40 Thoughts: Day 17

Let's talk some more about kind eyes.

When Jesus met the woman at the well, he had been through it. He'd had a long journey. He was tired and hot. He didn't even go into town with his disciples to get food. He sent them and sat at the well because he was so tired, and thirsty.

So he asked a woman for a drink.

But she wasn't just any woman. This woman had been broken. She'd had five husbands and now was with another man. She couldn't draw water with the other women from town. She was an outcast in every facet of the word. She was a freak. And she kind of laughed at Jesus when he asked her for a drink, because who would ask her?

Jesus knew all this inside of her. He knew her pain and her trials and her sorrow.

But he, like us, had been through his own trials. He'd danced his way backwards in high heels. He was tired. And thirsty.

What mattered to him most? Her.

Today's question is the same. What matters most to you? We all have our own struggles, within and without Lent. During Lent we have additional struggles, in the form of fasting. Is that all we're focusing on? Are our struggles keeping us from loving our neighbors? Because it's meant to be the other way around. Don't be afraid to cut out the worldly supplies in your life. What matters are the heavenly gifts. Like the souls and bodies around us.

So are you focusing on getting some water from this well? Or the woman sitting next to you?

Have a focused day

Third Sunday of Lent: The Woman at the Well

John 4:5-42

This morning we read the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults readings which were the Scrutinies for those whom we will welcome into the Church in Easter.

Which brings us to the woman at the well. And her story of salvation.

We all know the story. A Samaritan woman is drawing water at noon because she was too socially abused to draw water at dawn with the rest of the women. Jesus comes up and asks for water and she scoffs at him because he's a Jewish man and should not be talking to her. When he starts talking about living water, she gets confused, kind of laughs at him, and asks him where he's going to get water without a bucket. But eventually, she understands and realizes that she's met the Messiah and runs back to the town to tell everyone. And she became a Jesus-lover.

Father Paul pointed out a few things about this story today. First, Jesus in this scene, on his way through Samaria with his disciples, is described as follows: "tired by the trip." So he sat down. Jesus, Son of God, human, exhausted, sits down by the well at noon and asks this woman for some water.
Do you ever feel like that? Tired by your journey, just wanting to sit and grab a drink and relax for a second? And this woman starts blathering about how you're not supposed to be talking to her. How would you have responded?

Jesus responded with kindness in his eyes. He told her about the living water. He opened his heart and welcomed her into the Kingdom.

Jesus never got water from this woman. Later, he never received food from the Disciples. This encounter satisfied him. It was food enough. He had suffered in the desert and now across Samaria. He would suffer so much more in a short time. And his response to this outcast?

Love. And kind eyes.

Try pulling your kind eyes out of your back pocket today and put your angry eyes away. Forever.

Have a kind day

40 Thoughts: Day 16

Acts 15:9

"He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith."

The first thing to take note of here is the phrase "purified their hearts." Jesus made them perfect. But he didn't just touch their clothes or wave a wand or say a prayer and poof! They're perfect! No. They, like the rest of, have been through the trials. Those trials have purified their hearts. So try to welcome the trials in your own life, for they're only purifying you.

And why? Why would Jesus go through all this trouble just to purify us and make our tattered and damaged hearts his?

Faith. In Acts,the people's faith saved them. Just their simple declaration that Jesus is Lord.

These trials are made to purify us so we can come to know Jesus better and better. And he sends us these trials because he loves us. He loves us.

Have a trial-filled day

40 Thoughts: Day 15

1 Peter 1:3

"Let us give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! Because of his great mercy he gave us new life by raising Jesus Christ from death."

In our heads it easy to understand that we are forgiven. It is easy to say that you are made clean again and that your sins are gone.

But knowing God's forgiveness is an entirely different matter. And we cannot know his mercy until we know our own sin. Lenten sacrifice is a perfect tool to help us learn our own sins.

Wait. Learn our own sin? You would think that we already know it. But we have a great defense mechanism called repression and we use it a lot. We accept our own sin and excuse ourselves from it. If you really went through your day and remembered every single time you put something else before God in your thoughts...

This isn't about hating yourself. But in order to know the fullness and greatness of God's mercy, you have to know what it overcomes in you. You have to know what God's forgiven you for. You have to realize how much you fall short and how much God still wants you to be a part of his eternal family.

Take a moment and think about two things. First, think about all the things that you've put ahead of God and accept those moments as sins, big or little or slight or whatever. Then go back through your day and think about all the moments that God touched your life. These are moments of survival, happiness, peace, a lucky break, the sunset, a fat squirrel. Whatever made you stop and smile.

Now compare the two. Maybe one list is longer than the other. It doesn't matter. Just look at the lists and use them to help you realize God's incredible love for you. Knowing him, knowing the weight and necessity of his sacrifice, this is what Lent was made for.

Have Knowing day