torn to pieces

Opening Prayer: O Lord, forgive me when I am more concerned with being comfortable than I am with being godly.  I realize that godliness never comes easy, so whatever it takes to make me into the person you made me to be, help me be open to that.  Amen.

Scripture: Hosea 6:1-2

Journal: How is God tearing you to pieces these days that he might heal and restore you?  Do you trust him in that?

Reflection: “Come, let us return to the Lord.  He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds.  After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence.” (Hosea 6:1-2)

There is a tearing to pieces that comes from love and results in healing and restoration.  It is a tender but severe tearing, a stripping away of all that binds and hinders and enslaves.  It is a tearing that feels like death, but is really life, because it involves the stripping away of all that is false, in order to leave only what is true and beautiful.  That’s the kind of tearing and injuring God does when we are courageous enough to return to him.  It is a tearing and an injuring that helps us become all that he dreamt us to be.  So when you find yourself in his crosshairs, do not be afraid.  What is happening to you might feel like death, but it is really life.  Ultimately, it is both good and beautiful.

Prayer

Closing Prayer: O Lord, I realize that in order to make me all you desire me to be, sometimes that is going to involve the tearing away of all that is not you.  All I ask is that you be as gentle as possible with me and give me the courage and the trust to stand up under it.

emptying

Opening Prayer: In all those dark moments, O God, grant that I may understand that it is you who are painfully parting the fibers of my being in order to penetrate to the very marrow of my substance. —Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Scripture: Mark 8:34-37

Journal: Where and how is God emptying you of yourself, in order to fill you with himself?

Reflection:

     emptying

there is an emptying

that comes from God

a profound deepening

meant to hollow out

space within you

that only he can fill

so do not be hasty to

grasp at the first thing

that comes along

in an effort to fill the void

lest you miss the gift

he is trying to give

that void might actually

be there for a reason

Prayer

Closing Prayer: Lord, I am stripped bare of all things, as you alone can strip us bare, whose fearful care nothing escapes, nor your terrible love. —The Diary of a Country Priest by Georges Bernanos

pass through

Opening Prayer: O Lord, this life is such a pilgrimage, help me to always keep moving toward you no matter what.  Give me the strength and wisdom and perseverance, when I get stuck, to keep on walking, to keep pressing on toward you.  Give me faith when I need to believe, grace when I need to forgive, and courage when I need to let go.  Help me to go from strength to strength until I appear before you in Zion.  Amen. 

Scripture: Psalm 84:5-7

Journal: What is the Valley of Weeping for you these days?  Are you stuck there?  Are you trying to pass through?  How?  Are you refusing?  What would it look like to make the Valley of Weeping into a place of springs?

Reflection: “Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.  As they pass through the Valley of Weeping, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools.  They go from strength to strength until each appears before God in Zion.” (Psalm 84:5-7)

You can stay there, in the Valley of Weeping, if you want to, but it is only as you pass through the valley that you make it a place of springs.  Eventually you have to work your way through it, or you will be stuck in the Valley of Weeping forever.  It’s really up to you.  Avoiding or denying or refusing only assures that you will never pass through it and come out the other side.

This life is a pilgrimage; you must keep going in order to arrive at your glorious destination.  At some point you must leave the Valley of Weeping behind and press on to the land of promise.  So, pass through, don’t pitch your tent.  Don’t take up residence in such a miserable place.  Don’t set up shop; pass through.  The place of springs is only possible if you are willing to pass through.  Don’t let the Valley of Weeping hold you hostage; pass through.

Prayer

Closing Prayer: O Lord, in life with you there is no way out, only through.  Give me the strength and the grace and the courage to pass through.  Amen

abide

Opening Prayer: Lord Jesus, you are the vine, and we are the branches, never let us forget that.  Forgive us when we try to manufacture and produce what can only be grown by abiding in you.  Help us to learn how to do that.  Amen.

Scripture: John 15:4-5

Journal: What is the difference between fruitfulness and productivity?  Where and how are you trying to produce fruit in your life or ministry?  How will you shift to abiding rather than trying?

Reflection: “Abide in me, and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.  I am the vine; you are the branches.  Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:4-5)

The key to a fruitful life and ministry is not activism but abiding.  It is not incessant activity but prayer.  Unless we move from autonomy to obedience, from independence to dependence, and from control to surrender we can never hope to bear the fruit that Jesus designed us to bear—that only comes by abiding. 

And abiding is not as much about trying, as it is about joining.  It is being joined to the very life of God in a profoundly intimate way.  It is allowing the life of God to flow in and then through us.  Thus, it is not something we can produce or manufacture, but something that must be grown organically.

Prayer

Closing Prayer: Help us, Lord Jesus, to stop trying and start abiding, because that is the only way fruit is going to grow.  Amen.