Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Help with the hard stuff

"Jesus said to his disciples, 'Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them..."
Matthew 6:1
 
I'm having a flash-back to Ash Wednesday, is anyone else?  This is the Gospel for Ash Wednesday; why are we reading it mid-June? I think to remind us that the three pillars of Christian life-living--prayer, fasting, and alms-giving--should not be confined to just Lent.  Prayer should be a constant activity--Pray Always!  Fasting can be a regular reminder that God alone can satisfy us.  And, certainly, alms-giving is always necessary. People are poor and struggle all year, not just during Lent.  I also think we cannot hear frequently enough that we must examine our motives for why we do good things.  Jesus spells it out so clearly that we are to do our good in secret, so as not to bask in the praise of human beings, but to pray, fast, give from love with only God seeing what we do.  And that, certainly, is harder to do.  Jesus seems to find a way to make things harder, doesn't he?  But Jesus, also knows human nature.  And he knows that human nature sometimes can trip-up our walk with God.  Jesus also knows that he is always here for us--to help us with the hard stuff. Love, heidi 

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