Monday Morning Meditation #14: And They Did As the Lord Commanded

All the (many) chapters I read this week from Exodus and Leviticus had to do with rules for living and worshipping, ranging from childbirth, circumcision, food, and cleansing, to tabernacle design and ways of making offerings. They seem intended for a different time although I know that at least Orthodox Jews follow these instructions carefully even today. Perhaps some day God will send someone to explain to me in what way these rules should be meaningful to me. Quite meaningful, however, was the frequent repetition of one phrase in various versions: "they did as the Lord commanded," "Moses did as God commanded," and so on. Whenever God gives Moses a reason for obedience, it is always some version of "because I am the Lord." It is sort of like a parent saying, "Do it because I told you to." In return, God promises the Israelites, whom He alternately refers to as His people and His servants, that if they obey His commandments, He will provide for all their needs. Further, and more excitingly, He says that He will be with them. ("And I will walk among you and will be your God, and ye shall be My people." Leviticus 26:12)

Reading: Exodus 35-40 and Leviticus.

Meditation: The specific rules aside, what all these passages taken in aggregate say to me is that we are to obey God, without question, in all things for one reason alone: He is God. I assume that since God opened His arms to non-Jews, then we, too, are both His servants and, if we love and obey Him, His people and that His promise to walk among us and provide for us if we obey Him works for us, too.

On a personal level, I have experienced both the requirement and the promise. God has given me a number of taskings, some of them quite difficult. The most difficult, however, was to call my mother. I was angry when I heard the words, "Call your mother."

I did not want to do that. I had not spoken to her for ten years. Asking me to call her seemed terribly unfair. She had been highly abusive to her eight children physically, the details of which I chronicled in my book, Blest Atheist, and when those children became adults, the abuse just changed into emotional abuse. Several of them caught her beating their children (her grandchildren) and ended up sending her away from their homes. Most of my siblings were not speaking to her at the time of my tasking.

I have no idea why God wanted me to call Ma, but while I at first argued, in the long run (it was not that much of a long run -- it took me about a week to find the number and make the call), I put aside my anger, put on my "ruthless trust" (to use Brendan Manning's term to describe The Ragamuffin's Path to God), and did it. I did it for the sole reason that God required it of me. (Explaining that to my mother was rather interesting, to say the least.)

First, I had to track down Ma's phone number. Since nearly no one was talking to her, it took some time to do that. Once I had retrieved the phone number, I still hesitated. I did not know what to say! What would you say to someone to whom you had not spoken for ten years? "How can I call her?" I asked God. "I have no idea what to say!"

A very quiet one word wafted through my mind, indicating an action that had not occurred to me: "Listen." Of course! I could listen. And that is what I did. I listened. For over an hour, I listened -- to a voice full of curiosity, eagerness to relate a decade of happenings, and elation. Perhaps that is about as close as Ma can get to love.

I still do not completely understand the tasking to call Ma. Nor can I directly track any one blessing -- I have received so many! -- to the act of calling her. The only thing I can say is that I "did as the Lord commanded," and I am glad I did so for no other reason than that He is Lord. I love being His servant and hope that one day He will say that I am one of His people.

And that is far as I can go with you on this Monday morning. I must retire to prayer to ask God to keep on tasking me for His taskings ultimately bring me great satisfaction, to repent for all the taskings I have missed or done poorly, to give thanks for all the ways in which God has indeed provided for me, and to offer praise for the ways in which He orders my world.

After that, I will spend some time in contemplation, open to any "walking" together with which He is willing to bless me. The joy of His presence surpasses any other happiness I have ever experienced.

I will now leave you to your prayer and contemplation, but first, I would like to bring to your attention a Monday morning prayer post that you might enjoy:

Fr. Austin Fleming, priest of the Archdiocese of Boston and pastor in Concord, Massachusetts, posts a prayer each Monday morning that he calls "Monday Morning Offering." I enjoy his prayers very much. I hope you also will find them inspirational. He has graciously given me permission to include a link to his blog on my Monday Morning Meditation posts.

