Thursday, February 25, 2021

Thursday in the First Week of Lent

Karl Sanford

The Collect of the Day

Strengthen us, O Lord, by your grace, that in your might we may overcome all spiritual enemies, and with pure hearts serve you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Readings: Esther (Apocrypha) 14:1–6,12–14, Matthew 7:7–12 & Psalm 138

Matthew 7: 7-12 tells us to “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find”. To this 7 year old boy thumbing through the Sears catalogue in a pre-Christmas shopping frenzy, I was certain that this exhortation was right up my alley. What better philosophy to fuel material greed and a lust for ‘stuff’? For most of us, such was not to be the trajectory of our lives. Time, experience and an evolving understanding of what is important in life helps to clarify what I really desire or need to ask for. But what about all those things that I prayed would come my way or happen or evolve in my life – but didn’t? Garth Brooks said it well and succinctly: “Some of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers”. Looking back, I can recall instance after instance in which my personal hopes and prayers went mercifully unanswered – thus changing how I responded to a challenge and, in the process, teaching me that I could trust more and control less. So now the big “Ask” seems to be for patience and wisdom to learn from the unanswered prayers and, through prayer, come to terms with a given situation. The Sears catalogue never featured those sorts of things…neither does Amazon.