Anita Mathias: Dreaming Beneath the Spires

Anita Mathias's Blog on Faith and Art

How Jesus Dealt With Hostility and Enemies

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                                     Christ Driving the Moneychangers from the Temple, 1626, Rembrandt

It’s the Tuesday of the last week of Jesus’s life. He rampages

through the commercialised temple, overturning the tables of

moneychangers. He heals, he teaches; he’s hailed as the Messiah.

 

Who gave you the authority to do these things? his old adversaries,

the chief priests and the elders, ask. And Jesus shows us how to

answer hostile questions. Slow down. Breathe. Quick arrow prayers!

 

Your enemies, your interrogators, have no power over your life

that your Father has not permitted them. Ask your Father for

wisdom, remembering: Questions do not need to be answered. Are these

questioners worthy of the treasures of your heart? Or would that

be feeding pearls to hungry pigs, who might instead devour you?

 

Questions can contain pitfalls, traps, nooses. Jesus directly answered

just three of the 183 questions he was asked. Some questions he

refused to answer; others, he answered with a good question.

 

But how do we get the inner calm and good sense to recognise

and sidestep entrapping questions? Long before the day of

testing, practice slow, easy breathing, and tune in to the frequency

of the Father. There’s no record of Jesus running, rushing,

getting stressed, or lacking peace. He never spoke on his own, he

told us, without checking in with the Father. So, no foolish,

ill-judged statements. Breathing in the wisdom of the Father

beside and within him, he, unintimidated, traps the trappers.

 

Wisdom begins with training ourselves to slow down and ask

the Father for guidance. Then our calm minds, made perceptive,

will help us recognise danger and trick questions, even those

coated in flattery, and sidestep them or refuse to answer.

 

We practice tuning in to heavenly wisdom by practising–asking

God questions, and then listening for his answers about the best

way to do simple things…organise a home or write. Then,

we build upwards, asking for wisdom in more complex things.

 

Listening for the voice of God before we speak, and asking for a

filling of the Spirit, which Jesus calls streams of living water within

us, will give us wisdom to know what to say, which, frequently, is

nothing at all. It will quieten us with the silence of God, which

sings through the world, through sun and stars, sky and flowers.

Do Not Be Afraid, but Do Be Prudent

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“Do not be afraid,” a dream-angel tells Joseph, to marry Mary,
who’s pregnant, though a virgin, for in our magical, God-
invaded world, the Spirit has placed God’s son in her as long
foretold by Isaiah. Call the baby Jesus, or The Lord saves,
for he will drag people free from the chokehold of their sins.

And Joseph is not afraid. And the angel was right,
for a star rose, signalling a new King of the Jews.
Astrologers from the East followed it, threatening King Herod,
whose chief priests recounted Micah’s 600-year-old prophecy:
the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, as Jesus had
just been, while his parents from Nazareth registered
for Augustus Caesar’s census of the entire Roman world.

The Magi worshipped the baby, offering gold, frankincense, myrrh.
And shepherds came, told by an angel of joy: that the Lord, the
Messiah, a saviour from all that oppresses, had just been born.

Then, suddenly, the dream-angel warned: Flee with the child
to Egypt. For Herod plans to kill this baby and forever-King.

Do not be afraid, but still flee? Become a refugee? But
lightning-bolt coincidences had verified the angel’s first
words: The magi appeared with gold for the flight. Shepherds
told of angels singing of coming inner peace. Joseph flees.

What’s the difference between fear and prudence? Fear is
being frozen or panicked by imaginary what-ifs. It tenses
our bodies; strains health, sleep and relationships; makes us
stingy with ourselves and others; leads to overwork, and time
wasted doing pointless things for fear of people’s ill opinions.

Prudence is wisdom–using our experience and spiritual discernment
as we battle the demonic forces of this dark world, in Paul’s phrase.
It’s fighting with divinely powerful weapons: truth, righteousness,
faith, Scripture, and prayer, while surrendering our thoughts to Christ.

So let’s act prudently, wisely and bravely, silencing fear, while
remaining alert to God’s guidance, delivered through inner peace
or intuitions of danger and wrongness, our spiritual senses tuned to
the Spirit’s “No,” his “Slow,” his “Go,” as cautious as a serpent,
protected, while being as gentle as a dove, or a lamb among wolves.

