The most beautiful of tapestries with the
most intricate patterns must begin like every other, with strands in place,
carefully chosen, secured to the loom.
It is interesting to consider that, in the fullness of time, Jesus was
born into a culture and into a family where the warp threads would make sure
that He would hear the Word of God continually. Such was the case for young Jewish boys in that time and
place. Those cords were fixed.
Jesus was entrusted to a man and a woman who
were able to listen and obey, to expect and to believe in the intervention of
God in the lives of His people.
Their obedience was vital in the story of Jesus’ life. Mary and Joseph had holy boundaries
and stays in their own lives, certainly that God speaks and that men need not
fear to obey.
Some of us have friends or relatives who walk
in peace with God every day of their lives. A few of us are blessed to know those who will not take up
an offense or gossip, whose faith in God looks for His mercy and power in every
circumstance. Happy is the man or woman
who knows even one person whose counsel is always so full of the pure and
peaceable wisdom of God that it is worth seeking out. One of life’s greatest joys is the privilege of friendship
with a true and merry heart. All
of us in Cor Unum hope to be numbered among those with such strong and
resilient warping in their souls.
None of that comes naturally. Each of those characteristics, when the
very life of Jesus Christ shines through them, is acquired and maintained by
faith, by the decision to become a divine person. Anyone can read the Bible; a few will sit down with God
Himself and say, “I want to know You.
I want to have something to say that will help others when I speak. I will walk with You in this life, and laziness
and selfishness are not my companions.”
We are neither so young or untrained or
inept or busy as we might have been led to believe . . . what would be
required, what warp threads would have to be in place, that we might do as we
pray, that we might walk with God and choose His friendship at all costs?
Sit down today at the spindle of your heart,
and discover how much you already know about the necessary warp strands of life
. . . how may we be sure that we will come to know God and ever abide in His
Son, as Jesus told us to do? (John
15:1-17) Consider ways that those
fine cords might be wound upon the loom that is producing a masterpiece
of hope and love and joy in your life. We will explore several together, but for today ... good marketplace monastics that we are ... let's see what we shall see, here in this monastery of the heart.
Clemensmarabu
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