Day 49 - Issue 22
Mark 10:40 NLT
But I have no right to say who will sit on my right or my left. God has prepared those places for the ones he has chosen.
I recall when my daughter was about 6 and I was about to pray with her at bedtime, I took some moments to apologise. I’d been grumpy and she had experienced me being awkward in the home. I remember telling her that I had not behaved well and got things wrong and wanted to say sorry if I had upset her. She listened and watched with ever-widening eyes. Then, taking my face in her hands and looking me directly in the eye, she said, “I didn’t know daddies could get things wrong.”
Here the disciples discover that Jesus works as a member of a partnership, namely the Trinity. Jesus does not enjoy the power to dispense seating in close proximity to the Father. I conclude that within God’s unfathomable love for us there are requests that may appear essential to us that may not be answered in accord with our own preference or understanding.
Prayer is, in fact, a relational space with God. While we are to make our requests known to God, prayer is not a synonym for making requests. The Eastern Church has a deeper appreciation of the place of prayer in the life of the disciple. It is the encounter in which we discover the heartbeat of God and order our lives to march to that beat. James and John had this encounter with God and discovered that they came away with more questions than answers. This is simply to illustrate that prayer is the relational space in which we discover more of God and in so doing, more about ourselves.
Prayer is the pace I return to so that I can develop increased consistency in my pursuit of God. God’s remit, and my choice, is always to grow up into maturity in Christ. This means learning how to serve God’s desires ahead of my own. While sounding a lot like sacrifice, it is, in fact, the surest way to discover the essence of my humanity and in doing so, deep personal fulfilment.
QUESTION: Reflect on some of your disappointments and invite God to reveal how they might be points of consideration and reorientation.
PRAYER: Lord, don’t leave me as I am, but help me grow into your likeness.
