This drawing is from Mary. She drew her little friend one day while listening to Latin class online. Yes, she is her mother’s daughter! I focus better with pen in hand and doodle paper at the ready. So – I can’t really fuss with her for drawing while listening to class. I loved this little fellow and scanned him in so we could make him just the perfect size to frame and put out on our porch.
I’m reading a book about the Jesus Prayer which is mainly encountered in the Eastern Church. I came across it a long time ago in some writing (can’t recall exactly where) but often have prayed it when awake in the middle of the night and no other words will come to soothe my soul. The verdict is still out on the book, so I’ll have to let you know. But here’s a passage in the first chapter that has got me thinking:
“So we ask for mercy because we are sick with sin, and will go on sinning. Even though we are confident as beloved children in our Father’s compassion, we grieve because we contribute more to the planet’s suffering every day…….
God doesn’t need us to remind him to be merciful; he is merciful all the time, even when we don’t ask. But unless we make a habit of asking for mercy, we forget that we need it. Ego builds a cardboard fortress that humility must, every day, tear down…..
The process of healing takes a long time. Even as we see reasons for hope, we simultaneously gain better understanding of how far down the roots of sin can go. It would be devastating to see the whole truth about ourselves all at once. Our compassionate Lord brings us along gently, allowing some blissful ignorance. Each layer of the onion is shed at the right time; we encounter the next truth about ourselves when and how we can bear it, as our loving Lord knows best.” (From The Jesus Prayer”)
I loved this image of our ego building a cardboard fortress. We live life and go along and nothing really bad is happening and we think, “Oh, I’ve got this life thing handled. Look at me, World, if you want to see how it’s done!” We so quickly forget we need mercy, or help, every moment of every day. And so we need that dose of humility to tear our flimsy fortress down.
The healing dose may come in that hurt look you get from a friend after a harsh word, from the bumbled-up conversation you tried to have with your child to correct their path but in which you only beat them down and made things worse, or from the realization of how easily that little white lie rolled off your tongue and now you find yourself building yet another lie to keep the first one protected.
And that’s just a few humility-builders I thought of in the seconds it took to type that paragraph. There are so many, many more. Thank God He is gracious and does indeed bring us along slowly, showing us our sinfulness layer by layer.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
Amen and Amen.
I’m reading a book about the Jesus Prayer which is mainly encountered in the Eastern Church. I came across it a long time ago in some writing (can’t recall exactly where) but often have prayed it when awake in the middle of the night and no other words will come to soothe my soul. The verdict is still out on the book, so I’ll have to let you know. But here’s a passage in the first chapter that has got me thinking:
“So we ask for mercy because we are sick with sin, and will go on sinning. Even though we are confident as beloved children in our Father’s compassion, we grieve because we contribute more to the planet’s suffering every day…….
God doesn’t need us to remind him to be merciful; he is merciful all the time, even when we don’t ask. But unless we make a habit of asking for mercy, we forget that we need it. Ego builds a cardboard fortress that humility must, every day, tear down…..
The process of healing takes a long time. Even as we see reasons for hope, we simultaneously gain better understanding of how far down the roots of sin can go. It would be devastating to see the whole truth about ourselves all at once. Our compassionate Lord brings us along gently, allowing some blissful ignorance. Each layer of the onion is shed at the right time; we encounter the next truth about ourselves when and how we can bear it, as our loving Lord knows best.” (From The Jesus Prayer”)
I loved this image of our ego building a cardboard fortress. We live life and go along and nothing really bad is happening and we think, “Oh, I’ve got this life thing handled. Look at me, World, if you want to see how it’s done!” We so quickly forget we need mercy, or help, every moment of every day. And so we need that dose of humility to tear our flimsy fortress down.
The healing dose may come in that hurt look you get from a friend after a harsh word, from the bumbled-up conversation you tried to have with your child to correct their path but in which you only beat them down and made things worse, or from the realization of how easily that little white lie rolled off your tongue and now you find yourself building yet another lie to keep the first one protected.
And that’s just a few humility-builders I thought of in the seconds it took to type that paragraph. There are so many, many more. Thank God He is gracious and does indeed bring us along slowly, showing us our sinfulness layer by layer.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.
Amen and Amen.
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