Daily Devotional for May 12

 

May 12                                                          Luke 10:38-42

What distracts you from a richer worship experience? What
captures your attention and prevents you from moving deeper
toward that holy center where Christ resides?

    Perhaps it's fear. Fear of being alone with the Divine,
    especially when you' re feeling self-critical and
    inadequate.

    Perhaps it's fatigue - maybe even burn-out. Maybe
    you feel you need an extra hour's sleep in the morn-
    ing to offset the late night meetings that you're
    expected to attend.

    Maybe you're procrastinating, thinking you'll strug-
    gle through the current month's obligations and then
    you'll establish a schedule of daily prayer and
    meditation. In the meantime, your calendar pages
    for next month are beginning to fill - and you
    prepare for another ride on the modern scheduling
    merry-go-round, promising yourself that next month
    you'll dismount and make retreat.

    Could it be that another has taken the place of Christ
    in your life? Have your boundaries faded? Is your
    spiritual path overgrown with weeds because you
    neglected it for so long?

    Perhaps you, like Martha, are caught up in the whirl-
    wind of service - doing good works, God's works,
    yet ignoring your own spirit's cries for another drink
    of living water.

Try to identify the things that are blocking you from worship.
Give them names and imagine their shapes. Permit them to
move into focus in your mind and acknowledge them - not
with embarrassment or disdain, but with respect and
tenderness. Let the blocks themselves become your prayer.
Release them into the hands of the waiting Christ, and simply
wait in the silence for the one who fashioned you and set you
free to speak of Christ's love.

​

From The Road to Emmaus - An inclusive devotional Edited by Joseph W. Houle

Emmaus House of Prayer - Washington D.C.198