tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5176231645022543980.post169363152190102558..comments2024-03-28T16:38:25.884-07:00Comments on Celebrate the Psalms: Psalm for Sunday, February 1, 2015Editor @ Parishworld.nethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11351018547370080019noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5176231645022543980.post-10487576084197407832015-01-29T15:14:52.387-08:002015-01-29T15:14:52.387-08:00With daily prayer time, weekly prayer groups and B...With daily prayer time, weekly prayer groups and Bible Study, and Mass at least once a week, should my heart not be open to the Lord? I read, study, and pray with great sincerity, and yet, there it is. In some corner of my heart, I am unmoved. <br /><br />Knowing the truth is not always enough to goad me into action -- to help, to feed, to clothe, to be more holy. Sometimes, what I need is my own personal meltdown. A session of weeping... feeling alone... at wits' end. I need to deconstruct my learning, my knowing. Break myself. Before I can be rebuilt in His image. <br /><br />The first building block for me needs to be unshakeable faith in God's provision -- belief in his goodness, that his plans for my family, for me, are good. (Jeremiah 29:11) From there, I can extend that goodness outward. I can love because He loves me. And my heart becomes moldable, useful, once again, to do God's will. <br /><br />J Kimnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5176231645022543980.post-2506675894247651412015-01-29T15:13:13.113-08:002015-01-29T15:13:13.113-08:00If you harden your heart, you become like a lump o...If you harden your heart, you become like a lump of clay or a hardened loaf of bread which is useless and worthless. God may toss you aside and throw you away like a hardened loaf of bread. Nothing can restore it and make it useful.<br /><br />But we are precious in the eyes of God. He wants to bless us and give us Salvation.<br />And so our Psalmist warns us to not harden our hearts. Even so we lose faith in God by testing, stubbornly resisting, and disregarding His will. <br /><br />Lately my heart went astray, I became ungrateful, not humble, stubborn, and not worshiping God. In addition, my faith is lukewarm. And my compulsive shopping habits are bothering me a great deal. The Holy Spirit has been nudging me and convicting me that what I have been doing is not quite right. I bow down in worship and plead with Him to forgive my wicked ways. From now on, I have to think more about my neighbors who have less than I have. God's saving power and grace intervene so that I must listen to his voice. I am under His care. Let us come before Him with thanksgiving and sing for joy to the Lord! <br />Bethnoreply@blogger.com