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God speaks to us in many ways, one of them, noted in scripture, is The bed of pain.
I have been home for over a week with severe Bronchitus. It is very similar to the time I had pneumonia. I have been stuck in the house, alone most of the time, with no one to talk to but cats. Now cats ARE wonderful companions but they are a little bit selfish and lazy. They never bring me breakfast or lunch or any other meal in bed, or any of the other accouterments of a good nurse.
So, as in most of my life, if there is a significant change, i look up and say "Why God? What are You doing? What do you want from me?".
This time HE took his time letting me know(or was it me not listening...). But I am starting to get the message, that He wants more of my time and to make some course corrections.
I really wish i was not so dense and heard His voice without the "bed of pain" but I am not....Sigh...
From today's reading in Luke 5:
After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon,
“Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.”
Simon said in reply,
“Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing,
but at your command I will lower the nets.”
When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish
and their nets were tearing.
They signaled to their partners in the other boat
to come to help them.
They came and filled both boats
so that the boats were in danger of sinking.
So many times in our lives we are working so hard for God. But have we asked God what He wants us to do? The disciples found that when they followed Jesus Instructions the catch was overwhelming!
I have been chagrined to find that my efforts get nowhere, but when i commit them to God He makes them bear fruit. Sometimes He lets me know i am fishing in the wrong place and sometimes, I believe, He just needed me to acknowledge His Lordship in what i am doing to bring forth a blessing.
Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead.
I have heard this story from Luke 10 all my life. I always imagine that if i saw a car accident, or some poor victim lying in the sidewalk, of course, I would help them. But what if Jesus meant ANY situation like this?
As I was driving to work yesterday and pondering my relationship with a difficult co-worker, this parable came to mind. I realized that God was speaking to my heart. That He was saying that my petulant, and immature co-worker was the man in the story. No, he had not fallen in with robbers, or had he? The more I thought about it, the more i realized that God was opening my eyes for hte first time to show me that he had. That the poor the wretched and the lame are not always that obvious.
That my co-worker had fallen in with the worst robber of all! He had been robbed of his correct sexual identity, his dignity as a person, and a loving heart. Instead of disdaining him, I should not be the Pharisee and pass by on the other side of the road. But I should be the hero in Luke 10, the proverbial "Good Samaritan". My grumbling and shunning this person was making ME a Pharisee.
God forgive me, all my life I believed that I would be the "Good Samaritan" in this story, but instead I have been the hated Pharisee!
"Man is not a lost atom in a random universe" (Pope Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate, 29).
