Forward Movement is an official, non-profit agency of the Episcopal Church whose mission is to create compelling content for Christian living. Since 1935 we have published the quarterly devotional Forward Day by Day, as well as pamphlets, booklets, and books that encourage and nourish people in their lives of prayer and faith.
WEDNESDAY, September 22 (Philander Chase)
Psalm 81. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and said, “Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.”
Today I struggled on my daily walk on the beach. The sand was soggy, with water just below the surface. I had to watch my feet to prevent a misstep. On another day, I had turned and walked backwards to avoid the wind in my face and then taken a spill because I wasn’t watching. This need for constantly watching where I walked made me think of how we approach life: do we look down at our feet to be sure we are walking safely? Or do we look backward remembering the past and then fall because we are too concerned with things done and left undone?
The future is always before us—bright, shining like the unspoiled beach—ours to make what we can of it. I’m not advocating forgetting everything about the past. God reminded the Israelites to remember God’s faithfulness in the past so that they would be assured that God would be there in the present and future. But rather than be handicapped by regret, we are to remember all experiences that might help us live in the future.
There is risk ahead; there may be pain as well as good times waiting, but God is always with us to give us what we need to face the future and to fill us with what we most need. (1995)
PRAY for the Diocese of Hyderabad (Pakistan)
Ps 119:97-120 * 81, 82; Esther 6:1-14 or Judith 10:1-23; Acts 19:1-10; Luke 4:1-13
View the daily Lectionary Readings at Satucket.com.
Or view the Bible passages at Biblegateway.com.
A Meditation for Pentecost
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