Jumping in
Lily Cathcart
March 09, 2022
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Luke 4: 1-4 (NRSVA)
1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, 2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. 3 The devil said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.’ 4 Jesus answered him, ‘It is written, “One does not live by bread alone.”’
As Luke’s gospel reminds us today, whether you are of a restful or restless spirit, things can try to tempt you away from God. I know from experience that some of these will be imitations of things you long for. Things like connection, safety, or adventure.
As a restless soul I yearn to be doing the next thing and sometimes get so restless with the status quo that I jump towards something shiny and new before I have really noticed what it is all about. Often times this pays off and rather than regretting a missed chance I get to embrace a new perspective and incorporate it into my life and faith.
Sometimes of course I find I have jumped too soon or too far and turn to God with panic in my eyes. I am eternally and repeatedly thankful that God will always be there to help me pick myself up. I am still trying to cultivate the wisdom of Jesus in today’s reading: we must remember to look carefully at what is offered. Sometimes it is bread, sometimes it is actually stones.
PRAYER:
Dear God of second, third, and fourth chances…
Thank you for being there as we pick ourselves up
Thank you for being there as we leap into the relative unknown
Thank you for your words of excitement and for your notes of caution
Amen
Lent Disciplines
As we think about the wilderness this week, let’s take time every day to contemplate God’s gift of creation with its incredible varieties of habitat. Consider if there’s anything you can do this week to actively care for God’s world.
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