Before It's Too Late

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, to be still and to just listen. Amen

LISTEN: "There once was a rich man, expensively dressed in the latest fashions, wasting his days in conspicuous consumption. A poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, had been dumped on his doorstep. All he lived for was to get a meal from scraps off the rich man’s table. His best friends were the dogs who came and licked his sores." Luke 16:20

CONSIDER:  The rich man didn't see the poor man at his doorstep, even though he was right there before his eyes day after day. We all do that. . . we see what we are looking for. . . what we want to see.  We don't see the inconveniences or the things that embarrass us.  That is why the poor and the needy in our midst are often unknown to us.  The poor are the nameless in our world and many times because they are nameless they are of no concern or worse yet. . . of no value to us. But think about this for a minute. . .God knows the poor man's name is Lazarus. . . while the rich man remains nameless. It might mean, that in a manner of speaking, the rich man was poor in the eyes of God.

SO WHAT:  We all need to improve our eyesight and open our hearts more fully to what God is showing us. Who are we stepping over everyday at our very doorstep? It's not just the homeless brothers that we step over in downtown South Bend. . . it's the checkout person at Meijer or Walmart that we barely acknowledge as they do their job. . . or the wait staff serving us on a Sunday after church that we barely grunt at as they do their best to serve us. The people that we "look through" as we go about OUR business and life. What do we see?  Who do we see? Who do we acknowledge?

In the scripture, when both men die and are taken to the next life, the rich man wants to ask help of the poor man, but he cannot reach him. . . it is too late.  Lent should be an eye opener for each of us while it is still not too late.

• What can you do today to acknowledge those you have overlooked or ignored as you have gone about your life?
• Be more aware of the people that God puts in your life. Get the name of those who you considered nameless before today.
• Remember that Jesus calls us to "love your neighbor as yourself". 
• Who has God laid at your doorstep?

PRAYER: Loving and gracious God, open my eyes that I might see the glimpses of truth that you have for me. Help me to see those that you have laid at my doorstep. . . the doorstep of the church. . . the doorstep of my heart. Help me to ACT before it is too late. Amen