How to Find Life-Changing Hidden Treasure

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“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy, went and sold all he had and bought that field. Matthew 13:44

 

The Kingdom of God is within you, Jesus says, as

he suggests that making him the King of all our minutes

and activities is treasure worth trading everything for. It’s like

being in constant radio contact with Jesus, placing yourself

in the torrent of his love and wisdom and the power of his Spirit.

It’s promised deep peace, even amid direness, because we know

God’s power and goodness. It’s the Holy Spirit teaching us all

things, guiding our work and financial affairs, guidance that’s

brilliant, timesaving, and (a fringe benefit!) often economically beneficial.

 

Trading everything to follow Jesus, who said he’d live in us, as

a vine floods its branches, will, like literally selling everything

we own, take time. It happens inch by inch until the Spirit and Jesus

and his power and glory gradually invade every square inch of our lives.

 

And, progressively, everything will shift–the way we work, our

family relationships, friendships,  what we read and watch,

the time we spend on exercise, diets, and food preparation,

on maintaining our homes and gardens, on prayer and scripture reading,

on church activities and volunteering, on social media and the news.

Some of us will spend less time on these things; others will spend more,

for we are each created with a unique shape and purpose and calling.

 

And what am I trading to live more in Jesus’s Kingdom? Well, Rick Warren,

of The Purpose-Driven Life, suggests that those who want to change

anything should begin by changing their bodies. So I am walking and

running while praying and listening to Scripture, gradually increasing mileage

so I don’t regain the 82 pounds I had lost. And I’m prioritising

decluttering and bringing order and beauty to my home and garden

while getting my goal steps and burning my goal calories.

 

It’s costly to follow Jesus, for sure, but far, far costlier to decide not to,

and instead chase what Tim Keller calls “counterfeit Gods:” “money,

the seduction of success, the power and the glory,” to climb

a cruel ladder which has no end and never satisfies for long.

 

Bill Bright, founder of Cru, describes his surrender to Christ

as abandoning his puny little plans, and embracing God’s

magnificent plans. Once done, he said, the future seemed brighter

than ever. As we invite Jesus into each square inch of our lives,

he promises that the things the unbelieving world runs after

will also be added to us. May it be so. Amen.

 

If you’d like to read my previous recorded meditations, they are here.

If you’d like to follow these meditations the moment they appear, please subscribe to Christian Meditation with Anita Mathias at Apple Podcasts, Spotify or  

Amazon Music or Audible. And I would be very  grateful for reviews and ratings!!

And, of course, I would love you to read my memoir, fruit of much “blood, sweat, toil and tears.”

Rosaries, Reading, Secrets: A Catholic Childhood in India in the UK, and in the US, here, well, and widely available, online, worldwide 🙂

 

 

 

The Spirit Helps Us Speak Creative Words of Energy and Life

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The Spirit Helps Us Speak Creative Words of Energy and Life

Matthew tells us: Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him so that he could both talk and see. All the people were astonished and said, “Could this be the Son of David?”  Matthew 12: 22-24

 

Demonic activity robbed the man of sight and speech. And Jesus,

whom the Apostle John calls the Word, restored speech to him.

 

In Genesis, God’s first words, Let there be light create beauty

and life. And Satan’s deceitful words cause sadness and strife.

Our words, too, can be creative, bringing energy and inspiration,

or destructive, bringing discouragement, defeat, and misery:

word-swords which cut down, millstones which grind down.

 

The Apostle James writes, Consider what a great forest is set on fire

by a small spark.  The tongue also can set the whole course of one’s life on fire.

Fire! I’ve seen people lose precious friendships and relationships

through angry words and emails. I have done so myself.

 

So how do we use our words to bring light, energy, and life,

not darkness and heaviness? We must pray for the promise

in Ezekiel, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit

in you.” “The Spirit of the Lord will come powerfully upon

you, and you will be changed into a different person,” Samuel

promises Saul. ‘And God changed Saul’s heart.” Just like that.

 

The Spirit comes when we are hungry, and we ask for him,

Jesus says, and he changes our minds, emotions, and spirit. For

He is, as the prophet Isaiah writes, the Spirit of wisdom,

of understanding and knowledge. His fruits are love, joy, peace,

patience, kindness, faithfulness, and self-control. A new personality.