For inspiration throughout the week, I would point out two sets of blogs: (1) the list of inspirational blogs that follow the enumeration of Monday Morning Meditations on the right-hand side of this blog and (2) my blogroll, where I am following a number of inspirational priests and writers about spiritual matters. I learn so very much from all these people. I highly recommend them to you.

Have a good day and a week enriched by the presence of God. May you be blessed by opportunities to do His bidding, and may you do that well.

If you pick this up as a weekly devotional activity, please share with me and others your own thoughts about the message of Exodus 35-57 and Leviticus or any other scripture that you choose for meditation. Feel free to copy the image of the mission church; maybe some time in the near future my Internet-inept self will be able to figure out how to use the Mr. Linky buttons, but to date I remain incompetent at the more sophisticated blog stuff. Yes, I know it has been 14 weeks, but I am exceptionally computer-inept. In the interim, you are welcome to use the image and share the meme of Monday Morning Meditation for starting out the work week closer to God.

Monday Morning Meditation #13: What the Face Shows

Moving forward by two chapters in Exodus, I found a description of how Moses's face shone so brightly after being with God that the Israelites became afraid of him. There are no less than three mentions of this inner light beaming outward.

Reading: Exodus 34: 29-35

Meditation: I cannot but wonder by comparison how much of the inner light that God gives to us when we come to Him in prayer that we afterward beam out onto those with whom we come into contact. Can, indeed, anyone tell that we have been with God? Or do we keep it all locked up inside?

Somehow, the reading of this passage brings to me Hawthorne's story, "The Great Stone Face," in which Ernest, who lived in Franconia Notch, NH, had one wish above all others: to live long enough to meet the man who looked like the great stone face. Those of us who grew up in New Hampshire (I did, at least, part-time) knew the saying that just as cobblers hang out a shingle with the imprint of a shoe to show that they make shoes in their shop, so, too, did God hang out His shingle to show that that He makes men in New Hampshire. The legend of the Old Man in the Mountains, the rock formation similar to a man's face "with the sunshine brightening all its features" (Hawthorne's words) that stood high above a small pond for centuries before it fell to erosion about five years ago, said that some day a great man would appear, one that looked like the great stone face. Throughout Ernest's life, one person after another was heralded as fulfilling that legend, but when he looked at them none did. People moved out; people moved in. Ernest grew up to minister to them. A very humble man, he asked for little and gave much in return. His riches were in his love for others. Always he watched and waited for the coming of the man who would look like the great stone face, but none did. Near the end of his life, as Ernest was delivering an outdoors sermon with the mountains in the background, a poet noticed that it was the face of Ernest that resembled the great stone face. While Hawthorne leaves some things to our imagination, I can easily see the light beaming from Ernest's face, light that came from a lifetime of doing God's bidding and gathering the inner light that none of the grand visitors had ever beamed upon the people of the valley; hence, Ernest's inability to see the likeness in their visages. His humility prevented him from seeing his own.

So what do our faces show? For that matter, what does our behavior show? And what do our words show? Do they shine with God's love?

Fr. Terry, a local priest about whom I have blogged before, asks, "If people know you, would they want to know your God?" Well, would they?

For me, that answer is, often yes but sometimes no. I am working hard, with God's help, to get those no's removed!

And that is far as I can go with you on this Monday morning. I must retire to prayer to ask God to shine through me more, to repent for all lost chances to share God's love with those who might really have needed it, to give thanks for all the inner light He has given me, and to offer praise for the sunshine of His love that is so grand that it can fill the whole world, were the world to let it, and still have spare.

After that, I will spend some time in contemplation, open to any inner light God cares to give me for the minute, the hour, or the day. Being with Him, surrounded by His light and love, is the most joyful start to the day that I can imagine.

I will now leave you to your prayer and contemplation, but first, I would like to bring to your attention a Monday morning prayer post that you might enjoy:

Fr. Austin Fleming, priest of the Archdiocese of Boston and pastor in Concord, Massachusetts, posts a prayer each Monday morning that he calls "Monday Morning Offering." I enjoy his prayers very much. I hope you also will find them inspirational. He has graciously given me permission to include a link to his blog on my Monday Morning Meditation.

