Pieces of the Puzzle

These things were my assets, but I wrote them off as a loss for the sake of Christ. But even beyond that, I consider everything a loss in comparison with the superior value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have lost everything for him, but what I lost I think of as sewer trash, so that I might gain Christ and be found in him. In Christ I have a righteousness that is not my own and that does not come from the Law but rather from the faithfulness of Christ. It is the righteousness of God that is based on faith. The righteousness that I have comes from knowing Christ, the power of his resurrection, and the participation in his sufferings. It includes being conformed to his death so that I may perhaps reach the goal of the resurrection of the dead. ~Philippians 3:1-11 (CEB)

“It is not easy to distinguish between doing what we are called to do and doing what we want to do. Our many wants can easily distract us from our true action. True action leads us to the fulfillment of our vocation. Whether we work in an office, travel the world, write books or make films, care for the poor, offer leadership, or fulfill unspectacular tasks, the question is not ‘What do I most want?’ but “What is my vocation?’ The most prestigious position in society can be an expression of obedience to our call as well as a sign of our refusal to hear that call, and the least prestigious position too, can be a response to our vocation as well as a way to avoid it.” ~From Can You Drink the Cup? By Henri Nouwen

Heavenly Father, direct me away from just being busy with Your work. Direct me away from the work that seems more desirable. Direct me this day to the work You have in mind for me to do. May all that my hands take up this day be for Your glory. Amen.

I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death… Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do” forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. ~Phil 3:10, 13-14 (NRSV)

“Probably our journey of forgiveness will be impossible unless we realize we cannot do it alone. We are not the source of our healing. Truly the kingdom of God within us as Jesus told us. But that kingdom is God’s presence, and we need God’s help to experience that inner glory.

As with any deep dealing and release, the empowered mercy of God within and around us is ours to claim. We must face the facts: we are vulnerable (woundable); we have been hurt; we need to name our hurt and our deep needs as clearly and fully as we can. Little can change until we have faced where we actually are.” ~From Forgiveness, the Passionate Journey by Flora Slosson Wuellner

It is hard to be about the work of God if I have not taken the time to know where I come from. I cannot be in God’s presence if my mind or heart is stuck in a place in the past. God is found in the present-ness of life. God’s kingdom on earth is that peace in my heart that goes beyond my current circumstances. God’s peace is that ability to reach out to others in the midst of my own pain. In that reaching out I see God’s love in action and my heart becomes flesh again.

Heavenly Father, please replace this heart of stone for Your heart. Help me feel Your presence in my life this day. Help me to experience that inner glory and peace that You have promised to me. Amen.

And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit ~2 Corinthians 3:18 (NRSV)

“Our questions can serve us well in a time such as this, a time of grave uncertainty, of soaring potential, of fragile yet resilient hope. Our questions and questing are crucial, because they can help us live into the answer of the future. I am certain of one thing: the love that is God is at the heart of the answer, just as it is at the heart of each moment- past, present, and future. Faith today, tomorrow, and always seeks to live, to love, and to be loved fully. It seeks the Holy and waits (though not always patiently) to be found; it nurtures and activates wisdom and compassion. It chooses to embrace hope and to be embraced by hope, even when overwhelmed by despair; it seeks life even in the face of death. We act in faith, knowing that we see only dimly. But living in faith, we act anyway, choosing and doing the best we can. We act and live in confidence that someday we will see face to face, that we will live into the answers. For God’s grace embraces our questions as well as our answers and our blindness as well as our vision, just as the sun shines steadily through the night, waiting to illumine the sky at dawn.” ~From Wrestling till Dawn by Jean M. Blomquist

I cannot run from the questions that haunt my heart. I must not assume that God criticizes me for even having questions. It is when I wrestle with the questions that I come to find the answers. I must remember that God is big enough to handle all my questions. He knows that it is in my questions that the veil begins to life. Through my questions I begin to be transformed.

Heavenly Father, Thank You for Your patience in all the questions I have. Thank You for pointing me in the right direction to discover the answers. Help me to see more clearly and to have the patience to wait out the answers. Amen.

We know that if the tent that we live in on earth is torn down, we have a building from God. It’s a house that isn’t handmade, which is eternal and located in heaven. We groan while we live in this residence. We really want to dress ourselves with our building from heaven— since we assume that when we take off this tent, we won’t find out that we are naked. Yes, while we are in this tent we groan, because we are weighed down. We want to be dressed not undressed, so that what is dying can be swallowed up by life. Now the one who prepared us for this very thing is God, and God gave us the Spirit as a down payment for our home.

So we are always confident, because we know that while we are living in the body, we are away from our home with the Lord. We live by faith and not by sight. We are confident, and we would prefer to leave the body and to be at home with the Lord. So our goal is to be acceptable to him, whether we are at home or away from home. We all must appear before Christ in court so that each person can be paid back for the things that were done while in the body, whether they were good or bad. ~ 2 Corinthians 5:1-10 (CEB)

“Nothing will give us so much strength as being fully known and full loved by fellow human beings in the Name of God. That gives us the courage to drink our cup to the bottom, knowing it is the cup of our salvation. It will allow us not only to live well but to die well. When we are surrounded by loving friends, death becomes a gateway to the full communion of saints.” ~From Can You Drink the Cup? By Henri J.M. Nouwen

So whether I am here on earth or if I am heaven I have the confidence of the love of the saints who love me now and the saints who have gone before me.

