she said yes

Opening Prayer: “Yes, Father!  Yes!  And always yes!” ~Francis de Sales

Scripture: Luke 1:27-38

Journal: How is God asking you to say yes to him during this season?  What does that look like?

Reflection: “I am the Lord’s servant.  May it be to me as you have said.” (Luke 1:38)  So God came to a teenage girl and asked her to do what was unimaginable.  And low and behold, she said, “Yes!”  From that moment on, everything about her life was totally out of her control.  She placed herself completely in God’s hands.  And in the days and years that followed, that pattern would continually repeat itself; Mary’s big yes to God, would be followed by a million other yeses.  Each and every day she would be asked to surrender and to trust.

That’s the way life with God works.  He comes to us, asks for our yes, and then the rest of our lives is simply a matter of trust and surrender.  We do not get to dictate or control what our yes means.  We do not get to determine the terms and conditions of our yes.  Yes simply means yes.  We are his servants, not he ours.

So listen carefully.  God is asking for a yes from you and me as well.  What will our answer be?

Prayer

Closing Prayer: O Lord, give me the strength and the grace and the courage to say yes to you today, whatever you may be asking.  Amen.

 

forgotten

Opening Prayer: As for man, his days are like the grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. (Psalm 103:15-16)

Scripture: Psalm 103:15-18

Journal: Where and how are you feeling forgotten these days?  What is that doing in you?  What do you think God is trying to do in you?

Reflection: “As for man, his days are like the grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.” (Psalm 103:15-16) There is great spiritual value in being forgotten, in having your place “remember you no more.”  It creates some rich and fertile soil for the Spirit to move and work, some wonderful space for the life of the Spirit to grow and flourish within us.  For God can accomplish something in us through our being forgotten that can be accomplished in no other way.  If, that is, we are willing to embrace, rather than resist or deny it.  For God has not forgotten us, and he never will.  In fact, “from everlasting to everlasting (which is a really long time) the Lord’s great love is with those who fear him.”  Thanks be to God!

Prayer

Closing Prayer: But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s great love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children. (Psalm 103:17) Thanks be to God!

 

made perfect through suffering

Opening Prayer: Thank you Lord Jesus, that you were willing to go through all I go through, and more.  Thank you that, because of that, you are wonderfully able to meet me in the midst of whatever suffering, sorrow, and pain I go through in this life.  Do that this day.  Please.

Scripture: Hebrews 2:10-18

Journal: What is God up to in your life right now?  What do you think God made Jesus “perfect through suffering?  What does that mean?  How is he using hardship, sorrow, or suffering in your life to do the same?  How can Jesus relate to what you are going through?  How does Jesus want to meet you in your suffering? 

Reflection: It’s amazing how much I try to avoid suffering and yet God, in some bizarre and mysterious way, actually chose to “make Jesus perfect” through suffering.  That means that suffering must accomplish something, both within us and among us, that can be accomplished in no other way.  In fact, if we will embrace suffering—not invite it—and step into it, rather than running away from it or avoiding it at all costs, we might actually be made more like Jesus in the process.  Our suffering might actually be a place where we can experience a deep union with Jesus that only our shared suffering can bring about.

Jesus experienced all that we will ever experience, and more.  So he is wonderfully able to meet us in the midst of our suffering, and even redeem it and use it to invite us into deeper intimacy with him.  Rejection, exclusion, abuse, betrayal, abandonment, loneliness, and isolation, as ugly as they are, can provide fertile soil for Jesus to meet us in an incredibly intimate way, if we are willing to let him do a work deep within us as a result.  These things need not have the final word; they need not define or determine us.  God is so much bigger than that, he is so much greater than the very worst things this life can throw at us.  He can use all things—even sadness, sorrow, and tragedy—to make us more into the people he dreamt us to be, if we will trust in him.  

Prayer

Closing Prayer: Heavenly Father, I have no idea why you chose to make Jesus perfect through suffering, I just know that you did.  In fact, the idea of being made perfect through suffering is a hard and scary one.  Help me, Father, to trust in you no matter what this life may bring.  Help it to unite me with Jesus.  Help it to create a deep intimacy with him that could be created in no other way.  Give me the strength and the grace and the courage to take you up the invitation that suffering has to offer me—to make me more and more like you.  Amen.  

