Ordinary Time 
Pause
In Lord of the Rings, Frodo the hobbit complains about the times he is living in, and the sage Gandalf agrees and adds, “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
We are given this time in history, no matter how you see it. And, we are all equal when it comes to TIME; all of us have 24 hours in our days, and 7 days in our weeks. But, we are not equal when it comes to MONEY and POWER.
Let us explore some ways God’s Word speaks about the inherent inequalities in our lives and how we can handle (or not) what we have.
Listen
Who could possibly compare to the Lord our God? God rules from on high; he has to come down to even see heaven and earth! God lifts up the poor from the dirt and raises up the needy from the garbage pile to seat them with leaders— with the leaders of his own people! God nests the once barren woman at home— now a joyful mother with children! Praise the Lord!
Psalm 113:5-9
Think
“If God is on our side, can anyone be against us?” (Romans 8:31, CEV)
The Psalms remind us that God is bigger than any of our problems, bigger than any of our fears. God was there at the beginning and will be there at the end. Why would we question that God is with us here and now in the middle of all of that? If we wanted to set it up as a simple equation, it could look like this:
You + God > anything
God is not only with us but is also actively working to reverse this world, raising up the poor and needy, and God “lets them take part in ruling.” Power as we have come to know it is being overturned. Wealth as we know it is not what counts. It is so easy and tempting for us to lose our sight of what is most important and what we are to be about. May we ever be mindful of the needs of others and be like Christ in our loving response.
Rock Higgins
Pray
Lord, all my time is in your hands. All my power, all my wealth, even all of myself comes from you. I play at thinking that I deserve any of this, instead of seeing that all that I have and all that I am are a gift — grace from you. Help me to use these good gifts you showered upon me, every second, every penny, every influential word, to your honor and glory this day. Amen.
Go
“When you get your, ‘Who am I?' question right, all the 'What should I do?' questions tend to take care of themselves.”
Richard Rohr, Falling Upward, 2011
The World will tell you to keep score by its rules. Define yourself by who you are in God, and the score loses its meaning.
