Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Today’s reading

Philippians 3:12-14

“Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on towards the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:12-14).

Prayer

I do not want to forget ... anything. I want to cradle every moment in the unlikely journey that has brought me to this time. I want to remember every face I have ever met, every street I have ever walked, every voice I have ever heard, every town and place I have known. I want to remember them all. Every one of them is place of holy habitation where you waited for me to show up that you might love me and shape me into that image of your mercy that pleases you.

I do not want to forget what lies behind because, despite days of cynicism and moments of despair, I see that I have walked a path of blessing on which all roads led to you. No matter which way I walked and even when I tried to walk away, I arrived at your door. Every step and misstep has been part of journey into you, blessed Christ, who long ago made me your own. Each face and town, each street and sound in some mysterious way are the dark path on which I have walked into the mystery of your dying and rising.

To forget is to lose the places I have known you. It is to sacrifice the grace of gratitude for the ways you have loved me and poured this sparkling hope into my mortal flesh. How can I forget? But I do. Each day more of the journey recedes deeper in mind. It saddens me. For I lose one more place of blessing for which I would praise you, if only I could name it.

But my moments are never lost to you, Timeless Mercy. You hold them all, even as you hold me lest any part of this journey sink into the murky depths of meaninglessness. And I will press on, knowing that you who have made me your own await me on the way. You will shimmer in eyes I have not yet met. You will speak in the grace of voices yet unheard. You will coax me along unfamiliar paths that may reach my home, which was, is and always will be you. Amen.