Monday, February 4, 2008

Today's text

Matthew 6:1-4

Be careful not to parade your uprightness in public to attract attention; otherwise you will lose all reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give alms, do not have it trumpeted before you; this is what the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets to win human admiration. In truth I tell you, they have had their reward. But when you give alms, your left hand must not know what your right is doing; your almsgiving must be secret, and your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you.

Prayer

You call me beyond myself to that which I cannot do, Jesus. You invite me to unitive action, to utter oneness, so that I am fully absorbed, totally given to where I am and what I am doing—with no part of me left over to watch or judge.

So seldom is this true for me. My heart is not one but divided, fractured, given in part to the person or matter at hand while other parts stand back, watching, judging or carefully observing the reactions of others.

I hunger for one thing, to be one thing, to do one thing: to be where I am, doing what I am doing, fully absorbed, totally given, my consciousness undivided and pure, willing but one thing.

I wake from my bed in the early hours, focused and ready. Yet quickly, again, unforeseen circumstances and needful demands frazzle focus and splinter the mind. Attention scatters; the heart divides; peace flees, and again I am more part of this world’s brokenness than of its healing.

So at this mid-day, recollect my heart and mind, drenching them again in the ocean of your graciousness. For there I rest knowing only One … you.

Then, again, if only for a little while, I can be where I am, doing what I am doing, one with you and finally with myself, giving this recollected heart to each task of the day, absorbed in your love.

Pr. David L. Miller