Shelby Olive, Communications Associate

Center yourself on today’s reflection by lighting a candle and reciting this breath prayer:
Inhale – Show me your way, O Lord
Exhale – lead me on a level path.

Psalm 119:9-16
9 How can young people keep their way pure?
     By guarding it according to your word.
 10 With my whole heart I seek you;
     do not let me stray from your commandments.
 11 I treasure your word in my heart,
     so that I may not sin against you.
 12 Blessed are you, O Lord;
     teach me your statutes.
 13 With my lips I declare
     all the ordinances of your mouth.
 14 I delight in the way of your decrees
     as much as in all riches.
 15 I will meditate on your precepts,
     and fix my eyes on your ways.
 16 I will delight in your statutes;
     I will not forget your word.

Reflection:
At some point during undergrad, I decided it was time for me to commit several passages of scripture to memory. Sure, part of me wanted to do this on principle, but if I’m being completely honest, I felt like I wasn’t as good of a Christian as my other friends and felt strangely guilty about it. I told a friend about my new, lofty goal, and you can imagine my surprise when she decided that the two of us would memorize the entire Book of Ephesians. I’ll spare you the details and just cut to the end: it didn’t go well. But something else happened instead. Scriptures that I had internalized long, long ago would pop up at times when I desperately needed to hear them.

During Lent, we may find ourselves feeling guilty over our struggle with building habits out of spiritual disciplines. We give it our best effort, and it seems that no matter how hard we try, it doesn’t work. While we are certainly invited to mourn our own brokenness, sometimes that guilt — that I’ll-never-be-good-enough guilt — can work its way into our hearts and keep us from seeing spiritual practices for what they are — gifts that enable meaningful encounters with God.

It is all too easy to mistake spiritual practices like memorizing Bible verses for measuring sticks that estimate where we are on some sort of righteousness scale. God does not hold spiritual practices against us. Rather, God invites us to participate in them for our benefit. That’s exactly where this psalm directs us today—the benefit of meditating on God’s word. Notice, the psalmist is not shamed into meditating on God’s word but delights in it.

“I will delight in your statutes;
 I will not forget your word.”

We spend a lifetime engaging in spiritual practices so that God’s word comes to the fore whenever we are desperate to hear God’s voice. This is a really good gift.

Prayer: 

God,

We confess that sometimes we get bogged down by spiritual practices. In our attempts to engage in them, we get overwhelmed and forget that they are gifts meant for our delight. As we journey through the remainder of Lent, remind us of your grace that you infuse in the spiritual practices we observe so that we may be blessed by your presence through them. Amen.