Sunday-Ps. 17 has the sense of someone who has truly tried to be good. Even if probed at night, God would find only good. Most of us do not have that sense of goodness, but we do have a sense that we deserve to be vindicated for our efforts.what would god find on a spiritual probe of your life?
Monday-"If you do not see a thing in the light of love, you do not see it at all." Kathleen Raine
We can look in fear (and everything is a threat). We can look in avarice (and everything becomes a procession in an endless desire for another procession). We can look in judgement (and everything gets placed in inescapable boxes -including our judgements upon ourselves). We can look at the world through the eyes of comparison or insecurity or resentment and apathy. In every case our vision is limited and clouded, shaping our world in ways that are neither healthy or life giving. But when we look at the world in love, everything is seen more clearly and truly.
We are more able to see the connecting human threads. We see with an appreciation for the moment, for the smallest things. It has been a good practice for me to ask, "with what kind of eyes am I assessing this situation?" It has often led me to step back, refocus and reconsider.Carrie Newcomer
Tuesday-Untitled by Willow Harth This poem is not meant for you/unless you too have been underground/choking on your life's debris, and/playing peek-a-boo with death seriously/then the surprise of ten thousand buttercups/out of nowhere on every side where they'd/never been before on my daily walk.../in case like me you had forgotten/we are the universe's latest way of blooming.
Wednesday Mephibosheth said that he was so overjoyed that David had driven the rascals out and come through the battle safe and sound that just to celebrate he was prepared to let Ziba take the whole damn place. Whether or not he made good on the offer, or even intended to, hardly matters. It was a crazy and magnificent gesture to make, and maybe David was not too lost in his own grief to realize, however dimly, at whose knees he had learned to make it.2 Samuel 9; 16:1-4; 19:24-30 Frederick Buechner
Thursday-Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.” (GB Shaw)
Friday-"Many of us have made our world so familiar that we do not see it anymore. An interesting question to ask yourself at night is, What did I really see this day? You could be surprised at what you did not see. Maybe your eyes were unconditioned reflexes operating all day without any real mindfulness or recognition; while you looked out from yourself, you never gazed or really attended to anything." -John O'Donohue-...It is just as possible that there were moments of true mindfulness and recognition today. It is night now and we are in need of rest. Before retiring let's try to think of two things that we really saw today.
Saturday-The lectionary paired the feeding of the multitude with jacob’s wrestling. Jacob could not be filled, but Jesus perceived abundance. Jacob tried to manipulate others, Jesus gets us to share resources. Jacob received a new name in Gen. 32. Jesus offers a remade self.We may well recognize jacob in our behavior more than Jesus/.
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