Scripture Readings

Food For Thought

*Pray and Reflect with full guided meditations in my book Take Time For Him: Remain In His Love

Meditation Reflection: 

Mud clings.  I remember walking home from school as a sixth grader one spring and cutting through an open lot only to find myself stopped in my tracks, literally.  My feet sunk into the mud so deeply that I couldn’t get my foot out for quite awhile and when I finally did my shoe remained behind!  Later when the ground dried enough for me to recover the shoe I learned just how tedious and difficult restoring it would be.

In St. Paul’s letter to the Hebrews today (12:1-4), he exhorts us to “rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us”.  Imagine Jeremiah being pulled out of the cistern.  Scripture describes it as having no water, “only mud, and Jeremiah sank into the mud” (Jeremiah 38:6).  How long it must have taken him to get cleaned up! Sin clings to us – whether we fell in by accident, were drawn into it by others, or simply formed the bad habit over time.  We might knock off big chunks at first but the tedium of removing the clingy bits in the crevices, grooves, and fibers can discourage us to the point of despair. However, St. Paul encourages us to persevere because muddy shoes slow you down and tire you out in a race and we are running the race to heaven. 

Thankfully you don’t have to do it alone, but you do need to ask for help.  The waters of grace have the power to cleanse even the most difficult stain. If we turn to Christ and ask the Holy Spirit to remove the clinging sin then it can be done.  Psalm 40:1-2 praises the Lord for just such a miracle:

“I have waited, waited for the LORD,      and he stooped toward me. The LORD heard my cry. He drew me out of the pit of destruction,      out of the mud of the swamp; he set my feet upon a crag;      he made firm my steps.”

We resist clingy people, pets, and even clothing because they restrict our freedom and flourishing.  Let us resist clingy sin for the same reason. It will require patience, perseverance, and prayer, but as St. Paul reminds us “we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1) and they give us hope that it can be done!

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© 2021 Angela M Jendro