I sit here in my lovely yard enjoying the flora and my family. I could write about that.
Or…
I sit here in my lovely yard worrying about the racism that has a grip on our president and so many in our country. I could write about that.
But…
Neither of those scenarios help me, a person who God keeps calling to another way of living that is beyond enjoying or worrying. At church we lift up joys and concerns because that is where we are settled in our lives. But then we are asked to soar above them, to let them go, to stop allowing them to take over. We are asked not to think them away but to pray them away.
Again and again I return to Paul’s plea in 1 Thessalonians: pray without ceasing. When I pray the Jesus Prayer, Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me, my dependence on the joys and concerns of life lose their power and the peace of God that passes all understanding takes over. Of course I have to keep practicing this, but the results keep me at it.
Or…
I sit here in my lovely yard worrying about the racism that has a grip on our president and so many in our country. I could write about that.
But…
Neither of those scenarios help me, a person who God keeps calling to another way of living that is beyond enjoying or worrying. At church we lift up joys and concerns because that is where we are settled in our lives. But then we are asked to soar above them, to let them go, to stop allowing them to take over. We are asked not to think them away but to pray them away.
Again and again I return to Paul’s plea in 1 Thessalonians: pray without ceasing. When I pray the Jesus Prayer, Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me, my dependence on the joys and concerns of life lose their power and the peace of God that passes all understanding takes over. Of course I have to keep practicing this, but the results keep me at it.
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