.  I know this will be a very hard road for me.  The choice for your way has to be made every moment of my life.  I have to choose thoughts that are your thoughts, words that are your words, and actions that are your actions.  There are no times and places without choices.  And I know how deeply I resist choosing you.  Please, Lord, be with me at every moment and in every place.  Give me the strength and courage to live my life faithfully, so that I will be able to taste with joy the new life which you have prepared for me.  Amen. (The Road to Daybreak by Henri J.M. Nouwen)

Scripture: John 21:18-19

Journal: Where is Jesus leading you these days?  What is he asking of you?  Where might you be running ahead rather than following him?

Reflection: There is a shift that is necessary in the life of faith.  It is a subtle shift, yet an enormous one.  It typically comes when we have a few years under our belts; when we have seen the limited results of our own efforts.  When we begin to realize that all of the stuff we have been doing in our lives, may not have yielded the fruit, or the results, we had hoped.  When we begin to tire of running around in a million different directions, aimlessly trying to do a million-and–one good things.  

     It is the shift from endless activity, to dependent passivity.  It is the shift from trying to control things, to a willingness to surrender and let go of our own plans and agendas.  It is the shift from initiating to responding, from anticipating to participating, from doing to being.  It is the shift from dressing yourself and going where you want, to stretching out your hands and being led to a place you would rather not go.  It is the shift from leading to being led; and it is a hard one indeed.  

     For the call of Jesus to “Follow me!” does not involve us running ahead of him, but staying behind him.  It does not involve us running around doing a bunch of our own good stuff, but actually stopping to listen to him, so that we can do his stuff.  The only question is: Are we willing to do that?  Will we allow ourselves to be led by him, even if it be to places we’d rather not go?  After all, if we are truly following him, he is the one choosing both the route and the destination, not us.

Prayer

Closing Prayer: Lord Jesus, give me the courage and the faith to truly follow you, wherever it may lead, whatever it might cost.  Let me give myself fully to your care and your control.  For your glory.  Amen.