Have a good day and a spirit-filled week, and may you find the patience you need in dealing with others and the trust to wait for responses to prayers not yet answered.

If you pick this up as a weekly devotional activity, please share with me and others your own thoughts about the message of Exodus 34: 29-35 or any other scripture that you choose for meditation. Feel free to copy the image of the mission church; maybe some time in the near future my Internet-inept self will be able to figure out how to use the Mr. Linky buttons, but to date I remain incompetent at the more sophisticated blog stuff. Yes, I know it has been 13 weeks, but I am exceptionally computer-inept. In the interim, you are welcome to use the image and share the meme of Monday Morning Meditation for starting out the work week closer to God.

Monday Morning Meditation #11: Our Need for Others

I made it this week into the next chapter of Exodus, chapter 18. Compared to the previous three chapters, how enlightened the key players in this chapter are! Moses has now set himself up as a judge for the people, interpreting God's laws for them. Moses's father-in-law, Jethro, comes to Moses, learns what he is doing and how overworked he is, and makes a wise suggestion. He recommends to Moses that he find a number of wise, honest, God-fearing men and let them handle the smaller matters while he (Moses) takes on just the complicated cases, the ones that he might need to take to God for guidance.

Reading: Exodus 18

Meditation: I could not help but apply this situation to my own life many centuries later. So much is parallel. So little has changed through the ages. My first thought always used to be to try to do everything myself and, like Moses, become overworked, tired, and, in my case, less effective than I could have been.

It has taken much time and experience for me to learn to accomplish my work tasks through others, and indeed, I have been very fortunate, in finding experienced, capable, and loyal junior managers to help me at work. (I am not so sure that it is only good fortune for ALL of my current junior managers are believers -- mostly Catholic, some other Christian denominations, two Muslims, and one Jew. There are no atheists or agnostics among them. I do not believe that this combination would have happened without the hand of God leading the right applicants to my door.) Having such junior managers means that I do have to accept things that might be done differently than I would have done them myself and perhaps even less well than I think I might have been able to do them in the case of junior managers who are still learning the ropes. Far more important, however, having a team of people who live to honor God means that employees are treated in more humane ways than they otherwise might be, that these managers let God's direction lead them in helping employees, that employees are not reluctant to pray for each other, and that people love coming to work because even those individuals perceived as difficult people know that they will usually find love and support there.

Letting others help with my private life has come with a bit more difficulty. Most of my life, I have been a tiger, fighting for survival because I had to as a child, dealing with physical, sexual, and emotional abuse heaped upon me by adult relatives, watching my brother be stabbed, being forced to observe my pet cat being burned alive, and so forth. Cruelty unimaginable to most accompanied me all the days of my youth. So, I became a tiger. I survived.

Then, when my children introduced me to their giftedness, physical handicaps, and mental disabilities and I found not only immense lacks in the system to help them but also some strategically placed professionals who acted as obstacles to their well being, I became like a tiger with cubs: truly vicious at times. I cringe at some of the memories.

It has only been after getting to know God and trying to follow the path He has sent me down and understanding that it was He who led me out of the jungle that I have learned to relax, let Him lead, and, very important, allow, yea, even ask, others to help. What a difference that has made! I feel like I can calmly walk through the valley of the shadow of death, climb any mountain, and walk through any fire for He is with me every step of the way. Nothing else matters. I will probably always have that tiger spirit somewhere in me, but now it obeys the Lord. I guess it would not be unlike the wolf calming down and eating from the hand of St. Francis. My tiger lives, but it is meek for that is how God wants it to be.

And that is far as I can go with you on this Monday morning. I must retire to prayer to ask God to keep my tiger spirit meek and obedient, to express my regret for times in the past when I have roared and deliberately frightened others, to give thanks for God's great kindness in caring enough about me to tame my spirit, and to offer praise for the the many ways in which He protects me and mine every day so that I no longer feel the need for self-defense.

After that, I will spend some time in contemplation, hoping and trusting that this great God will continue to abide with and in me, keeping my tiger at peace.

