Friday, February 15, 2008

Meditation that blessed me

I just had to post this. Below is the Meditation at the beginning of this week’s lesson of the Women’s Bible Study I am able to attend. It blessed me so much I thought I would pass it on in case it would bless someone else. Background for me reading it is Molly dog had surgery on her foot yesterday and I found out for 7-10 days I (or someone) have to be with her almost constantly cuz she has to be taken out to the bathroom after a bootie is put on her foot to keep it dry and the bootie can only be on 5-10 min max and she has to wear a big collar thingy so she can’t get at her foot and last night she could only sleep if I was laying right next to her. I felt like the mother of a 40+ lb newborn / toddler that needed her Mommy and needed taken out every one to two hours. I share all that to show you my lovely attitude of looking forward to a week of this ( I know I’m a wimp) and not being able to do the things I do and then I read the attached Meditation!!! here goes :

Meditation ( from ‘Out of Solitude’ by Henri J. Nouwen)
“A few years ago I me an old professor at the University of Notre Dame, Looking back on his long life of teaching, he said with a funny wrinkle in his eyes ; ’I have always been complaining that my work was constantly interrupted, until I slowly discovered that my interruptions were my work.’

“That is the great conversion in our life: to recognize and believe that the many unexpected events are not just disturbing interruptions of our projects, but the way in which God molds our hearts and prepares us for His return. Our great temptations are boredom and bitterness. When our good plans are interrupted by poor weather, our well-organized careers by illness or bad luck , our peace of mind by inner turmoil, our hope by a constant changing of the guards, and our desire for immortality by real death, we are tempted to give in to a paralyzing boredom or to strike back in destructive bitterness. But when we believe that patience can make our expectations grow, then ‘fate’ can be converted into a vocation, wounds into a call for deeper understanding, and sadness into a birthplace for joy. “
Does God know just what we need or what?

2 comments:

Megan Spears said...

Libby - I am so glad you posted this. I too loved this lesson when reading it this past week. It's always nice to see how others read it.

I was glad to sit with you last week. Hope you have a great study tomorrow.

Jane Jane said...

Libby, you're great. Thanks for your deeper thoughts on life. God bless you this week, sis.