Tuesday, March 2 Week 3 "Working for what?"
LENT 2010 “40 DAYS AND 40 NIGHTS”
DAILY BLOG Week 3 Tuesday, 3/2
Is 55:1-9; Ps 63:1-8; 1 Cor 10:1-13; Luke 13:1-9
“Come, buy wine and milk, without money and without price.” Isaiah 55:1c
This seems like a funny statement. How can you buy without money? How can you purchase without price? I picture Isaiah sitting in a marketplace, busy with commerce, people rushing to by, struggling to sell, and some with no assets at all, standing on the sidelines, perhaps begging for a handout. Never are we free from want. Give us this day our daily bread… But Isaiah is proclaiming that all of this belongs to God, and God is near to us with everything we need. In fact, what we really need is God. But we rush around seeking something that can never fully satisfy.
God has the best wine and milk, the best bread and richest fare available. But to often we rush past, seeking to buy what God has already provided us freely.
How often are you distracted by things, material things, that keep you from seeing God who is very close to you? Are we looking in the wrong place? Working for the wrong goal? But I suppose the real question is why do we keep stuffing ourselves with things that don’t nourish?
To offer reflections on this day, go to www.fccorange.com/blog
Or another question to ask, is, “Do we stuff ourselves with things that don’t nourish.” For some of us, a daily reflection, Church projects and committees do keep us close to God and remind us of His (or Her’s) daily presence. We do live in a society where to meet many of our daily needs those who provide them ask for monetary compensation. Fortunately, many are provided with resources that enable us to secure those needs. It is important to remember the, “Source” of the resources and to share what we can with those who are unable to provide all of their needs for themselves.
I think we are all tempted daily by various media to shop, collect or just spend. It is easy to fall victim to thinking “stuff” will make us happy. I have recently been on a mission to purge closets, bins in the garage, etc. and have found a sense of relief in uncluttering my life and joy in donating it to others. Lent is a good time to re-focus on the true source of our happiness and contentment.