Thursday, May 13, 2021
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Katie Snipes Lancaster
Scripture: Luke 10
Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”
Spiritual Practice: Slowing
Is it happening for you, too? Maybe its most intense for parents of teenagers: the family dinner suddenly gets displaced (as it had been) in favor of after school activities. But empty nesters, too: the travel schedule abruptly became overpowering in an attempt to see adult children scattered around the country. Or employees: your boss is suddenly wanting you in person instead of family-adjacent in your home office. Is this happening too: the small groups that you belong to that may have been paused are scrambling to meet now to make up for lost time. The great slowing down of 2020 has given us enough chances to change our rhythms, we get a chance to listen to our own bodies now as we say “yes” to the new normal.
What rhythms of slowing seem spiritually rooted for you? What connection to God did your slowing down offer? What other seasons of your life have offered chances for slowing? A retreat? An extended period between jobs? A summer between semesters? An injury or illness that kept you away in recovery? What happens when you connect those other times in your life to this season of slowing and its own rhythms of speeding up or stopping?
Daily Prayer
Connect us to ourselves, O God,
To our own rhythm of slowing.
Help us to see a way toward undistracted stillness.
Let us be still and know.
Let us slow our rhythms so that we might be
Attentive and in tune with your presence.
Amen.