The Saint Who Longs To Be

Hammered by life

I pray for those who are being

Hammered by the enemy

Do I feel like praying?

No. 

I don’t. 

And I’m not sure why. 

Even though I know the power of prayer

Even though I know it is incumbent upon me

To “do the faithful things”

And not “the selfish easy things”

I still find that much of the time 

I must make myself “do the right thing”

The choice of rightness is forced 

It takes a muscle that is present behind my own will 

A muscle from somewhere or something else 

To push past the place where “self” stubbornly clings 

Like a petulant child who plops down on the path

And refuses to go any further until he or she gets what they want

There is no reasoning with this child 

There is only pushing-past

Moving on

Moving ahead

Because the pace of the path cannot be determined by the “selfish child” in me

It must be determined by the “mature saint” who longs to be

(Phil 3:13,4) Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize of God’s heavenly calling in Christ Jesus.

(Eph 6:18) Pray in the Spirit at all times, with every kind of prayer and petition. To this end, stay alert with all perseverance in your prayers for all the saints.

(Gal 6:2,3) Bear one another's burdens and thus you will fulfill the law of Christ. If anyone thinks they are something when they are not, they deceive themselves.