 

deeper

Opening Prayer:  Forgive me, O Lord, when I live my life a mile wide and an inch deep.  That is not the life you desire for me.  Thank you that you will do whatever it takes in order for me to become the person you created me to be, even disturb or disrupt.  Thank you that you love me too much to allow me to settle for less.  Amen.

Scripture: Psalm 42:1-11

Journal: How is God deepening you these days?  What is your response to that?  What is his deepest desire for you?

Reflection:

          deeper

the deeper work

is what you’re after

thus you are not content

to stop too near the surface

in your relentless pursuit of us

whatever it takes

to make us into

all we were meant to be

that’s what you will do

even if it involves things

that are difficult

and seem opposite

of what we most desire

even if your goodness

doesn’t look or feel

good to us at the moment

it is not beyond you

to dry us up

or to withdraw

or even to wound

if it accomplishes

your divine purpose

it is not out of the question

for you to even slay us

with our own unmet longings

if it somehow opens us

to your work and your will

so do as you choose, O God

just give us the strength

and the grace

and the courage

to trust in your goodness

no matter what

Prayer

Closing Prayer: Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls, O God; all of your waves and breakers have swept over me.  You didn’t do this to destroy me, but to enlarge me; to make me more into the person you dreamt me to be.  Thank you for that.  Help me to trust in you.  Amen.

return

Opening Prayer: Lord Jesus, help us to live each day as if it were our last.  Help us to stay awake and alert.  Help us to be always waiting and watchful for your return.  Come, Lord Jesus!  Amen.  

Scripture: Mark 13:32-37

Journal: What would it look like if you lived each day as if it were the day of Christ’s return?

Reflection:

     return

mark 13:32-37

when i return

what condition

will my house be in

will you be

running around

picking clothes

up off the floor

quickly trying

to do the dishes

or fix the broken

shutters

frantically stuffing things

into closets

and underneath

the beds

or will you be ready

for my return

because all along

you lived as if

today were the day

Prayer

Closing Prayer: “Be on your guard!  Be alert!  Watch!”  Lord Jesus, help me to do all of these today.  Amen.

 

bridegroom

Opening Prayer: Help us, Lord Jesus, to be ready for you when you come.  Help us to be watching and waiting.  Help us to have oil for our lamps.  Help us to be awake and alert.  Help us to be ready when the words are announced: “Here’s the bridegroom!  Come out to meet him!”  Amen.

Scripture: Matthew 25:1-13

Journal: What does it look like to live in a state of readiness?  What does it mean to have oil for your lamp?  How do we stay awake and alert?  How might the bridegroom come to you today?  Will you be ready for him?

Reflection:

 

     bridegroom

 

      matt. 25:6

 

will you be ready

when i come to you

today

 

for i am always

coming

 

will you have oil

for you lamp

 

will you be awake

and alert

 

will you come

out to meet me

 

or will you be

so consumed

by your own

issues and agendas

that you miss me

completely

Prayer

Closing Prayer: Come, Lord Jesus!  Amen.

light

Opening Prayer: O Great Light of the world, come into our darkness and illumine us with your light and your love.  Reveal to us the beauty we have forgotten, or have been unable to see, and expose the darkness that lies within us and keeps us from becoming all you made us to be.  All for your glory.  Amen.

Scripture: Ephesians 5:8-14

Journal: Where do you see the light coming into your darkness these days?  What is it revealing?  What is it exposing?  Where do you still long for the light to come?  What does it look like to live as children of light?  What is God calling you to?

Reflection: Light is a wonderful and a terrible thing.  It is wonderful because of what it reveals, and it is terrible because of what it exposes.  When the light comes into the darkness we are finally able to see the beauty we had been unable to see, and we are also able to see the ugliness that we try to keep hidden.  Everything, both good and bad, is uncovered and laid bare for all to see.  But even as terrible and uncomfortable as this uncovering can be, it is ultimately a really good thing, for it leads to freedom and to life.  So come, O Light of the world, and shine on our darkness, so that we might be set free from our bondage and walk in the warm of your light. 

Prayer

Closing Prayer: Help us, this day, O God, to live as children of light.  Amen.