I will now leave you to your prayer and contemplation, but first, I would like to bring to your attention a Monday morning prayer post that you might enjoy:

Fr. Austin Fleming, priest of the Archdiocese of Boston and pastor in Concord, Massachusetts, posts a prayer each Monday morning that he calls "Monday Morning Offering." I enjoy his prayers very much. I hope you also will find them inspirational. He has graciously given me permission to include a link to his blog on my Monday Morning Meditation.

Have a good day and a spirit-filled week, and may you find helpers for all your needs. (If I can be one, please let me know!)

If you pick this up as a weekly devotional activity, please share with me and others your own thoughts about the message of Exodus 18 or any other scripture that you choose for meditation. Feel free to export the image of the mission church; maybe some time in the near future my Internet-inept self will be able to figure out how to use the Mr. Linky buttons, but to date I remain incompetent at the more sophisticated blog stuff. In the interim, you are welcome to use the image and share the meme of Monday Morning Meditation for starting out the work week closer to God.

Monday Morning Meditation #10: A Tendency to Whine

Back in the land of the living (many thanks to all for their prayers and to God for His kindness), I have forged forward in the book of Exodus to the point where the Israelites, with the help of God, have left their Egyptian bondage, crossed the Red Sea, and are now living in the wilderness. And now, being in the wilderness, what is the first thing they do? Start complaining! Where will we get something to drink?, How will we eat? they ask. God provides them with water, manna, and quail, but in some quarters the complaints continue.

Reading: Exodus 15-17

Meditation: Having lived in that same wilderness a few years ago, spending time with a Bedouin family, eating what the family ate -- goat, sleeping where the family slept -- on the sand, sheltering with what the family sheltered -- a marvelously protective goat-hair tent -- I can understand the concern of the Israelites. Surrounded by sand, with an occasional plant (Now how did that get there?), and some deep dry channels where the spring runoff had long since passed through the sand dunes, one might indeed wonder where survival would come from. However, the Bedouin do survive. Donnie and I did survive right along with them. (Of course, today there are more options about how one survives.) Each time the Israelites whined, God provided, as He still does today when we whine and even when we do not.

What is there in our human nature that replaces what should be an attitude of gratitude for what God has done and does do for us with whimpering and whining for what we would like to have that is more or bigger or better or shinier or more expensive or more glittery? Why is it so difficult to be happy with what we have, which, in many cases, is more than many other people have, especially if we look at the poorest of the poor on this planet?

When "bad" things happen, why do we ask "Why me?" Should we not instead be asking "Why not me?" Ironically, even as an atheist, I never asked "Why me?" when it came to our children's birth defects. Somehow I knew that united gene pools can sometimes produce less than optimum results, and that is just a fact of life. More important, always, was the question "How do we live with this?" or "How do we fix it?" or "How do we at least make it somewhat better?"

If we can accept whatever lot we have in life, without whining, without telling God what it is we want Him to do for us, and instead abide in Him and see what He can and will do to make all things come together for our good, I think we will be very surprised by God's creativity in turning bad to good, into giving us far more than we would have dreamed of asking, of answering our prayers before we even say them. I have seen that happen so often that I fully trust God to produce miracles whenever they are needed to serve a higher purpose.

And that is far as I can go with you on this Monday morning. I must retire to prayer to ask God to keep me from whining, to express my regret for times in the past when I have been ungrateful or demanding, to give thanks for His great kindness in giving me more than I deserve, yes, in spoiling me, and to offer praise for the marvels of which He is capable and which He has shown our world.

After that, I will spend some time in contemplation, hoping and trusting that this great God will continue to infuse me with a desire for nothing except for His presence and an attitude for gratitude whenever I am granted that favor.

I will now leave you to your prayer and contemplation.

If you pick this up as a weekly devotional activity, please share with me and others your own thoughts about the message of Exodus 15-17 or any other scripture that you choose for meditation. Feel free to export the image of the mission church; maybe some time in the near future my Internet-inept self will be able to figure out how to use the Mr. Linky buttons. In the interim, you are welcome to use the image and share the meme of Monday Morning Meditation for starting out the work week closer to God.

Have a good day and a spirit-filled week, and may you find a host of blessings for which to be grateful.