Devotional/Discussion thought of the day:

Don’t create more obligations for yourself than… God’s glory, his Love, his Apostolate.(1)

Yesterday, as I talked about anxiety in my sermon, and the coming of Christ which overcomes such anxiety, one of the illustrations I used was that the word for anxiety might best be translated as “running around like a chicken with its head cut off”, or “frantic”.   It is easy to get into that kind of lifestyle, where we rush around from appointment to appointment, from task to task, spinning our wheels because of the demands placed upon us so quickly that we don’t have time to prioritize.  Everything seems to be an obligation, and we wonder if we can get it all done!

And in the fast paced, spinning our wheels type of days, the one thing we do not know, is peace.

And we need that peace.

In the quote I borrowed today, there is something I think we should consider, and try to implement.  Simply put, we must try to arrange our day, not by the tasks, and appointments and stuff of life, but realize what we are obliged to do is to walk that day in God’s glory, reveling in His love, and working from the assumption that whatever we do, it is because He sent us to do it, as His ambassadors, as His apostles, as His people bringing light into the world.   We start there in His presence – we must start there.  Not in the sense of we must because we need to be there, if anything we do is going to be of worth, if we are going to see God’s glory, if we are going to know His peace.

Once we remember we dwell in Christ, when we put on Christ, when we realize His mercy and love and peace – then, we will see the day unravel as He planned, we will see the things we do as His work, and it will be done, and done well, as the Holy Spirit works throughout our life.

Lord have mercy on us, and help us to realize You have, You are, and You will… every moment.  AMEN

Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). The Forge (Kindle Locations 521-522). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.