Hello fellow pilgrim- move-her, relocating woman, deploying soldier, reassigned missionary, or spiritual wanderer,
My payers are with you as you face your life turned upside down and inside out.
A couple of weeks ago we started our wandering through the wilderness lessons:
Everything I know about moving I learned from Moses and the band of pilgrims he lead across the desert.
I learned that pilgrims pray. They converse with God.
Moses’ first recorded prayer / conversation with God:
Setting: Moses, a once prince now exiled Hebrew/Egyptian, has taken up residence in Midian.
Scene: While tending sheep, Moses stumbles upon a blazing bush which doesn’t burn up.
God: “Moses.”
Moses: “Here I am.”
This is like roll call. The teacher calls a name and a student says, “Here.”
“Here I am,” is like standing at attention, a “What do you want me to do?” kind of “Here.”
It seems Moses wants to be seen. “ Here – I’m here.”
So God speaks to Moses giving him marching orders.
Moses responds in protest. Really? Prayer can be a protest? Apparently so!
Prayer is any sort of conversation we have with God.
Pilgrims pray. Take every thought, every care and concern to God. He wants to hear us so He can answer.
Pilgrims invite: Pilgrims INVITE.
Moses’ desert mentor was Jethro, his father-in-law. Before the Priest of Midian ever met the Egyptian/Hebrew fugitive, he ordered his daughters,
“Invite him to have something to eat.” (Exodus 2:20)
Pilgrims survive because they face the journey together. Meet your neighbors. Invite them to share the joys and the sorrows stored in your heart.
I just returned from having been invited to friends house for dinner. Three couples sat around the dinner table – sharing concerns about our college age children, talking politics, sports, faith, morality, ethics…
I cannot tell you how blessed I felt to be INVITED into a fellow pilgrim’s home. None of the three couples originated in Charlotte. We are each transplants having moved here. Were it not for the fact that we reached out and INVITED each other into one another’s lives we would have missed the rich experiences we have shared.
Pilgrim, feeling lonely? Invite your neighbor to have something to eat.
And…
Shine!
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2 comments:
Your mention of Moses, reminds me also of Samuel's "Here am I".
Pilgrims pray. Pilgrims invite. Good tools for the wilderness road.
Thanks, Van.
peace~elaine