Day 150, Morning
Today’s morning meditation is available below in audio and script formats. The audio version is also available for free download on the player.
Reading
Abide in peace, banish cares, take no account of all that happens, and you will serve God according to God’s good pleasure, and rest in God.
—Saint John of the Cross
Commentary
Many people like to gamble, to take risks, when the stakes are high. The mystics would ask us, “Why don’t you gamble on goodness, then? Try to be kind to someone who is unkind to you, and look upon it as a gamble.”
Of course we are not sure how the other person is going to respond. But if they add insult to injury, why not double your bet? Isn’t that what people do when they gamble? You just keep on doubling your bet until one day you redeem all of your losses.
It may not work at the casino, but in life this is the only strategy that pays in the end. After all, what every one of us is trying to do is get our hands on the real treasures of life – rich relationships and resources for contributing to the happiness of all. This is what everybody wants, and to get it we have to gamble on goodness. (WLB)
Stillness
As your day begins, spend a few moments in silence and stillness. As thoughts about the coming day begin to flood your mind, gently guide them back on to God.
Prayer
Lord make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon. Where there is doubt, faith. Where there is despair, hope. Where there is darkness, light. And where there is sadness, joy
Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console. To be understood as to understand. To be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive. It is in pardoning that we are pardoned. And it's in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen
—Prayer Of St. Francis
Abbreviations
BC The Belgic Confession
CAC The Center For Action & Contemplation
CD The Canons of Dort
CIB Church In Bethesda Prayers
HC The Heidelberg Catechism
NT The New Testament
OT The Old Testament
WC The Westminster Confession
WLB Eknath Easwaran’s, “Words To Live By”
WLC The Westminster Larger Catechism
WSC The Westminster Shorter Catechism