Straighten Your Crown

A Reflection on the First Reading for Sunday, September 24th, 2023:
Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Isaiah
​55.6-9​

Seek the Lord while he may be found,
call upon him while he is near;
let the wicked person forsake their way,
and the unrighteous person their thoughts;
let that person return to the Lord that he may have mercy on them,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Pause. Pray. Reflect.

“Be ... all that you can be. Find your future, in the Aaaaarmy!”

Remember this catchy recruitment jingle from the early 1980s? Its basic message is that army personnel are early risers. They have a day’s work finished before the rest of us even hit the boards. They are motivated, disciplined, energized — and that is how they flourish.

I have to face it though, sometimes it’s tough to get motivated and, once motivated, to stay motivated. I have lazy days. I procrastinate. “Mañana,” I say. And that’s okay, for a little while.

Before too long, however, there follows the reckoning: “If I’m going to be all that I can be, I’d better shake a leg, and soon.”

The First Reading for this Sunday reminds me of that call to discipline, to commitment, to the pursuit and achievement of goals before they slip through my fingers. “Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near.” At first blush, these words had me thinking: Does this mean that there could come a time when God would pull away from me, when I would search and not be able to find Him?

Then I realized that, when I have felt alone or estranged from God, it was never God who had moved away from me, it was me who had drifted from God. I allowed myself to be distracted. I lacked discipline in my prayer life. I spent my energy on relationships and activities that drew me away from Him.

And, during all these times, He remained present to me, waiting with infinite patience for me to realize that my thoughts and my ways are not how I will flourish. I will be all that I can be only by following higher ways, thinking higher thoughts and being ambitious for higher goals — a deep, authentic relationship with Him. I know He will wait and wait until I return to Him “that He may have mercy” on me and “abundantly pardon” me. Who am I that the highest King would wait, and wait, and wait for me?

Oh, God, Almighty God, I am humbled by Your steadfastness. You teach me patience. You teach me how to be disciplined. You welcome me home despite my times of spiritual laziness. You teach me not to feel guilty but to play the long game and focus on the goal of building Your kingdom, no matter how often I stumble in doing so. I deserve none of this because of who I am, but because of who You say I am. Who am I that the highest King would wait for me? I am Your daughter, and so I straighten my crown.
 

Originally posted on September 15th, 2020, by Donna Davis

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