Hot Takes
And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.” Matthew 13:52
This scripture passage first pierced my heart years ago when watching the very first season of The Chosen. I quickly looked it up and dutifully wrote it down in my prayer journal. It was one of the first scripture verses that I felt spoke to my charismatic gift of writing. I too take from what is old (scripture) and mix in the new (how it applies to my life). In May I will be giving a talk at a women’s tea: The Spirituality of Journaling. Everything that I have shared with others has been the fruit of this prayer practice. I hold it very close to my heart. I have been in a little bit of a slump of discouragement lately and facing this weeks “postings” for this website was an exeercise in procrastination. This morning I took time to look back at what was ‘old’ for this scribe, namely my journal pages from the past several weeks. As I did so I came across a brief entry of ‘wisdom’ I received from our Lord with the idea of [Hot Takes]: sharing shorter insights that touch my heart and not the full ‘essay’ versions all the time. This is the fruit of journaling: when we feel that things have been dry or we feel discouraged we can pour over our ongoing love letter with the Lord and be reminded of His steadfast love and faithfulness. Withour further ado, I share with you some of my ‘Hot Takes’ from the past weeks…
Be still and know that I am God (Psalm 46:10)
[Be still. Let me work on you daughter. Let me help. Let me in.] In order to have the Dentist tend to our teeth, we must be still. In order to have the doctor tend to our bodies, we must be still. The first line of healing injured tissue? Rest, ie being still. Wherever we are asking God to enter our circumstances, the true posture of invitation is stillness. In other words, we need to stop scrambling to fix it ourselves.
(The following is a tweaked prayer that floated into my mind as I drifted off to sleep, I quickly got up and wrote it down.)
God grant me the courage to face the things I would rather avoid.
The humility to acknowledge the things I just don’t know.
And the faith to accept Your will in both cases.
Amen.
When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. 32 They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” (Luke 24:30-32)
The Spirituality of Journaling: Making a record of our moments of encounter with Jesus. Even if they seem few and far between they are meant to be held close.
Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little (Matthew 25:21)
My morning prayer and my journaling are two of my ‘little things’ that I am faithful over. Faithful is not obedient. It goes beyond doing something from obligation to doing something from the heart. I pray and write not because I am supposed to, but because it is an expression of my love.
