This morning’s reflection is about what we ‘rights’ we are given by God. The only right is to be children of God, if we receive and believe and follow Jesus. As children, we are not always in control of our worlds, and this lack of control will be illustrated while on a short term trip with a team to foreign place, doing foreign things.
There is much in this world that is clearly out of my control. And to counter that, there is much in my world that I’ve ordered quite nicely, thank you. My morning routine for example. I get up, have a cup of coffee, sit in my prayer chair, read, reflect and write. That is not likely to be a thing for the next week. I also get up absurdly early, and go to bed equally early. Also possibly not a thing next week.
These are things I do in my otherwise uncontrollable world. But whenever I’m away from home for some amount of leisure, my routines are interrupted, and that’s ok. It’s ok because for a brief interlude, I am not fretting about my uncontrollable world, or my job, or what’s for dinner. I don’t need those routines or those brief exercises in control.
There is a great freedom that comes from travel, from seeing things without that nagging sense of responsibility. There comes a moment in travel, where I try to capture that feeling of freedom, and figure out how to build it back into my home world. But the difference is that home, I do have to worry about my uncontrollable life, my job, and what’s for dinner. So that sense of freedom slips away until the next time away, replaced with routines. To be clear, I love my morning routines, as they hold space for that sense of freedom, when I’m not worrying about dinner or whatever else.
Once I get to Guatemala City, I will not be responsible for much. I will be able to go where I’m asked, do what I’m asked, help where I can, and not worry about things.
This morning, I’m thinking about what it means in my uncontrollable life to be a child of God. Where do I have the luxury of letting go, of just going where God asks, doing what God asks, helping where I can, and not worrying about things? Maybe the whole thing is what God asks. Maybe it’s not really out of control at all, it just feels that way to me. If I believe in an all-powerful, all loving God, if I believe that I’m a child of God, I have to believe that God would not allow me to be in an out of control place, or put me there without the ability to survive. Maybe I can find those moments of peace, even in my home world, and not wait until I’m travelling – beyond my morning routine moments.
Today, I’m going to think about ways to act more like a child of God’s. Of letting God worry about things, and direct my steps, and my thoughts. I’m reminded of a prayer from our Book of Common Prayer, that always fills me with a sense of security and comfort, knowing who’s the ever-loving parent and who’s the child.
Almighty and eternal God, so draw our hearts to you, so guide our minds, so fill our imaginations, so control our wills, that we may be wholly yours, utterly dedicated unto you; and then use us, we pray, as you will, and always to your glory and the welfare of your people; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
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