Something that Will Stick

In the spiritual life only one thing will produce genuine joy, and that is obedience. ~ Foster

So funny to read that as the first line of CoD this morning. I basically had it exactly backwards. Yesterday I posted about laughter putting us in a celebratory mood, and thus thought there might be something to working from the outside in (celebration->joy->obedience). I still think there is something to working from the outside in, but I have to admit that the results found through that path are fleeting. Foster explains that the firm path to joy in the Lord is flows inward from inner obedience to joy, which then puts us in a spirit of celebration. That sounds more right to me.

This morning I was also appreciating the harmony between CoD and Liturgy of the Ordinary. What I read in study in the morning I receive again in a life's memoir about the everydayness of how God's sanctification works out.

What does the word mean to me today? Obedience.

I think (and pray) it means keep doing what I'm doing. I was telling Jess yesterday that I have learned so much over this break. I have learned to pay more attention to others, to put down my technology, to embrace my family and relish in the moments that are God's everyday gifts. I have become less work oriented and more life oriented. As I explained these things to Jess she said, "it will wear off soon enough"; she knows me. She knows as soon as I go back to work I'm going to be in the everydayness of the hustle, the grind. I'll bitch, and be discourteous, and get fumbly about priorities. But I pray not. I pray I learned something. Something that will stick.

Lord Jesus, I pray that I have not only celebrated over the course of this summer, but that I have also learned obedience. A few days ago I read "Plain obedience is the thing" and I pray that is the thing that I have learned. I pray for Your guiding hand in my daily life, to see it, to follow. I pray for everydayness in the Lord.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Luke 11:27-28

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