 

We can accelerate our experience of the Spirit through the ancient

practice of breath prayers as we go about our errands, housework,

gardening, and walks. Exhale: “Lord, I confess my anger and faithless

stress.” Inhale, “Come Holy Spirit of peace.” Exhale, “Lord,

I give you my turbulence.” Inhale, “Come, Holy Spirit of wisdom.”

 

Use simple practices to control your words. I’ve started using a

count-up timer when I am feeling critical and naggy in family life,

waiting seven minutes before I speak, which, then, I often don’t.

I now take 24 hours before responding to stressful emails.

 

The Spirit may graciously fill us in response to our prayers

faster than we imagine. God blessed Aaron’s staff in the Book

of Numbers; it budded, blossomed, and bore fruit overnight.

Come, Holy Spirit, fire of energy and love, change us. Amen.

Jesus Promises Us Rest (and an Easy Yoke!)

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He was the cleverest human who ever lived, a master of

humour, and of literary devices such as paradox, as when he

offers the weary and burdened, rest. Rest–by bearing his yoke.

 

Bearing the yoke of Jesus means developing the habit of checking

in with him before we speak, act or commit ourselves. For he

always has a surprisingly better, more efficient way of doing things

and will show us all the things that simply do not need to be done.

 

Jesus promises us rest if we learn gentleness and humility

from him. As we never fully master a language, gardening

or writing, we, the naturally fiery, cranky, worn-out and

hot-tempered, will keep learning gentleness all our lives. “Oops,

I’ve slipped again. I will arise and go to Jesus. Jesus, please

help me for the next minute.” Desperate arrow prayers!

 

Jesus is too kind to demand massive behaviour modification

to layer onto the burdens he promises us deliverance from—many

self-imposed, stemming from our pride and desire to impress.

 

He promises us the Spirit, a helper, a seed, and living water within us,

whose fruit is gentleness, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,

faithfulness and self-control, as the Apostle Paul writes.

 

We acquire the Spirit’s power to change, firstly, by asking for it.

Jesus says that as a good father wouldn’t deny his hungry child

food, his Father will not refuse us the Spirit when we ask.

Does praying for God’s spirit work? Yes, it does. Will he come?

He will. But it takes daily prayer, for we leak.

 

Secondly, we must prioritise praying for the Spirit.

The apostles were given the greatest, biggest commission:

To preach to all nations. And Jesus recommended their first

move: To remain exactly where they were until they were “clothed

with power from on high.” So perhaps we, under Jesus’s easy yoke,

should also remain where we are, not taking on any new great things

for ourselves, for God, or for the world, until we have been clothed

with the Spirit’s power which makes difficult things easy and light.

 

As we quieten down and progressively pray to be filled with God’s Spirit,

and God answers our prayers as He promised, our personality changes.

We become ever gentler. May it be so. Come, Holy Spirit. Amen.

Do Not Worry About What To Eat: Jesus

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 “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?  Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[e]?

So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matthew 6

So Jesus advises his listeners–fishermen who had worked all night

and caught nothing, unemployed labourers, and those without food

for their guests—not to worry about what they were going to eat.

 

And when Jesus speaks, that man who visited from a world

beyond our world, to share the deep secrets of life and the

universe, we would be wise to listen up.

 

Jesus tells his original listeners that, by an effort of will, they must quit

wasting time and energy fretting about what they would eat, must

quit worrying about money, and instead trust the God who sustains

singing birds who never save a single worm. They must ask, seek and

knock on God’s door for wisdom and good ideas to meet their daily needs.

 

Of course, today, with an obesogenic food environment

and an obesity epidemic, we worry just as much about the sugary

fatty, ultra-processed foods everywhere, which lead to weight gain,

society’s condemnation, and our self-condemnation–pressure

which leads to further overeating. Having lost 82 pounds, I know

the difficulty of shedding weight and the fear of regaining it.

 

But we, like Jesus’s listeners, must refuse to worry about fattening

food, weight loss, and weight regain, but instead, live as God’s beloved

children, eating what our hosts set before us, without fuss,

as Jesus advised his disciples, and trusting our health to God.

