Monday, March 22, 2021
Monday in the Fifth Week of Lent
Courtney Patrick
The Collect
Be gracious to your people, we entreat you, O Lord, that they, repenting day by day of the things that displease you, may be more and more filled with love of you and of your commandments; and, being supported by your grace in this life, may come to the full enjoyment of eternal life in your everlasting kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Readings: Susanna [1–9,15–29,34–40],41-62, John 8:1–11, John 8:12–20 & Psalm 23
Here we are on the 5th Monday in Lent. It is finally spring, the sun is shining light into the dark corners left by winter, and the buds are just waiting to burst through their winter cloak. Light is what gets us through darkness, it is what spoke to me in today’s readings, and has been a beacon for me in this year I don’t think any of us could have imagined experiencing.
Verse 3 of Psalm 23: 3 He revives my soul *and guides me along right pathways for his Name's sake. Verse 12 of John Ch. 8- “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”
Not going to church physically every Sunday, I have made a stronger commitment to daily readings from a book I have called Jesus Calling. They often point to and have pulled me to be in a place of thanksgiving to Jesus no matter what the circumstances are good or bad.
When times are good it is easy to be thankful and happy, when times are good we often forget to lean on the lord, but rely on ourselves. It is when things get difficult we often pray, lean on the lord, and may not always thank the Lord for what is occurring. Through this pandemic, and personal ups and downs, I am learning to thank the lord every day for my struggles as well as my wins. I am learning to view my struggles as a gift from him just as much as my wins, the struggles he has placed in my life have helped me grow. Learning to live in this way has helped me more easily see the way through the dark when times get tough, and be in a space to more openly welcome the light. It reminds me of the quote “ When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us” - Alexander Graham Bell
What door are you looking at that might have you missing the light? What light can you let in as the world wakes up from the cold dark winter, and slowly from this year of being apart.