Letter of James // Day 11
How to do Lectio Devina:
Sisters, this is really your time with the Lord. This will be a challenge but so fruitful. There will also be a short reflection. Give this a chance and see where the Lord takes you.
There are a couple of different ways to do this but there is one way that I will point out. This is a simple way to pray. A great resource here is your prayer journal.
1: Read the whole Scripture: James 4: 13-17
2: Reflect on it for a short time (3 min or more) and see if any particular verse stands out to you.
3: Read the verse that stood out to you again.
4: Reflect on it and see if a particular word stands out to you (3 min or more)
5: Reflect on the word and see what the Lord is trying to point out to you.
You can go back and read any verses that you stood out to you and just spend a short time in prayer (silence) and listening to what God wants to point out to you. God will show up. He always does.
Short Reflection
Future thinkers. We all are. We have to be, don’t we? We’re asked this all of the time: What are your goals? What do you want to be? Where do you see yourself in five years? Yes, we all know that goals are good, but when we grow up always being asked what we want to be and what do we want to do after high school, we cant help but keep this mentality throughout our lives.
Like I said, this isn’t a bad thing but this can get us into the habit of searching and looking for the next best thing. We can be content for awhile but it can become an itch we can’t scratch and before we know it, we are no longer able to fully embrace life for what it is at the moment.
Christ is in the present. We can encounter him in the here and now. But do we look for him in the here and now? I know often in my life I can tend to ask God where he’s at and to be with me but I don’t always look for him in the person who just cut me off while I’m driving to work. Or I don’t see him in the waitress that gave me attitude. I don’t see him in myself when I get angry about someone not washing their dishes.
It's hard to live in the present when we are not recognizing who gave us this present time in the first place. It’s so easy to just get through the day to day ups and downs. “If I can just get through work, I can relax and enjoy the present moment.” “If I can just get through this conversation with someone that I don’t want to have, the rest of the day will look better.” We can try to plan for the good things in life that we forget to embrace the good that is right in front of us. There is good in the tedious things and there is good in the blessings we recognize.
Today ladies, let's take God with us in these moments. Let's live these moments and not just survive them. God will be there tomorrow, we don’t know if we will, be but we know he is. Recognizing that truth will help us to entrust God with our future and thus he will provide the grace for the next step and opportunities that we know we are supposed to be doing, and not ones that we are just distracting us from the present moment.
God bless you sister, remember, You are Loved!
