Isaiah 40:21-31 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.
Psalm 147:1-11, 20c Praise the LORD!
1 Corinthians 9:16-23 I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some.
Mark 1:29-39 In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed.
On his CD Justice and Love, Bryan Sirchio sings,
"The greatest enemy of God's will for your life is all the good things others want you to do. You keep saying yes, 'til there's no time left to do what you're most truly called to do."
Jesus was having quite a sabbath day. He preached in the synogogue, cast a demon out of a man, healed Peter's mother-in-law of a fever, and at sundown healed all the sick people of the town who gathered around the door to see him. When at last he had a quiet moment, he went away to pray by himself; but people sought him out. When they found him, they said "Everyone is looking for you!" Between the lines... "why are you out here doing nothing when there is work to be done?"
Prayer may look like nothing. It may even feel like nothing. But prayer is an important practice, which helps us to discern our call. Jesus could have remained in Capernaum, built a house of his own, opened up a healing practice, married, had a few kids. But after prayer, he announced that it was time to move on, and proclaim the message in the neighboring towns, because that was the reason for his "coming out."
There are many ways to serve God. The difficulty isn't so much finding what to do; sometimes the challenge is figuring out what NOT to do-- or rather, what to leave to others, in order that we may focus on that which we can do best.
I invite you to pray for discernment, which is that wisdom of knowing the difference between that which cannot be changed, and that which must be changed (to paraphrase Reinhold Niebuhr's serenity prayer).
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