Easy Time or Narrow Gate
July 16, 2009
Bible Reading: Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.. –St John 4:34
Bonus Readings: –St John 17:4, 7-8, 12
Summer. When I was a boy here in south Texas, it was my favorite season. I loved the lack of schedule … the time to spend swimming, and with my friends. Watermelon. The sound of the cicadas in the trees. Barbeques. The Fourth of July. Easy time spent slowly … usually on what suited me. But even then, I knew—that wasn’t my assignment in life. Even in vacation time, my real job was growing.
In parish life, summer can be a time of vacations. Parish ministry never slacks … although sometimes attendance and giving does. Whereas God loves us to enjoy our time, the fact is that he wants us back to our jobs of growing. That means we have to persist in growth, even in vacation.
Once, while Francis of Assisi was hoeing his garden, he was asked, “What would you do if you were suddenly told you’d die at sunset today?” He replied, “I’d finish hoeing my garden.” Our perseverance doesn’t change God—it changes us. If we’re willing to continue—even when we feel like coasting—we’ll learn lessons of compassion, understanding, and dependability. We’ll grow.
Jesus is our ultimate example of not coasting. Even as a child of 12, He reminded His distraught parents, “Why were you searching for me? Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” (Luke 2:49, NIV). Later, during His public ministry, He told His disciples, “My nourishment comes from doing the will of God … and from finishing his work.”
Even when Jesus was dying, He rejected the challenge of the crowd: “Save yourself, and come down from the cross!” (Mark 15:30). It is so human to let go and quit when under fire or just distracted by life. However, it is divine to hang in there. At the end of His ordeal, Jesus said, “It is finished!” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit” (John 19:30).
Many people are letting go, giving in, and quitting or just coasting. How sad to someday realize that we didn’t finish our assignment because we were taking the easy way. Jesus didn’t call us to the easy way—He called us through the Narrow Gate—a place characterized by pressure and velocity.
So, let’s enjoy our easy summer, but not forget our real job—growing.
Contemplative Prayer: “Holy Spirit, on which long-term assignment do I need to firm up my grip?
Think about it: The will to persevere is often the difference between failure and success.—DAVID ARNOFF (broadcaster)
All love in the Beloved,
Chip+
Comments
Got something to say?
