I haven’t been ignoring you all, I promise. There just hasn’t
been anything to write about. We only had two cases today and one case the day
before. Things are a little slow in the necropsy department, but hopefully that
just means that things are going well in the hospital! So because I have
nothing to say in regards to school, I thought I’d leave a short (well I
intended it to be short…) note about something that has been on my mind this
week. I feel like every day at school my mind is constantly being shaken up
like a snow globe and little details of information randomly fall here and
there. Sometimes that means I get the question right (Yay!) And sometimes that
means that I’m rambling about a disease in horse’s stomach when in fact the
faculty member is talking about a cat’s foot. Seems like it’s often more the
latter than the former. But all that to say that I often feel like my priorities
get shaken up every day. Some of you know I have an incessant need to make
lists and write things down in a calendar. There are so many things going and I
worry that I’ll forget to do something important. But then there are those
things that are in our constant thoughts that our mind reminds us of without
any outside prompting. Things like a sick friend, a loved one making wrong choices,
a bad decision we made, or, strangely enough, ice cream. Yes, I admit, over the
past three weeks I have had a ridiculous craving for ice cream. Usually cravings
like that pass after a few days, but after three weeks of staring into an ice cream-free
freezer, I finally got some. And I don’t regret it one bit. But I wanted to
write this note not about ice cream, but about something else that has been on
my mind this week. I have to be honest and say that with all that my brain goes
through at school each day, by the time Tuesday rolls around, I often only have
a foggy memory of what the pastor talked about on Sunday. Maybe I could spit
out a quick summary or a catch phrase or two. By the end of the week, I have to
stop and remember whether I spent the previous Sunday at the vet hospital or
church. So the fact that it’s Wednesday evening and I still remember with sharp
precision what we talked about on Sunday means it’s something significant. It’s
something to hold onto. It’s something to share.
Luke 18:1-8
Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said, “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’ For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care about men, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually wear me out with her coming!” And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for His chosen ones, who cry out to Him day and night? Will He keep putting them off? I tell you, He will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”
Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said, “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’ For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care about men, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually wear me out with her coming!” And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for His chosen ones, who cry out to Him day and night? Will He keep putting them off? I tell you, He will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”
So herein lies the title for this blog: Consistent,
Persistent, and Irritating. This was how the pastor described the widow in this
story. Of course, I don’t think that God gets irritated with our prayers and
requests. If anything I think He would be irritated when we give up so easily.
But it was a good reminder for me that just because I continually pray for things
in my life and get no answer, it doesn’t mean to stop praying. It doesn’t mean
to stop seeking. After all, how unrewarding would it be for the child at Easter
to give up before finding any candy-filled eggs. How fruitless would it be for
the hunter to sit in the tree stand for ten minutes and then leave. Or the
rancher to give up looking for a lost calf after only a day of searching. “Consistent,
Persistent, and Irritating” has constantly been going through my mind this
week, reminding me to fight for the things that are worth fighting for. I hope
it does the same for you.
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