Friday, March 23, 2012

Week of March 24 - 30

March 24

For thus says the Lord: To the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, I will give, in my house and within my walls, a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.
     Isaiah 56:4-5



It’s easy when our world seems to be crumbling around us to think that everything is working against us.   It’s easy to fall into a trap of self-despair and disillusionment.   And it’s hard to remember that we are not abandoned and left to fend for ourselves.   But God reminds us - because we need constant reminding - that we are not abandoned.   God reminds us that we will never be left to rise or fall all alone.   We often get so discouraged that we forget the continuous promises of God, promises of security, comfort, compassion and help, especially in times of trouble.   We are created as God’s own.   And God will never leave us or forsake us - even when we may leave God.   Even when we do, God is faithful and just.   God loves us that much.   This is important to remember when we feel unlovable and uncertain.

I need the constant reminder of your faithful love for me, O God.   When I am down and in distress I really need to know how much you care and how much you are looking out for me.   Show me again, today.   Amen.



March 25

“No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak, for the patch pulls away from the cloak, and a worse tear is made.”
     Matthew 9:16



Life has to change when cancer enters in.   We cannot go back to the same ways of doing and being.   Cancer compels us to look at our habits, our attitudes and our priorities.   It calls us to reexamine and reassess what we’ve always held to be true.   Cancer itself changes us.   Its very intrusion into our lives forces us to think of the present and the future differently.  It presents us with opportunities to hold onto and embrace even more what is good in our lives.  It presents us with opportunities to purge what is unhealthy and unfulfilling.  We cannot go back to the old ways that do not work anymore.   They simply weaken us and inhibit our healing and well-being.   We need instead to reframe the way we live to include everything new that will build us up.

 Changing is so hard most of the time and I resist it a lot.  But God, you reach out to us to help change everything that hurts us and keeps us from being who you have made us to be.   Help me to take your hand and follow where you want me to go.   Amen.


March 26


“Neither is new wine put into old wineskins; otherwise, the skins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the skins are destroyed; but new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.”
     Matthew 9:17



Even though significant change is hard for all of us, when we can accomplish it we will experience life in ways we never knew we could before.   Change doesn’t always have to be bad.   Even when it is difficult, being able to adapt to new ideas, new understandings and new habits that help us grow can be incredibly liberating for us.   And that can be wonderfully healing.   When cancer arrives we cannot go back to the way things used to be.   We shouldn’t want to - especially when the changes we make and embrace bring us joys we never felt before, hope we never knew before and possibilities we never realized before.   The positive changes we resolve to make will only make us stronger to face the challenges that come our way.

I do have to admit, dear God, that when I allow the blessings of change to wash over me I am a better and healthier person.   I merely ask for help to remember that, so I won’t resist change when it is good for me, when it is the key to my renewed life.   Amen.



March 27

No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other.   You cannot serve God and wealth.
     Matthew 6:24



If we want to live a joyous, gracious life we have to make a choice.   We have to make a choice to put aside the things that keep us from finding lasting satisfaction.   We have to instead find the things that nurture our souls.   When we are unfulfilled we are not our strongest selves.  But we are our best when we connect with the One who creates and loves us perfectly and completely.   When we make that essential connection we gain incredible access to a healing spirit.   That spirit offers us guidance.  It opens us to eternal perspectives.   It puts us on a path that we need to be on.   When we choose God’s way - a way of more possibilities and answers than this world can ever give on its own - we can experience all the hope and healing power we need.

Dear God, when the world’s wisdom leads me in ways that still cause me to waver and doubt, I realize I need to seek another path.   That path is the one you put before me.   I know I need to make your way the primary path for this journey.   I know that you’ll help me to do it.   Amen.



March 28

In that day the Lord of hosts will be a garland of glory, and a diadem of beauty, to the remnant of his people;
     Isaiah 28:5


Joy.   Absolute joy is what God wants us to have.   God wants us to feel the wonder of a life lived in peace and hope.   God wants us to experience all the goodness we were created to enjoy.   It is honor and celebration, blessing and love that God wants us to know.   We have been made to reflect God’s grace and spirit here on this earth - a spirit of justice and wholeness, a spirit of serenity and compassion.   Sometimes it’s hard to remember that intent when we are afraid, uncertain or in pain.   Sometimes it seems impossible to conceive of how life can be a celebration when we are suffering or feel abandoned.   But just when we are at our lowest, the reason for our creation is exactly what we need to recall.   Again and again, we must remind ourselves of God’s desires for us.   Those desires are for our good and not for our destruction.

Oh how quickly I waver when the days don’t appear to go the way I want.   How quickly I complain and find nothing to celebrate.   On those days I rob myself of joy.   But on this day, today, O God, I want to experience joy again and I thank you because I know that’s what you want for me too.   Amen.




March 29

...and a spirit of justice to the one who sits in judgment, and strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.     
     Isaiah 28:6


A lot of people describe cancer as a battle.   And for many of us it certainly seems like it is.   One after another the enemies called pain, doubt, terror, loss, recurrence and distress rise up in an attempt to destroy us.   But God sees the injustice in that.   God knows what we are going through.   And God wants something far greater for us, something much more.   God under girds us for anything that attempts to weaken or defeat us.   God offers us the tools to stand strongly and hopefully in the face of whatever cancer throws at us.   God gives us the ability to not only withstand the onslaught, but also to help prevent the battle from raging within us in the first place.   There is nothing this world can bring to us that God cannot overcome with something far better, something far more healing and complete.   We need to rest assured of this power that God gives to us.

Dear God, I am not interested in fighting during the rest of my life here on earth.   I’m interested in living joyfully and well, instead.   Thank you for giving me the ability to rely on your strength to help me do just that.   Amen.



March 30

Listen to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for to you I pray.
     Psalm 5:2


Recognition of where our greatest help comes from is vital. Without a strong spiritual center we are easily lost and demoralized. Without a belief that we have other, deeper resources upon which to draw, we are quickly distracted and discouraged. When we seek our internal strength from an eternal source of help and hope, we open ourselves to power and possibilities that we could not know merely on our own. Cancer is a journey that none of us can make by ourselves. It is one that requires us to reach out to tap into an intangible healing that this world cannot give. But God can. And God does. It is ours to have infinitely. All we need to do is open our hearts and minds to accept and nurture it.

I know, ultimately, that you do listen to me, dear God. My challenge is to listen more closely to you. What I need to do is make myself more available to you, by sharing with you my concerns and fears and by paying intimate attention to the answers you always give. Amen.




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