Ordinary Time

Pause

It happens to us every day. Every hour. We have to respond. We have to respond to the car that cuts us off on the road. Respond to the text that just arrived. Respond to the person who is calling our name.

Some of our responses are automatic, and we don’t even think about it. Some are conditioned by our experiences. For some, we have time to breathe and think and pray.

And in the midst, God continues to call… How are we prepared to respond?

Listen

As Jesus passed alongside the Galilee Sea, he saw two brothers, Simon and Andrew, throwing fishing nets into the sea, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” he said, “and I’ll show you how to fish for people.” Right away, they left their nets and followed him.

Mark 1:16-18

Think

What would it take for you to stop what you are doing and just get up and go? More often than not, it takes an emergency for us to do that. It takes a call from the doctor’s office, a panicked call from a family member, a crisis of some kind to make us stop what we are doing and go.

But here, there’s no crisis from Jesus. There’s no warning of something terrible about to take place if Simon and Andrew don’t follow. There is a simple message: follow me and I will make you fish for people. What do you think that even meant to Andrew and Simon? They might have been intrigued… or probably confused. Yet they followed.

We may not know everything that Jesus has before us, yet we are called to follow as he leads.

Edward Goode

Pray

Jesus, you are still calling. Help me to respond with the same trust in where you lead as Simon and Andrew did. Amen.

Go

Stop.

Take a few breaths. Take a few more.

Listen.

Wait.

Pray.

Respond.