Lenten Devotional March 14 "God is Calling"

OPENING PRAYER. . .Loving God, Creator of all that is, here I am--today in this place that you have given me, with all the senses you have given me. Help me to use them to experience you on a deeper level. May I experience you all around me, open me to know more of your ways and know that your goodness surrounds me. Thank you for this time to be with you and to just listen. Amen

LISTEN. . . "Those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it." (Matthew 16:25)

CONSIDER. . . Jesus is really saying to let go of your defended self-image and find a truer self in God. So this challenge of Jesus to "lose your life" in order to find it doesn't require that we necessarily deny who we are essentially, but instead He invites us to discover our deepest and truest selves.  Only God knows the secret of that self, but we find it through the years by putting God's priorities first in our lives, challenging the fears that keep us from growing.

SO WHAT. . .Don't hold tight to your identity, your life, or your psyche Jesus tells us. We need to be willing to let go of the current boundaries of our identity for the sake of responding to God's call.  God's call has liberated people to find their truer selves; think of the stuttering Moses or Francis of Assisi  who sheds his finery to live a life of solidarity with the poor; the slave trader John Newton who becomes an abolitionist or Harriet Tubman who discovers the courage to shepherd slaves along the underground railroad. These examples demonstrate new aspects of the self coming to the forefront with struggles, doubts and resistance.

In what ways might God be calling you into a "bigger self", calling you to love qualities of yourself that you may underestimate?

How is God calling you to let go of the fear of criticism and the fear of failure to become a whole person and to a deeper security in God?

Again, don't rush. . . take your time to reflect on the ways that God is calling you.

PRAYER. . . Loving God, show me how to let go of my preconceived notion of who I am and to be open to who you have created me to be. Help me to respond courageously to the challenges in my life and discover my deepest and truest self instead of underestimating your calling in my life.  Amen