Reminder ringtones - Tomorrow's reading reflection

Thank God for smart phones where we can set for ourselves reminders with different ringtones to grab our attention.  In the old days it used to be a string tied around the finger.  By the 1990's, "yellow-stickies" became the modus operandi, being stuck to doors, mirrors, windows, computer screens and even dashboards.  Yeah, thank God we have ways to remind ourselves of what should be priorities.  Why?  Because we so easily forget. -even those things which are so important that we take the time to create a visual reminder such as a string, sticky-note or iPhone calendar reminder.

This is what we see in the first reading.  We hear, "When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said: 'I am God the Almighty.  Walk in my presence and be blameless.'”  In today's lingo you could almost hear Abram thinking, "Really?  Again with this?  I know you're God and I must walk in your presence and be blameless.  You've told me this a thousand times."  In fact, God had been leading Abram since he began his pilgrimage out of Ur.  God promised him offspring and lands.  And then he does so again when Ishmael is conceived with Hagar and Abram is 85.  Now we see Abram at 99, fourteen years later!  Still, no son.  Still no descendents other than the wild ass of a man (Ishmael) who is currently 13 and probably a wild ass of a teenager.

God says to Abram about Sarai, yet again, "I will bless her, and I will give you a son by her."  Abram had heard this before.  But, he needed a reminder! -just like he needed a reminder that God is God and that he must walk in his presence and be blameless.  We see Abram's faith and familiarity with God, as well as his humanity, because we hear, "Abraham [he was renamed in v.5] prostrated himself and laughed as he said to himself, 'Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old?  Or can Sarah give birth at ninety?'”  

As we know, the answer was yes.  Isaac was born one year later, more than twenty-five years after God first  promised Abraham descendents.  The promise was to be fulfilled, eventually.  But Abraham needed reminders along the way.  And so do we.  God is God.  We are not.  He loves us.  

Relax, and walk in his ways the best you can.

Abram's sandcastle - Tomorrow's reading reflection

"And everyone who listens to these words of mine but does not act on them will be like a fool who built his house on sand."

It's awfully easy to take matters into our own hands.  When what we want isn't coming to us when we want it, we're tempted to jump in and make things happen.  That, is building on sand.  

We see it clearly with Abram and Sarai in the first reading.  God's word is spoken and they listen to it but do not act on it.  Instead, when their timeline isn't met, they take matters into their own hands and Sarai convinces Abram to have intercourse with her maidservant.  "And everyone who listens to these words of mine but does not act on them will be like a fool who built his house on sand."

All hell breaks loose in Abram's house.  After Hagar runs away and then returns, she bears a son of whom the angel of the Lord says, "This one shall be a wild ass of a man, his hand against everyone, and everyone’s hand against him; In opposition to all his kin shall he encamp." I'm sure that is just what Hagar wanted to hear in her exodus.  Just as she wanted to hear the angel tell her to return and submit humbly to Hagar's abusive treatment.  Yet she hears the word of the Lord and acts upon it.  Thus, she builds on stone.

Eventually Abram and Sarai would build on stone but not without more mistakes, more sandcastles.  We are quick to judge others and some of us are quick to judge ourselves.  Let the Lord be the judge.  You, focus on not taking matters into your own hands and thus building on sand.  Listen to the word of God and act on it.  Build your life upon the Rock of Christ.