But something stirred within him that day. Jesus had brought out a stubbornness in him; a stubbornness that he guessed could be the “faith” his healer had just mentioned. A stubbornness to hope in the goodness and beauty of the world despite everything that seemed to indicate otherwise.
There are times when putting the Body of Christ first means putting our comfort and convenience last. There are times when moving forward means letting go of some things. There are times, when making room for resurrection, that some things have to die in order for new things to sprout up in their place.
Let us give joyfully so that when God calls us to follow, instead of going away tearfully, we can go away with a song on our lips because the God Movement is alive in our lives and we have been called to share it!
The Kingdom of God must be such a scary place for the person who thinks they know everything. But for the child who acts like a sponge to soak up new things, the Kingdom of God must be very exciting!
Prayer is the natural result of all the behaviors James has been lifting up to us this past month. Righteousness, gentleness, impartiality, benevolence, mercy, faithfulness, generosity. When these behaviors are exhibited, prayer is the inevitable outcome.
Let us go into the world to show that gentleness is not weakness. Go out into the world and choose the wisdom that lifts up gentleness, a gentleness that is even stronger than death.
“Words are, in my not-so-humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic - capable of both inflicting injury, and remedying it.” - Albus Dumbledore
Our bodies have such potential within them. They can do the most amazing things. But it all comes down to this: what we choose to do with our body and how we treat other bodies.
James tells us that if the faith we find in the sanctuary doesn’t change our lives or other lives outside of it, then what we found wasn’t really faith at all.