 

Of course, Jesus does want us to reflect his “endless energy, boundless

strength” in Eugene Peterson’s phrase, and, being kind and practical,

he gives us strategies. Jesus recommends fasting, which brings a reward

from God and gives us power over oppressive forces of evil. Fasting

is sheer Jesus-genius, skipping a meal, saving time and money while

burning up metabolically active, inflammatory, toxin-storing fat which

overweight bodies don’t need. Hunger pangs which are temporary waves,

rising, receding, passing, are an internal bodily reminder, a trigger

and an alarm clock to pray about our worries. And the force

and power of persistent prayer slowly changes our lives.

 

Do not worry, Jesus says, but seek first God’s kingdom and his

 righteousness, and all the things the pagans run after will

be added to you. How does that work in the area of weight and health?

Well, the greatest commandment, Jesus says, is to love God with all

one’s strength. I have been incorporating movement into my spiritual

life, praying, and listening to the Bible and the book for my Christian

book group on my morning walk. And when my body buzzes

with endorphins, my mind and emotions work better, and my spirit soars.

 

And then Jesus says: the second commandment is like the first-

Love your neighbour as yourself. I’m trying to use movement

to bless others, too, decluttering my house of unnecessary acquisitions

from 33 years of marriage, working on my large garden to make it

a place of joy and hospitality, hanging out with friends during long

walks rather than over meals, and getting my body a little stronger

and fitter for life through “exercise snacks:” several daily

mini-sessions of yoga, weights, HIIT, dance, or rebounding.

 

The Father feeds the birds, which, like all wild creatures, instinctively

only eat what is a blessing to their little bodies. Seeking the kingdom,

acting as if Jesus were our visible beloved King, is refusing to eat a curse

on ourselves by eating food we know will not bless our bodies, but instead

slow them down by weight gain. For me, it’s sugar, wheat, rice, grains,

potatoes. We each have a unique metabolism created by genetics, our

biography, and our psychological makeup, and so we must ask the Spirit

to guide our minds and intuitions to a way of eating which blesses our bodies.

 

Seeking to establish God’s micro-kingdom in our own lives also means

getting our bodies fit enough to do the work God has given us to do.

Losing weight, getting fit, is like a conversion experience, completely

life-changing. As we bear this micro-cross of self-discipline without

which, Jesus said, we are not worthy of him, let’s pray we experience

the paradox he spoke of–that the yoke of following him is oddly

easy and light. May it be so. Amen.

 

This is a meditation on Matthew, Chapter 6

I would love you to read my memoir, fruit of much “blood, sweat, toil and tears.”

Rosaries, Reading, Secrets: A Catholic Childhood in India in the UK, and in the US, here, well, and widely available, online, worldwide 🙂

If you’d like to follow these meditations the moment they appear, please subscribe to Christian Meditation with Anita Mathias at Apple Podcasts, Spotify or  

Amazon Music

or Audible.

And I would be grateful for reviews and ratings!!

If you’d like to read my previous recorded meditations,

8. Happy Are the Merciful for They Shall Be Shown Mercy

7 The Power of Christ’s Resurrection. For Us. Today

6 Each Individual’s Unique and Transforming Call and Vocation

5 Change Your Life by Changing Your Thoughts

4 Do not be Afraid–But be as Wise as a Serpent

3 Our Failures are the Cracks Through Which God’s Power Enters our Lives

2 The World is full of the Glory of God

1 Mindfulness is Remembering the Presence of Christ with us.

Thank you 🙂

The Power of Christ’s Resurrection. For Us. Today

By

Noli me tangere by Jacopo di Cione

 

The dawn after the worst day,

Mary Magdalene and her friend Mary had seen

Jesus, whom they deeply loved—

A radiant, beautiful, strong young man

Tortured, mocked, and judicially murdered.

But as they visit the tomb, they encounter Jesus,

Very much alive. Chairete, he says, Rejoice.

And then, the very first sentence the risen Christ,

Speaks to those who love him–Do not be afraid,

Me Phobeisthe.

 

     Do not be afraid. Why?

Because the impossible has happened,

And a dead man has returned to life

(And was later seen by at least 516 people).

The risen Jesus is no longer confined by

The dictates of space and time.

Like oxygen, he is with me

In every room I enter, and with you,

An invisible, but real friend.

I am never alone.

Wisdom and strength is always available

If I slow down and request them.

 

Do not be afraid, because the resurrected Jesus

Breathed on his disciples, and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit,”

As he breathes on us today.