I thank You this day O Lord for the love You have shown me through others. The love I have been shown gives me the courage to go forth each day to love others. Instill in me the confidence to be Your hands and feet and to go about Your work. Amen.

But you, Israel my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, offspring of Abraham, whom I love, you whom I took from the ends of the earth and called from its farthest corners, saying to you, “ You are my servant; I chose you and didn’t reject you ”: Don’t fear, because I am with you; don’t be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will surely help you; I will hold you with my righteous strong hand. ~Isaiah 41:8-10 (CEB)

“My God, in these quiet moments I caught a glimpse of your vision for me. Inspire me, my God, to carry into the everydayness of my life all to which I aspire at such a moment as this. May my faith have feet and hands, a voice and a heart, that it may minister to others- that the gospel I profess may be seen in my life.

I go this hour to encounter the routine of duty with a new vision. Equip me for my common tasks, that I may this day apply myself to them with fidelity and devotion. And not for myself alone do I pray:

Bless homemakers, mothers, and servants, who minister in the home and who maintain sacred sanctuaries to which tired persons return at the end of day.

Bless doctors and nurses. May their work reflect God’s love and pity to those who leave this earth today.

Bless the teachers, the school administrators, and those who labor to keep school buildings clean and pleasant for those who study and learn there.

Bless coal miners and all who toil in grime and darkness, that we may enjoy clean and pleasant lives.

May your blessing rest upon all men and women who minister to others. May each one come to know the joy of partnership with you.

I give this prayer to you who inflames my soul with vision and desire, that I may be a faithful laborer in the fields you have assigned to my stewardship. Help me to be a good and faithful steward.”  ~Norman Shawchuck

Help me to take a moment this day Lord to not take so much for granted. May I remember all who work so hard yet go unseen. Amen.

“You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its saltiness, how will it become salty again? It’s good for nothing except to be thrown away and trampled under people’s feet. You are the light of the world. A city on top of a hill can’t be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a basket. Instead, they put it on top of a lampstand, and it shines on all who are in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before people, so they can see the good things you do and praise your Father who is in heaven. ~Matthew 5:13-16 (CEB)

“When we think of models of the transformed life, we naturally turn to the saints of the past or look at more contemporary heroes of faithfulness like Mother Teresa or Douglas Steeve. Because we do, we often overlook those near us who daily claim the power of God to live life at a higher level than it could be lives alone.

Living a transformed life is not possible on our own. Most of us do not live up to the best that we know how to live. Deep within we know that there is room for improvement. We can do better. Connecting our desire to do and be better with God’s amazing grace creates a partnership that transformation.

We know that living a transformed life means living at God’s direction with grace-given capacity. This is more than we can do on our own, and, in fact, living the transformed life does not mean trying harder. It means trusting more and staying close to the only One who can make us more than we are.

As we learn to put our trust and faith in God, we become open and available to receive God’s forming and transforming power in our own lives. In our better moments we know that it is God at work within us that provides the transformation. This is the day to claim God’s leads to presence and help as you live the transformed life.” ~From A Guide to Prayer for All Who Seek God, Ruben P. Job

May Your Presence be in my life today O Lord, transforming me into a light that shines for others to see. I thank You for the grace you so freely give me every moment. Thank You for making me more than I am on my own. Amen.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. ~Matthew 5:6 (NIV)

Today begins the season of Lent. Many churches observe this time of preparation that leads up to Easter. Some people even choose to use the season as a time for penitence and self-examination, study, and spiritual discipline. Perhaps the discipline most commonly associated with Lent is fasting, which can take many forms, such as giving up entire meals, or certain foods (like meat), or radically changing a diet, in order to be made mindful of one’s humanity and of God’s providence.

Isaiah 56 tells us “Isn’t this the fast I choose: releasing wicked restraints, untying the ropes of a yoke, setting free the mistreated, and breaking every yoke? Isn’t it sharing your bread with the hungry and bringing the homeless poor into your house, covering the naked when you see them, and not hiding from your own family? … If you open your heart to the hungry, and provide abundantly for those who are afflicted, your light will shine in the darkness, and your gloom will be like the noon.” (Isa. 56:6,7,10)

So I ask you, do you hunger and thirst for justice? True fasting is not just depriving ourselves of privilege but also sharing sacrificially to bring an end to the cycles of inequality, an end to violence and solution to starvation.

Heavenly Father, create in me a hunger and thirst for Your righteousness. Enable me this day to be Your hands and feet to those who live in darkness.  Help me love with Your heart and shine with Your light so that the darkness may be like the noon day sun. Amen.

Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and his disciples, “The legal experts and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat. Therefore, you must take care to do everything they say. But don’t do what they do. For they tie together heavy packs that are impossible to carry. They put them on the shoulders of others, but are unwilling to lift a finger to move them. Everything they do, they do to be noticed by others. They make extra-wide prayer bands for their arms and long tassels for their clothes. They love to sit in places of honor at banquets. They love to be greeted with honor in the markets and to be addressed as ‘Rabbi.’ “But you shouldn’t be called Rabbi, because you have one teacher, and all of you are brothers and sisters. Don’t call anybody on earth your father, because you have one Father, who is heavenly. Don’t be called teacher, because Christ is your one teacher. But the one who is greatest among you will be your servant. All who lift themselves up will be brought low. But all who make themselves low will be lifted up. ~Matthew 23:1-12 (CEB)

A cup is a container for holding something. Whatever it holds has to eventually be emptied out so that something more can be put into it. I have learned that I cannot always expect my life to be full. There has to be some emptying, some pouring out, if I am to make room for the new. The spiritual journey is like that- a constant process of emptying and filling, of giving and receiving, of accepting and letting go. ~From The Cup of Our Life by Joyce Rupp

The fullness of God ever waits upon an empty vessel. This is a grand practical truth, very easily stated, but involving a great deal more than one might, at first sight, imagine. The entire Book of God illustrates this truth. The history of the people of God illustrates it; and the experience of each Believer illustrates it. Whether we study the Book of God, or the ways of God—His ways with all—His ways with each, we learn this most precious truth that “the fullness of God ever waits upon an empty vessel.” This holds well with respect to the sinner, in his first coming to Christ; and it holds good with respect to the believer, at every stage of his career, from the starting post to the goal.

Heavenly Father, fill me up till I overflow. May I then overflow into those around me.  I thank You for Your Book that illustrates Your vast love for me. Help me to pass that love on to others. Amen.

So when we couldn’t stand it any longer, we thought it was a good idea to stay on in Athens by ourselves, and we sent you Timothy, who is our brother and God’s coworker in the good news about Christ. We sent him to strengthen and encourage you in your faithfulness.  We didn’t want any of you to be shaken by these problems. You know very well that we were meant to go through this. In fact, when we were with you, we kept on predicting that we were going to face problems exactly like what happened, as you know. That’s why I sent Timothy to find out about your faithfulness when I couldn’t stand it anymore. I was worried that the tempter might have tempted you so that our work would have been a waste of time. Now Timothy has returned to us from you and has given us good news about your faithfulness and love! He says that you always have good memories about us and that you want to see us as much as we want to see you. Because of this, brothers and sisters, we were encouraged in all our distress and trouble through your faithfulness. For now we are alive if you are standing your ground in the Lord. How can we thank God enough for you, given all the joy we have because of you before our God? Night and day, we pray more than ever to see all of you in person and to complete whatever you still need for your faith. Now may our God and Father himself guide us on our way back to you.  May the Lord cause you to increase and enrich your love for each other and for everyone in the same way as we also love you. May the love cause your hearts to be strengthened, to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his people. Amen. ~1 Thessalonians 3:1-13 (CEB)

All of God’s life is available to each of us already, but not yet. Ordinary suffering will not be taken away, not the suffering we must face when we bear witness to God’s love and are met with the world’s hostility and scorn. But our suffering will have meaning, will be lifted up, transformed by the unceasing love of God. ~Robert A. Jonas from Henri Nouwen:  Writings Selected with an Introduction by Robert A. Jonas

Heavenly Father, I thank You for Your transforming grace that has worked its wonders within me. May I this day be an example of Your light to someone who may need it this day. May I be a blessing to someone amidst their trials. Help me be Your love to the world. Amen.

Large crowds were traveling with Jesus. Turning to them, he said, “Whoever comes to me and doesn’t hate father and mother, spouse and children, and brothers and sisters—yes, even one’s own life—cannot be my disciple. Whoever doesn’t carry their own cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

“If one of you wanted to build a tower, wouldn’t you first sit down and calculate the cost, to determine whether you have enough money to complete it? Otherwise, when you have laid the foundation but couldn’t finish the tower, all who see it will begin to belittle you. They will say, ‘Here’s the person who began construction and couldn’t complete it!’ Or what king would go to war against another king without first sitting down to consider whether his ten thousand soldiers could go up against the twenty thousand coming against him? And if he didn’t think he could win, he would send a representative to discuss terms of peace while his enemy was still a long way off. In the same way, none of you who are unwilling to give up all of your possessions can be my disciple. ~ Luke 14:25:33 (CEB)

“The Christian way is different: harder, and easier. Christ says, ‘Give me All. I don’t want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work:  I want You. I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures are any good. I don’t want to cut off a branch here and a branch there, I want to have the whole tree down . . .  Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires which you think innocent as well as the ones you think wicked- the whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you Myself:  my own will shall become yours.’” ~From Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis

Christ wants our hearts, but he also wants us to count the cost. He wants a life time full-fledged commitment from us that is lasting. I also think we need to count the cost every day. To give my whole life to Christ requires me to live my life intentionally. If I am to live for Christ I cannot walk through this world aimlessly.

Heavenly Father, Help me to focus my actions on Your will for this day. May all I do be for Your glory. Help me as I try to be a true disciple. Help me to show Your love to those I meet this day. Amen.