What is your outlook on life? Are you have ½ full kind of person with plenty of positivity even through the most difficult moments of life? Or maybe you are a ½ empty kind of person that gets stuck dwelling on the “what if”, and the negative potentials of life?
A couple of weeks ago I meet with an high school friend. We hadn’t seen each other in nearly 50 years! It was a great reunion. There was lots of conversation, laughs, reminiscing, questions and answers; and the remarkable discovery that even as we have lived separate lives through these years, the things that drew us together in friendship in high school were still being lived in our lives even now!
When we finished visiting and went our separate ways, my step mom, who was at the reunion dinner commented – “She is a very upbeat kind of person! That is not to say that it sounds like life went the way of her high school aspirations, but along the way she always found the solid goodness of life.”
Life happens, as imperfect and wonderful as it is, life happens. How we respond to events, people, and the world around us is of vital importance. We always have the opportunity to actuate our faith into the world through our words, thoughts, and actions.
Scripture
The feeding of the 5000, plus women and children, found in Matthew 14:13-21 is a very important and popular story of Jesus miraculous compassion and power. All four Gospels tell this story. Often it is spoken of to encourage congregations to outreaching mission. Yet, the very first line is what has captured my attention.
Jesus goes off by himself in the boat, seeking a time of solitude and comfort of God’s presence as he mourns the death of his dearly loved cousin John. I can imagine that Jesus’ grief led him to solitude as he got into a boat and crossed the sea to the other side. In the solitude of the lake as Jesus journeyed with God upon the water, I wonder how Jesus wept before God, prayed, and sought God’s strength and comfort to reorient his grieving heart. Did he begin to experience God’s peace in the assurance of resurrection and new life, or did that come later?
When Jesus reached the other side of the sea, he might have been exhausted emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually from his sorrow or perhaps he was refreshed by God’s compassion and comfort. However he was feeling, there was no time to catch his breath. The crowds came rushing to him.
He could have made excuses. Even if his cup was ½ empty, he chose to live overflowing abundance of love. The historical Jesus had compassion on people in need, even if he was tempted to be distracted by his grieving heart.
Today’s Prayer Practice
Oprah Winfrey says “If you look at what you have, you will always have more. If you look at what you don’t have in life, you will never have enough.” Today we are experiencing a exercise to increase our ability to recognize possibility.
- Take a look around the room you are in right at this moment. What is on each wall? Do they all look the same? My guess is that the walls are different. Only one wall has a door. Is the décor different? What about placement of mirrors and windows?
- Consider as you look at the four differing walls, that each event in life has more than one perspective just like the room has more than one wall.
- Think of one situation, conversation, event, or relationship that has or is bothering you.
- Now look at the wall in front of you and name one possible scenario you could live into the situation.
- Than make a quarter turn looking at the second wall and come up with another possible scenario that could be lived into the situation.
- Continue making quarter turns to each wall until you have four differing thoughts on how to proceed.
- Conclude your time of brainstorming possibilities with a prayer seeking God’s discerning wisdom for which perspective, which wall idea, would be most compassionate and loving as you proceed engaging the scenario in real life.
May you move with Jesus into the solitary place of prayer to become an overflowing vessel of God’s love.
Enjoy Praying.
