September 12
Beloved of Good Shepherd Church,
Grace to you and peace in Jesus Christ our Lord!
I woke up worried on Wednesday morning. As soon as I opened my eyes a little sprout of fear was forefront in my mind. Does that ever happen to you? I know what planted the seed of worry. Before I left my office on Tuesday I took a quick look at the church finance reports that had just been finished up by our bookkeeper. All is well and overall the church is in very good shape, but I made note that we are a couple of percentage points behind where I like us to be this time of year on income. Yes, you read that correctly, two percentage points. Truly, all is well! But, I have a gauge in my mind of where I like us to be in terms of income and the dial is a little off, so I made a mental note to look deeper at the issue the next day, and I went home. No big deal. However, my subconscious can make a big deal out of the tiniest seed and that’s just what happened. I woke up worried about money and those two percentage points. Fortunately, and by God’s grace, I realized immediately that I was in a bad mental neighborhood and I said what my grandmother taught us all to say first thing upon waking, before our feet hit the floor. “This is the day that the Lord has made, let me rejoice and be glad in it.” Then I said, “God, I give you my fear. Amen.” I ended up feeling thankful that I woke up worried because I need a daily reminder that there is nothing in this world that I can’t let go of, especially my worries and my fears. I’ve come to understand that God loves my fears, that is God is always ready and eager to take my fears, thus lightening my load so that I can face the day with joyful, patient expectation instead of frantic fear and worry.
In the Gospel appointed for this Sunday Jesus gives his famous and challenging teaching, “Those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.” I think he’s saying that as long as we hold onto our material preoccupations and cling to our vision of the way things ought to be (2 percentage points), then we are squandering our lives and are far from fully surrendered to love. But if we give our lives to God or “lose” them in the life of God, then we will begin to truly live in the abundance of God’s love which will sustain us through the storms of all our worries. What do you need to let go of? What fears do you need to ask God to take from you, so that you can live a less burdensome life?
Remember this always - God loves you, and I love you too!
Love is all,
Hendree+