Jesus observed that justas even evil parents,

Do not give a snake to a child asking for fish,

Or a scorpion to a child requesting an egg,

His Father will not refuse His Holy Spirit

To those who ask for it.

And it is the power of the Holy Spirit

Which helps us change

Our hearts, our characters, and our lives.

 

Do not be afraid,

Because the resurrection of Jesus

That explosion of seismic power

Has burst the boundaries of what is possible.

God’s miracle-making power is now available to us

Our world is now a whole lot more magical.

 

The Apostle Paul writes that the surpassingly

Great power for us who believe,

The hyperballon megathos tes dunameos,

The dynamite power of God available to us on request

Is the same as the power which raised Jesus from the dead.

And so we have the Holy Spirit’s help for the issues of our lives.

Nothing God wants us to do will be impossible to us.

 

And so, we need no longer be enslaved by addictions,

Dependencies and our own bad habits. We can break

An addiction to chocolate or sugar or caffeine

(All of which I have eventually done!).

We can get out of the confining rooms

Of bad habits and our personal “can’t does”

Sometimes just like that,

With an act of will empowered by the Spirit.

The risen Jesus gives us the key to key to freedom.

“I once was dead, but now am alive,

And I hold the keys,” Jesus tells John

In the Book of Revelation. The keys of his Kingdom,

In which he wants us to live peacefully

As we would under his real-life kingly eye.

 

We can find freedom from indulging a bad temper.

And by turning our eyes on Jesus, as the old hymn says,

And an arrow prayer for his help,

We can channel our cranky, negative energy

Into prayerful intense focus on how best to live

Our one wild and precious life.

We can progressively find freedom from tormenting

Emotions or thoughts which waste our time and distract us:

Emotions of jealousy, unforgiveness, worry, anger or fretting.

 

God’s explosive, dynamite power can invade our lives

And progressively change them,

Through prayer, through the power of the Holy Spirit,

And, also, through our own willpower and determination.

(And God also works through counselling,

And talking to wise, trusted, friends.)

 

To get God’s endless energy and boundless strength

(as Eugene Peterson puts it) to saturate our little lives,

We need to slow down,

So that we remember to pray, and

Ask for God’s guidance and blessing

Over each thing we do in course of our days.

As we begin to master this habit,

Our days will look different.

Our lives will look different.

 

Everything in our lives gets better by practice:

Running, or writing, or good housekeeping or prayer.

So, start transforming your life by prayer.

Start small. Ask for God’s wisdom

Before you embark on the activities of your day:

Sessions of housework and decluttering,

Exercise, gardening, meeting friends, emails,

Social media, business or leading things.

 

God, how do I do these things well?

Can I do them better, in a more efficient

Or maybe a kinder way?

Does this even need to be said, or done?

God, who will guide us, likes nothing to be wasted,

Including our time, the most irreplaceable thing in our lives.

You’ll be amazed at the efficient and wise suggestions

The Spirit has, on how to do things

You’ve often done far, far better.

And as we increasingly experience God’s guidance and

Mini-miracles, our faith increases.

 

Practice praying on your walks,

As you do your housework or gardening,

As you drift off to sleep.

Practice praying deep into your life,

And over it, in ever-widening circles.

 

Anything in our lives that we do not

Bathe in prayer is something we believe

We don’t need God’s help to accomplish.

And that is foolish.

So I am training myself to convert

My thoughts into prayer,

To pray through the preoccupations,

Which scurry through my mind,

Writing, work, finances, health, travel plans

The things I want to see happen in my children’s lives

And, also, to pray for my friends and, sometimes, even my enemies.

 

We skitter like water striders on the surface of life.

But if we slowed down, the Spirit would whisper to us

The words which sustain the weary.

Oh, what grace we often forfeit,

Oh, what needless pain we bear

All because we do not carry,

Everything to God in prayer.

 

Prayer is like pouring this immense flood of light and power

Into the little petri dish of our problems.

When we do it, God’s power can change our circumstances

Sooner than we ever imagined.

As we practice bathing our lives in prayer,

We ourselves change,

Our lives slowly change,

And our faith increases.

Oh God of resurrection,

Come with your dynamite power into our lives.

We put our old dreams and our new ones into your hands.

Bring them to life. Make them glow.

Come like a mighty burst of spring into our lives

Bringing apparently dead relationships, dreams,

The things we once loved,

And all our dormant potential to radiant life.

