Day 15 Wednesday March 4 – Call someone and tell them you are thinking of them today
RO: God wants your heart. He wants us to view ourselves as temples of Him, as temples of His Spirit.
When we do things that lead us away from an attentive relationship God wants us to set us straight. God wants to get our attention. // What is Jesus doing in your life right now to try to get your attention? – To make sure that your temple is holy, sacred and filled with HIs Spirit and not just earthly things.
Jeremiah 18: 18-20
Remember that I stood before you to speak in their behalf, to turn away your wrath from them.
Matthew 20: 17-28
Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave. Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.
I looked forward to calling someone today. That’s because from the start of my morning I knew who I was going to call. I thought of it often throughout the day, but I didn’t sit down to do it until after Ryan was playing with Nora and I had a chance to sit for a few moments. That’s when I discovered I did not have the necessary phone number! Fortunately there is email and Facebook and so I messaged her both ways to request her phone number.
It was a little embarrassing since she is one of my best friends from college. How did I not have her phone number? I was surprised to see she wasn’t in my contacts. We have talked to each other occasionally but typically we email. I got a new phone and wasn’t able to transfer my contacts, but apparently that was almost a year ago and I still didn’t have her number in my phone (I know we did text at one point in the past year but apparently I didn’t save her number when we did – should I admit that too?).
Fortunately she messaged me back on Facebook and I got her number. After Nora went to bed I called her. But I had to leave a message. In my message I called and said there was no real reason for calling other than I was doing this thing for Lent and I was thinking of her.
And it is true that I was thinking of her because I woke up in a panic this morning that I had missed her birthday. Then I remembered it is March and her birthday was in January and I am sure (pretty sure?) I had to have messaged her a Happy Birthday.
But the shame of it was after that I really couldn’t remember if I had. I felt a terrible knot in my stomach (1) for possibly having missed it and (2) for not clearly remembering whether or not I had wished my best friend a happy birthday. Facebook “saved me” as I could see that I had posted on her Timeline for her birthday (even getting creative with my message with “ Hope it’s a happy one!”).
I can’t really figure out the message for today though… Perhaps it is that I need to do a better job staying in touch with the people I care about? Or perhaps it is that I should have a better memory when it comes to my personal relationships? I will assume it is those things because I am terrible at both of them!
Part of living the faith is to not only keep ourselves in communion with God but it is to have a community with others. We are called to evangelize. How can we fully serve God if we aren’t creating opportunities to bring Him into our relationships? Me being a “person person” (as opposed to a ‘people person’) I do find it hard to challenge myself to get out of my comfort zone of just interacting with my family and a few close friends. I know God knows me and loves me for who I am and who I try to be for Him, but He deserves more from me.
I need to not just idly wait until I am presented with the opportunity to have an encounter with Christ, but I need to actively engage with those around me and those I think about and care about so that I am doing what I can to bring God’s love into the world.
Continue to Day 16
Give God Your Yes 