Seventh Day

It's been an inspiring week since last Sunday when God gave me directions for my Lenten meditation. True to his nature, He has provided signposts each day to keep me on the right route. I can't help my sense of expectancy for this new week as I start on my eighth day.

From Adversity to Advantage was the theme of the sermon today. The preacher was very eloquent and his use of language fascinated me. His pairing of antonyms was startling and memorable: deacons and the destitute, musicians and madams, preachers and prostitutes, members and miscreants. Yet what has stuck in my mind and challenged my life is his assertion that the omnipotence of God is not thwarted by our impotence.

How often I focus on my failures, and my inadequacy. I see problems rather than possibilities. Neale Walsh asserts that God is asking us to listen to our feelings or senses rather than to our thoughts. This clearly indicts me as I follow my thoughts, and second guess my gut reaction. For me, problems are to be analyzed systematically in order to be completely resolved.

Of course, I do have feelings, some like a tidal threatened to engulf reason as well as my respect for self . Consequently, over decades, I have built sea-defences of rationality and these have served me well. Nevertheless, this Lenten insight is timely for our feelings can tell us the truth about ourselves. The truth may set us free in ways we do not anticipate as it certainly changes the discourse. So I will be paying attention to my feelings however uncomfortable. After all, God gave me five senses for a reason. I now have the opportunity to use both the truth of my feelings as well as some thinking to inform my relationships. Old habits die hard but Isaiah instructs :Let the weak say I’m strong. God advises that His strength is made perfect in our weakness.
On this spring day under a clear, sunny sky, cheered up by clumps of yellow in the gardens as daffodils nod in the breeze, it is easy to believe that God can use our impotence. On rainy days when I am wet , tired and frustrated, I need to believe it too.