Today, this Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, we hear in the First Reading (from the Old Testament) in the Book of I Kings that the Prophet Elijah hears God’s voice as a whisper. He has just experienced the awesome glory and power and might of God’s creation and expects to find God in this power; and yet instead, Elijah hears God’s voice in the quiet.
Our lives are like the earthquakes, the winds and the fires described in Kings. We are living “helter-skelter” lives, burning our candles at both ends (and sometimes even in the middle!). We live stressed. We are always hurrying, and rushing, where? We can’t seem to find the time to stop and listen to God. Not many of us know how to leave the rat race—those stormy, incessant, whirlpool lives we call the daily grind.
In the Gospel today Jesus walks on the water and calls Peter to him to do the same. Peter’s faith falters, and he begins to sink in the stormy waves, and he cries: “Lord, save me!” (All of us do this when we are in trouble!) Jesus does for Peter as he always does for all of us: he stretches out His hand to hold us up. He stills the storm, and he tells us to take courage and to ‘Be Not Afraid.’ First though, it is important to be still, and to be able to hear the whisper of His voice in our hearts. As usual, it’s all about our priorities, and our choices.
Find some quiet time; think about the priorities in your life. Is God first? Do you take the time to hear God whisper to you? We are facing the end of the summer season and as always our pace picks up—school begins, work intensifies, activities need to be scheduled—and our life becomes stretched thin. I know that many may people have trouble committing to a ministry, or to the study of God’s Word. I do encourage you to pray about how you spend your time and talent, (and treasure), and to ask yourselves: is God first in all my plans? Hmmm… Just some summer food for thought….
Keep singing!
Elizabeth Dyc
Our lives are like the earthquakes, the winds and the fires described in Kings. We are living “helter-skelter” lives, burning our candles at both ends (and sometimes even in the middle!). We live stressed. We are always hurrying, and rushing, where? We can’t seem to find the time to stop and listen to God. Not many of us know how to leave the rat race—those stormy, incessant, whirlpool lives we call the daily grind.
In the Gospel today Jesus walks on the water and calls Peter to him to do the same. Peter’s faith falters, and he begins to sink in the stormy waves, and he cries: “Lord, save me!” (All of us do this when we are in trouble!) Jesus does for Peter as he always does for all of us: he stretches out His hand to hold us up. He stills the storm, and he tells us to take courage and to ‘Be Not Afraid.’ First though, it is important to be still, and to be able to hear the whisper of His voice in our hearts. As usual, it’s all about our priorities, and our choices.
Find some quiet time; think about the priorities in your life. Is God first? Do you take the time to hear God whisper to you? We are facing the end of the summer season and as always our pace picks up—school begins, work intensifies, activities need to be scheduled—and our life becomes stretched thin. I know that many may people have trouble committing to a ministry, or to the study of God’s Word. I do encourage you to pray about how you spend your time and talent, (and treasure), and to ask yourselves: is God first in all my plans? Hmmm… Just some summer food for thought….
Keep singing!
Elizabeth Dyc
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