We put our lives into your hands.

Make them beautiful.

Come Lord Jesus.

Amen.

 

This is a meditation on Matthew 28.

I would love you to read my memoir, fruit of much “blood, sweat, toil and tears.”

Rosaries, Reading, Secrets: A Catholic Childhood in India in the UK, and in the US, here, well, and widely available, online, worldwide 🙂

If you’d like to follow these meditations the moment they appear, please subscribe to Christian Meditation with Anita Mathias at Apple Podcasts, Spotify or  

Amazon Music

or Audible

If you’d like to read my previous recorded meditations,

7 The Power of Christ’s Resurrection. For Us. Today

6 Each Individual’s Unique and Transforming Call and Vocation

5 Change Your Life by Changing Your Thoughts

4 Do not be Afraid–But be as Wise as a Serpent

3 Our Failures are the Cracks Through Which God’s Power Enters our Lives

2 The World is full of the Glory of God

1 Mindfulness is Remembering the Presence of Christ with us.

Thank you 🙂

 

 

 

 

Our Unique and Transforming Call and Vocation

By

 

 

We read in the Gospel of Matthew, that as Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon and Andrew, casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.”  At once they left their nets and followed him.

On the same walk, Jesus called two other brothers, James and John, who leave their boat, and their father, and follow him.

 

God is always speaking

His transforming words into our lives

As we still our hearts and listen.

He is, by his very nature, a God

Who speaks. At the start of his great Gospel,

The Apostle John calls Jesus the Word

Who was God, and became flesh

And lived among us.

 

And this speaking, communicating, yearning God

Calls each of us to the work he wants us to do in the world.

We are sometimes called at a particular point of time,

Through specific words or images,

Or else, gradually, through an inner conviction

That this is the task we are to embark on

With all our strength, for the rest of our lives.

The call we hear, or sense, is utterly serious.

And if we say “Yes!,” the moment of response

Is among the greatest and most important moments of our lives.

 

For it is a transforming call.

It changes the whole direction of our lives.

From the day we hear God’s call,

We must begin to restructure our lives

In accordance with this necessity.

What we read, the friendships we invest in,

Our social activities, hobbies, leisure,

Our whole lives…are hitherto

To be shaped in accordance with our calling.

 

The greatest, kindest person in the whole world,

Jesus Christ, has called you to something you

Are uniquely equipped to do, you

With your strengths and your weaknesses,

You have been called, commissioned

To a task in which you will flourish and find joy.

But not just you.

 

Jesus said he would give his flesh, sacrifice

His life for the life of the world.

And while what we are called to will make us fully,

Blazingly alive–mentally, emotionally, and spiritually,

What God calls us to do will also contribute

To the life and the flourishing of the world.

* * *

God wastes nothing.

Your call will use the gifts, experiences, and strengths

Formed in you by the circumstances of your life.

Peter, Andrew, James and John were fisherman

Who sometimes worked hard all night and caught nothing,

Who could row three and a half miles out of shore,

Who were caught in perilous storms, in which waves crashed into the boat

And they almost sank.

 

This hardiness gave them the tough, resilient character of men

Who could not only catch fish to keep themselves alive

But could also persuade humans into a richer,

Deeper, more peaceful and eternal life.

No longer fishermen but fishers of men, punning Jesus said.

The call of God, if obeyed, always leads to a bigger,

Better and more challenging place.

Your call will stretch you, mould you and transform you.

To reject, or to ignore the call is to reject growth.

 

The call gives us a new identity.

The fisherman became leaders,

Writers of the New Testament, poetic and prophetic.

And sometimes, at the point of the call,

God supernaturally puts into us spiritual gifts, strengths,

And abilities called an anointing (Oh, precious thing!)

Which makes difficult things easier.

If you yearn for that, then pray for it.

* * *

 

The call will involve sacrifice.

We cannot simply squeeze a new mission into our crowded lives.

If you hear God call you to write, let’s say,

You must immediately ask yourself: “What

Will I stop doing to help this new thing happen?”

Less time reading the news, or on social media?

Releasing outgrown friendships which drag you down?

Eating more simply, more raw foods perhaps?

Buying as few inessential things as possible?

 

God’s call is benevolent, beneficent, aimed at our flourishing.

And as we begin to obey it, with increasing faithfulness,

Our whole life changes.

