Ordinary Time 
Pause
All of us live full lives. And yet in spite of all the things we have accomplished thus far or plan to accomplish in the future, there is nothing more valuable in life than the knowledge of God’s presence.
Knowing that God is with you and for you, feel free to let go of everything that is holding you down or holding you back. Settle into the silence of this moment and recognize what a gift it is. Because of God’s love, you are free.
So receive God with gladness, and open both your heart and mind, that God might move in you and through you, even now.
Listen
The Lord’s word came to Elijah: Get up and go to Zarephath near Sidon and stay there. I have ordered a widow there to take care of you. Elijah left and went to Zarephath. As he came to the town gate, he saw a widow collecting sticks. He called out to her, “Please get a little water for me in this cup so I can drink.” She went to get some water. He then said to her, “Please get me a piece of bread.”
“As surely as the Lord your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any food; only a handful of flour in a jar and a bit of oil in a bottle. Look at me. I’m collecting two sticks so that I can make some food for myself and my son. We’ll eat the last of the food and then die.”
1 Kings 17:8-12
Think
We all know “that person,” the one who is good at everything. But seriously, not only are they talented and smart, but they’re good-looking, too. And then there are the rest of us. By comparison it seems like we have so little, regardless of how hard we work.
Tempted to think we have nothing to offer, we can easily relate to the widow from Zarephath. Elijah approached her and asked for some water and a piece of bread, to which she replied, “I don’t have any food; only a handful of flour in a jar and a bit of oil in a bottle.”
Isn’t that how it always is? We never have enough. Or we feel like we’re not enough.
Now I know that feeling like you don’t have enough talent or smarts is different than not having enough food to share, but both are rooted in the same attitude — thinking that we lack something. But for those who are in Christ Jesus there is always the possibility that something will emerge out of nothing.
Chris Robertson
Pray
God, it’s easy to look at others and think I’m missing out or that I’m not enough. But when I am tempted to despair, remind me of all the ways you have provided for me in the past, so I might trust you more fully with everything I have and everything I am. Amen.
Go
“The purpose of prayer and religious seeking is to see the truth about reality, is to see what is. And at the bottom of what is is always goodness. The foundation is always love.”
Richard Rohr, Everything Belongs, 2003
God renews our vision and invites us to look deeper — all the way to what is. God wants us to see the love and goodness of what is. Are you paying attention?
