Remembering to not let my guard down
Prayer Journal for March 14, 2019
Caregiving God,
All too often I live as if all the worries of the world were mine to solve. This attitude keeps me up nights and causes me to face the world with more trepidation than I should. It causes me to question myself, my relationships, my calling, and even my faith. Worry sends be back under the covers and brings about fantasies of some purer mythical place where trouble is no more and I can automatically live exactly the life I’ve always wanted.
As tempting as such daydreams are, when I take a step back I know that these fantasies are just that. There is no perfect place in this world. Sin, brokenness, and the weakness of human nature are inevitable everywhere I go. Nowhere on earth is free of struggle. Nowhere is free of challenges. Every time and every place are full of the worries that Jesus was talking about.
In a vain attempt to escape the struggles of life I see too many people falling into the very dissipation that your Son mentioned. He knew that human beings have only a limited capacity to deal with stress. When faced with the difficulty of trying to navigate our world we often allow ourselves to utilize unhealthy coping strategies. Drunkenness and other chemical addictions are obvious examples. Obsessing about possessions, power, prestige are others.
The fact of the matter is that none of these crutches work in the long term. None of them have ever prevented people from having to deal with reality. It will inevitably creep back in. There is nothing new under the sun. Every attempt I have made at living on my own resources eventually ends in failure.
In those moments I need to hear Jesus’ reminder. What I need to be doing instead is focusing on you and your care for my life. I need to be spending more time in your presence. I need to be spending more time with your Word. I need to be spending more time with you in prayer. Call me back to you each and every day. Help me to not to depend on my own self. Keep me focused and give me the ability to reach out to you at all times.
Amen.
Leaning In, Letting Go: A Lenten Devotional
For several years the Disciples of First Christian Church (DOC) in Dexter, Missouri have used Advent and Lenten devotionals from Chalice Press to guide our personal prayer in preparation for the Christmas and Easter holidays. This year’s Lenten devotional, Leaning In, Letting Go, was written by Rev. Dr. Nicole Massie Martin, the founder of Soulfire Ministries and professor at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. My personal discipline during this season will be to daily respond to her questions in my prayer journal. From time to time during the season I will sharing some of my reflections here on this page.
