Miracles Everywhere

Guiding Prayer For Our Season of Fasting: 

Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name. Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom,the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

Myself in Truth

Holy God help me to want less and experience you more.  Amen.

Nurtured and Nurturing 

Jesus, Son of God. As you walked this earth, you had no place to call your own. May our home be your home. May our dwelling place be a place of less haste and a place where your Holy Spirit truly can dwell.

The Gathered

May the peace of God find us when we, as your people, simply abide in you Father. May we slow down enough to recognize your guiding hand as we seek your will in all that we do as your people. Amen

Challenge

Today your challenge is to abide more and rush less.  To truly listen to those whom you encounter and allow God the time to show you the miracles that happen in everyday life.

Luke 10:3-10

³ Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. ⁴ Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road.⁵ Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house!’ ⁶ And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you.⁷ Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. ⁸ Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; ⁹ cure the sick who are there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’

Miracles Everywhere

Gavin’s mother has a saying something along the lines of  “less rush, more time”.  The first time I heard that saying, I thought that it made absolutely no sense.  I always thought that the quicker you got somewhere, the more time you had to enjoy things once you were there.

But the more I thought about it, the more sense it made.  How many times have I been rushing to get somewhere or do something, and in my haste forgot something important and had to turn around and go back for it? I can think of several times when rushing out the door that I forgot my cell phone. I’ve rushed so much to get Jozie to preschool that I forgot her backpack and had to go back to get it; or even hastily trying to get to a birthday party and forgetting the present!  I can remember how frustrating it was to turn back around to get the thing I left behind in haste.

In my rushing my awareness and processing takes a big hit.  I miss things that would have been obvious had I slowed down. 

We live in a society of hurriedness.  We are over-scheduled, over-stressed and over-worked.  How much of life do we miss due to our rushing?  How engaged in the life can we be if we dwell in haste?

I can’t listen well when I’m hurried. I hear things more as sound bites than full conversations and therefore assume much, which is never good.  I read this scripture, along with the whole of Luke chapter 10, and I have to ask myself, what would it have been like to be one of those early apostles?  To simply trust and abide in Christ; to move forward with determination but not hurry; to know that God would supply all their needs if their needs were few. They did nothing out of their own power or wisdom as the learned scribes and rabbis, but rather fully trusted in the power of Christ, as an infant innately trusts its mother. The result was that they experienced miracles everywhere! They were able to do great things in the name of Jesus and they had excitement in their faith!

Christ trusted them with much because they trusted Him with much.  They trusted much and needed little, and therefore truly experience the power of God working in their lives.

Perhaps we rush much because we want much.  If our wants were fewer and our trust greater then our hurriedness might be less... and perhaps we could see all the tiny miracles God is creating in our lives. The simple miracles of people and relationships and God's creation that we are invited to be a part of everyday.  I’m slapping my own hand right now.

My challenge for you today is to fully engage in the task and the people before you.  Slow down to really listen.  Slow down to really pray.  Slow down to really experience the presence of Christ, which may reveal itself in the unexpected person or moment. Take a moment to be still and know that God is God and still in the business of miracles.