A Concord Pastor Comments: Praying 10 Minutes a Day: Fifth Week/Monday

Image source

On Friday I received this email from a friend:

Riding my bike home from work today I was thinking about Jesus' last moments on the Cross and it made me reflect on just how much sin can drag me down and keep from being fully alive.

And for a moment, on my bike on this beautiful day, I was feeling fully alive.

That made me reflect on the Resurrection and the hope of being fully alive forever.

Now that's something I could get my head and heart around.

I know a lot of people want peace and that's good;
I want peace too.

But I want more than that.

I want to be fully alive - body and spirit!

So if I happen to check out of this world (which I am not planning on doing anytime soon, but we all know none of us is in charge here) please don't say May He Rest In Peace.

Say, instead, May He Be Fully Alive in Christ!

What strikes me most about this message is my friend's moment of recognition, his moment of freedom, his moment of being fully alive!

And don't miss that fact that here, reflection on sin led to reflection on grace and from there to hope -- to a moment experienced as being fully alive!

It's so easy for me to get bogged down along my path and not get to the moment of grace, to the place where the Lord always wants to lead me.

I need to savor these moments when they come. It's good to write them down, share them and keep them in the treasury of my good memories.

(We touched on this in prayer last Tuesday.)

In prayer today, I'll reflect on these thoughts...

When I consider my sins and how they hold me back from life, do I also consider God's mercy and grace, God's desire to forgive me and set me free from my sins, set me free to be fully alive?

When I reflect on the suffering of Jesus, do I let those thoughts bring me to reflect on how his rising is the source of my freedom before God?

Am I bowed down by worries and fears, missing moments of joy that come my way in the course of a day?

Or do I hold my head high, looking to experience a moment of joy I might encounter on my daily path? (Like biking home from work?)

Do I want to be fully alive, body and spirit? Or do I too easily settle for less? Do I sometimes think such joy will never be mine? Do I fail in trusting that just this kind of joy is what God desires for me, holds out to me, offers me?

Have I asked God to help me find such joy? see it? accept it?

Do I hold such moments when they come in a place in my heart where I can remember them? experience them again? derive strength and hope from just such memories?

When did I last have a moment of being fully alive, like my friend biking home from work? And what have I done with that moment, and the memory of it?

Find a time, find a place today, find a moment to be alone with God...

Relax and let God's Spirit give you some inner peace, help you slow down, lead you to some inner stillness...

Be still... and know that God is with you...

Be still... and know that God wants you to have joy...

Be still... and know that God wants you to be fully alive, body and spirit!

Are you new to "Praying 10 Minutes a Day in Lent" - or are you having trouble getting started? The first installment offers some thoughts on getting started, as do the subsequent posts in the series. So take a look and join us!