Recently someone asked me if I really think of the LORD as often as I suggest. It made me chuckle. Clearly, this individual did not understand. I’m not in control; I know that the LORD has dominion over all including me. It’s not so much what I do as it is my surrender to who the LORD is and what the LORD wills. I can’t imagine who I’d be if I tried to domesticate God to fit in my life and adjust to my comfort zone.
That’s just not how it works. That’s not how any of this works. I think of the gospel for today, Jesus’ call of Matthew to “Follow me.” Matthew wasn’t expecting the LORD’s call that day. It wasn’t convenient. It wasn’t on the calendar. Accepting Jesus’ call wasn’t easy because it meant personal change, it meant personal surrender. That’s how it works.
The LORD is always and everywhere. If I don’t know that and expect to hear from the LORD or witness the LORD’s presence always and everywhere, chances are I won’t hear or witness. We often miss the things we aren’t looking for such as stop signs where we don’t think they will be. But if we believe, really believe, and allow that belief to open our mind, our eyes, ears, and heart, it is amazing what we can think, see, hear, and experience.
I know the LORD and the LORD’s love for me. I refuse to relegate the LORD to a building and a pew. I know that every day I have is a gift and I begin it in thanksgiving. And those daily, early moments open me to the possibilities if I accept that I am in the LORD and the LORD is in me.
We all are because the LORD is. Trying to box the LORD into our comfort zone, relegate specific times for interactions with the LORD, and setting conditions for our relationship is not only foolish arrogance, but also denying the wonder of the LORD’s will for us and shutting the door on divine possibilities.
As we journey in this life to full life in our LORD, may we open ourselves to His call to us as Matthew did. May we be open to setting down what we planned for what the LORD wills. May we take all of life in realizing the LORD’s loving mercy moment to moment, recognizing that we are not perfect and that we need that mercy and accept it.
Until tomorrow, let us all love well.
And that's how you say it. Explained well.👁️👁️🛐