I know it, but I don’t always live it like I know it.
In The Joy of the Gospel, Pope Francis writes, “While painfully aware of our own frailties, we have to march on without giving in.” Recent times have caught me giving in to personal frailties. Anxiety, apprehension, tension, social and political challenges have seeped into my productivity adding extra challenge to His invitation to the climb.
My creature of habit routines has been disrupted and my expectations, goals, dreams and visions are blurred by restrictions and the unknown timetable for an ending. My world and my comfort have been shaken up, and I find myself questioning, feeling less confident, less equipped lately. I shake my head and ask God, “what am I doing and how and when will this end?“
“No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Luke 9:57-62
Every day is a new beginning, a clean slate and a new invitation to help build the kingdom. Although hesitation is knocking on the door of my energies, I know His invitation is always there, and I need to acknowledge this on a daily basis now more than ever. God is not calling me to long for the past or to dwell on current disappointments in all the things we are facing and unable to do “the way we want to” right now.
If we are to keep our lines straight as we continue to plow the fields through these troubled times, we must continue to look forward. As long as we continue to make Christ first in our work, homes and recreation, we acknowledge His invitation in our living.
Yes, the invitation is for me, and it is constant and consistent despite all the challenges and changes life throws in the way.
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
2 Cor 12:9
I know the invitation is for me, as one of my favorite songs reminds us:
The Lord our God is ever-faithful, never changing through the ages. From this darkness, He will lead us, and forever we will say, “You’re the Lord, Our God.”
