Good morning, Father! Thank You for the good night’s sleep and for waking me up so we could spend some time this morning before the day starts moving along. Bless our time together. May I be attentive to Your word!
Matthew 9:35-38 (<<click the green)
Lord, we like to think of ourselves as self-sufficient and independent. Then like most of humanity, we have a tendency to project those attributes on those around us.
When I think of crowds I think of people rushing along busy metropolitan sidewalks beside streets full of bustling traffic and in my mind’s eye, I see them as driven, purposeful, on task to accomplish what needs to be done to maintain their self-sufficiency and independence.
I’m sure that some fit that view but, in reality, how many are “dispirited and distressed”? Truly how many are burdened down with loads of care, no hope, no light at the end of the tunnel.
And what is heartbreaking is that for most, their concern only goes as far as this life. Many have no thoughts beyond death. They have no plans because they don’t really know what, if anything, eternity holds for them.
But what is disturbing is the fact that my first thought, unlike Your’s Lord, is not compassion. I am ashamed to say it is obliviousness. It’s not that I am necessarily apathetic. My eyes take in the masses and…well, that’s about as far as it goes. I can acknowledge their existence but compassion….pity? For the most part the fact that they are “dispirited and distressed, like a sheep without a shepherd” eludes me.
Lord, before I say anything else, please forgive me. Forgive my obliviousness. Please let me see people through Your eyes. And in seeing, I would plead that, as You were, may I be “moved with compassion and pity for them.” And, Lord, may I be moved not just because I am a pastor called to Your service but may I be moved because I am Your child and above all else, I want to be like You. Amen.
Mar 13th, 2018, Tues, 6:53 am