It becomes more serious, more purpose-driven.

And purpose is one of the greatest things we humans can have,

(Along with faith, hope and love).

When we have purpose, our eyes are bright with it.

* * *

Having heard a call, you set out in obedience

On a very long journey,

Which will last the rest of your life.

There’s almost always a long gap between hearing a call,

And seeing the fruits of your work.

For God’s call to you is not just for the life and flourishing of the world,

But, also, for your own growth and flourishing.

While you are refining your skills to fulfil your call

God is shaping and refining you–

Your persistence, your ability to follow through,

To get from A to Z, meet deadlines, get organised,

To ask him for guidance, and learn the sound of his voice.

You grow up, you mature, you toughen,

You develop character as you develop your gifts.

 

The precise call may be revealed progressively.

You can only steer a moving car.

If you hear God’s call to write, say,

Begin today, with the words and ideas which come.

Polish and burnish your craft while awaiting

More precise marching orders,

Which may keep coming over decades.

* * *

Now, here’s the hard part.

Being called, as many are,

Does not guarantee blazing success in the world’s eyes,

Or by human metrics. God decides our platform,

Whether our work will reach dozens, hundreds, thousands, or millions.

 

In the Parable of the Talents,

God gives some one talent, some two and some five.

The ones with two and five talents each work as hard as they can

And each double their capital.

But still, one ends up with four talents, and the other with ten.

That’s life. If it seems unfair, it’s because we are characters

In a play God has written. He gives us our roles,

And it’s our job to play them as beautifully as we can.

 

Some writers, for instance, will always have a small audience.

Fact of life.

If that is you, write as truly and beautifully as you can,

With gratitude for your platform, large or small.

But hey, if having many readers or listeners matters to you,

(And it does matter to me!)

Ask God to grant you success,

And trust in his grace to work well, whether

In Milton’s phrase, your success will eventually be

“Less or more, or soon or slow, or mean or high.”

* * *

And what if you have heard a call

But have not been steadily faithful in following it?

And, here, I sadly put up my hand.

Me too.

I have not been single-minded.

I have been distracted.

 

If you’ve half-heartedly focused on your call,

And wasted time in trivial pursuits,

Sprint after Jesus as he continues walking by the Sea of Galilee.

Repent and promise renewed faithfulness to your call,

Renewed seriousness,

For our life is a short, serious and holy experience.

Recommit, and follow your call as intensely

As you wish you had done at first.

* * *

And what if you haven’t heard a specific call yet?

After all, Peter, Andrew, James and John,

Young working men, earning their living

Had not heard a call until that brilliant, costly, priceless day

When Jesus called them.

 

If you haven’t heard a specific call,

Then do the next right thing while you await direction.

Never jump into a ministry or your life work for God

Before you have heard God’s crystal-clear directions.

And while he prepares us, God also speaks through our lives.

What happens in the doctor’s office?

Do you leave resolving to exercise more,

To cut back on sugar, caffeine, white carbs? To meditate?

Start small in forming the good habits you’ll need, but start.

Is your house ready to invite friends over

Without a cleaning-up operation that’s like

Hiding the evidence of a crime?

Create time by decluttering everything inessential from your home,

Anything which slows you down as you run your race.

Do you tell yourself you’d love to wake with the sun?

Then recalibrate with night-time go-to-bed alarms and earlier nights.

All this is preparation.

 

*  * *

So, dear Lord,

Help us to be single-minded and laser-focused,

On being faithful to what you have called us to do.

We love you; increase our love.

We want to always see you before us, Jesus.

Increase our faith.

Amen.

This meditation is inspired by Matthew 4: 18-22

If you haven’t yet discerned your purpose in life, I’d recommend Rick Warren’s The Purpose-Driven Life (UK), or on Amazon.com

If you’d like to read my previous recorded meditations,

5 Change Your Life by Changing Your Thoughts

4 Do not be Afraid–But be as Wise as a Serpent

3 Our Failures are the Cracks Through Which God’s Power Enters our Lives

2 The World is full of the Glory of God

1 Mindfulness is Remembering the Presence of Christ with us.

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And, of course, I would love you to read my memoir, fruit of much “blood, sweat, toil and tears.”

Rosaries, Reading, Secrets: A Catholic Childhood in India in the UK, and in the US, here, well, and widely available, online, worldwide 🙂