Focus
Slow your breathing and become aware of the taking in and letting out of your breath. Focus on putting things aside so you will be open to what God is saying to you today.
Read
169 Let my cry come before you, O Lord;
give me understanding according to your word.
170 Let my supplication come before you;
deliver me according to your promise.
171 My lips will pour forth praise,
because you teach me your statutes.
172 My tongue will sing of your promise,
for all your commandments are right.
173 Let your hand be ready to help me,
for I have chosen your precepts.
174 I long for your salvation, O Lord,
and your law is my delight.
175 Let me live that I may praise you,
and let your ordinances help me.
176 I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek out your servant,
for I do not forget your commandments.
Reflect
Sometimes in our Christian walk, we become like sheep. We do not do anything explicitly wrong like steal, kill, or lie, but we also stray off path because we are not intentionally following Christ’s leading in our life. We lose connection with God, let our prayer time slip away, maybe we miss church a couple of Sundays because we are so tired, we don’t read our Bibles because there is something really good on Netflix. There is nothing inherently evil in these things, but we wander off like lost sheep. Lent provides us a time to be purposeful about our spiritual walk with Christ and reminds us that the Good Shepherd always knows where we are.
When have you felt like you have “gone astray like a lost sheep…”?
Pray
Forgiving God, we come to you with the realization that the longer we have been a Christian, the more often we are likely to have strayed from your teachings. We have forgotten the zeal we felt as a new child of yours and have gotten sloppy with our focus on your path. We have become so familiar with your word that we don’t carefully read the scriptures to seek your truth for our lives. Rather, we assume what we think we know. We pray our prayers by rote rather with a genuine, sincere heart. God, let us come back to you to let you renew our faith. Amen.
Go with God!
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