Daily Bread November 10

The Whisper of Love
Anne Brady of St. Louis, MO, USA


Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. -Deuteronomy 6:4-9

There was a time in my life when I was so dependent upon God for daily help. Help in the form of the spirit of wisdom would draw near and direct me, sometimes hourly. I was stressed to the max, and I had to learn terror management. Yet, I felt that somehow these days would become the good old, bad old days, for I knew that I would treasure that time of closeness with the spirit. The gifts were also very practical: knowing how to do something I had never been trained for, providing the words to say in the presence of those who wished me harm, and adding resources to my needs.

I remember a phrase I had heard so often as a youngster in Sunday school, “If you follow God you will be endowed with the gifts to accomplish the call that you are answering.” At the time, most people applied it to the call of priesthood. But this experience was before women were considered for priesthood. This taught me that the spirit of God will endow you with gifts and talents in no small measure when you personally and directly make a vow to serve God no matter how challenging (and no matter how scary).

It has become true. I look upon those days almost with longing, not because they were so great but because God was so close. I have learned that when you say, “Not my will but thine,” and you submit to the call to serve, the spirit will always be there. It’s as though the whisper of love is always there. More than that, you will always have what you need to answer the call.

Prayer Phrase

“Over the years we melt into what we seek” (Joan Chittister, The Liturgical Year).

Spiritual Practice

We are in the threshold between seasons in the Christian calendar. You may have been noticing the physical transitions of the seasons wherever you live as some enter the depths of winter and others the warmth of summer. The seasons are a visible reminder that even among the most predictable rhythms and routines of our lives, change is always happening. The events of our moments, days, weeks, years form us and transform us over time. We enter each season different from when we arrived here last. This is the nature of this cyclical journey of faith. In these final days of the Christian calendar and the season of Ordinary time, there is opportunity to take a sacred pause, to notice how you arrive in this threshold. What have you been formed by this year? What has been deepening you as you’ve lived through another cycle of this life of faith?

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

Click here to comment or read online.

Comments Off on Daily Bread November 10

Filed under Daily Bread Devotional

Comments are closed.