|
Prayer
Spirit of Christ, gentle my heart and give me patience, that in all I say and do I might demonstrate a calm trust and a kind spirit. Amen.
Devotional
A little boy from the city visited his grandpa at his grandpa's country farm. The grandfather showed the grandson some chicken eggs. He told the little boy about how the mother hen would sit on the eggs, warming them, and the eggs would hatch. And out would come a little biddy from each egg, the grandfather told the boy.
The little boy got excited about seeing the new chicks, so he got up very early the next morning to see them. He was disappointed and confused when there were no biddies, only eggs.
The boy checked the eggs for several days, in early morning and late afternoon. Each time he was disappointed and confused not to find the biddies. He was afraid, however, to say anything to the grandfather, thinking possibly he had misunderstood the granddad and would appear foolish.
One early morning the child got up early, one more time, to check on the eggs. He decided he would give up if there were not biddies this day. Upon reaching the hen house, he walked in to the sights and sounds of the little biddies.
The above story is adapted from Emmett Fox, Around the Year with Emmet Fox, in a devotional entitled, humorously, "Don't Hurry the Chicken." The wise tale speaks some several important lessons to us.
Among the lessons is the mysterious working of divine Providence. Providence, or the mysterious operations of the universal Spirit, is always active and, usually, we know only a fraction of that Work. And often our interpretation of the fraction we think we know is fully or partly incorrect.
I recall a letter from a man who opposed me strongly during a pastorate. But he, my "foe," said something Spirit has impressed on my heart as an important lesson. I translate words he wrote in the manner the Inner Spirit has translated them in me: "Brian, in that sermon you tried too hard, you manifested impatience with the people. Simply give a message and leave the rest of the Work to God. Let God do God's part in changing persons as God wills; you simply give the message for God to use."
I have come to admit that I never know most of what God is doing in the lives of the persons of a congregation I serve or in the congregation as a whole. However, knowing that is enabling me to relax more with the process of divine Providence. The Divine Work is like a subterranean stream moving below the vision of us human persons, even as the formation of the little biddies was occurring underneath the shells of the eggs.
Scripture reminds us of trusting the natural process of the investment of our lives in doing good and the returns sure to manifest in time and through patient perseverance.
8For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. 9And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. 10So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.
(Galatians 6.8-10, ESV)
13And I say to the rest of you, dear brothers and sisters, never get tired of doing good.
(II Corinthians 3.13, NLT)
Contemplative prayer and living is a practice in not interfering with this mysterious process of Providence. This way of Being is not another technique to manage our lives. The contemplative way is a life of trusting and affirming the subtle synchronicities always working in the contexts in which we offer our spiritual gifts and, even more, our very selves. In this sense the affirmation of trust is joined with a repeated letting go, over and over. This is freedom, cooperation with Grace.
Spiritual Exercise
What might God be calling you to give up control of and, thereby, affirm trust in the Spirit's secret but sure working?
Do you daily commit all your doing good to the Spirit? If not, why not begin today doing a daily morning prayer of such release and affirmation?
Brian K. Wilcox, MDiv, MFT, PHD, is a United Methodist pastor and author of An Ache for Union: Poems on Oneness with God through Love. Brian lives with his two beloved dogs, St. Francis and Bandit Ty, in Florida.
|
