Today, Lord, I walk a path that is new to me. This day is fresh and unblemished and unknown. To You, it is a day laid out for me even before the earth was formed. Thank You for walking it with me, for leading when I need it, walking beside me when I need to know I have a friend, and for following – ready to catch me when I want to try it on my own. Allow me to see possibilities and not problems; potential and not pettiness; and in all things to feel Your power at work through me. Oh God who never, ever walks away, walk again with me today. Amen.
When I was young it was easy to tell who was who and what was what. Or at least it was easy for my group of friends and me. It probably wasn’t any easier then as far as the overall world was concerned, but it certainly was for a 9 year old. When I watched Roy Rogers on TV or in the theatre, even if I wasn’t familiar with him I would have known that he was a good guy because he wore a white hat. Bad guys wore black. When someone bad came into the picture the lighting changed and so did the music. It was so easy. But that’s not the way it is today. People change sides, sometimes hopping back and forth with alarming frequency. You can’t tell what someone is about by looking at their clothes – or their skin pigment – or their address. We are often totally baffled when nice people do horrendous things. And, for that matter, most people don’t even wear hats.
Come to find out, the world is a strange mixture of both good and bad. Sometimes the bad guys wear suits and go to nice offices, and give to charity, and belong to a church. Once in a while bad guys aren’t even guys. Even more amazing is the mixture of good and bad within me. Some days I change hats a hundred times. Why is it that I look at the actions of others and not their intentions, but I want to be judged by my intentions and not my actions?
As I write this, Summer is in full blossom. Every
season provides its unique time for reflection and
re-focusing. In a world replete with a multiplicity of foci, prayer invites us to focus first, and foremost, on
the Lord God. Repent, reflect, re-focus, reform. Any free moment in a hectic day gives the chance to sit at Jesus’ feet, listening for God’s still, small, voice saying, “I am.” Strange, isn’t it, that the best way to keep moving forward sometimes requires not moving at all? Listening reminds us that you can best know people by Who made them, Who values them and Who loves them. Come to think of it, that makes us all sisters and brothers . . . .
When I was young it was easy to tell who was who and what was what. Or at least it was easy for my group of friends and me. It probably wasn’t any easier then as far as the overall world was concerned, but it certainly was for a 9 year old. When I watched Roy Rogers on TV or in the theatre, even if I wasn’t familiar with him I would have known that he was a good guy because he wore a white hat. Bad guys wore black. When someone bad came into the picture the lighting changed and so did the music. It was so easy. But that’s not the way it is today. People change sides, sometimes hopping back and forth with alarming frequency. You can’t tell what someone is about by looking at their clothes – or their skin pigment – or their address. We are often totally baffled when nice people do horrendous things. And, for that matter, most people don’t even wear hats.
Come to find out, the world is a strange mixture of both good and bad. Sometimes the bad guys wear suits and go to nice offices, and give to charity, and belong to a church. Once in a while bad guys aren’t even guys. Even more amazing is the mixture of good and bad within me. Some days I change hats a hundred times. Why is it that I look at the actions of others and not their intentions, but I want to be judged by my intentions and not my actions?
As I write this, Summer is in full blossom. Every
season provides its unique time for reflection and
re-focusing. In a world replete with a multiplicity of foci, prayer invites us to focus first, and foremost, on
the Lord God. Repent, reflect, re-focus, reform. Any free moment in a hectic day gives the chance to sit at Jesus’ feet, listening for God’s still, small, voice saying, “I am.” Strange, isn’t it, that the best way to keep moving forward sometimes requires not moving at all? Listening reminds us that you can best know people by Who made them, Who values them and Who loves them. Come to think of it, that makes us all sisters and brothers . . . .
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