The Lord is My Shepherd

05-03-2020Weekly Reflection© LPi

With whom do we converse and listen to the most? Believe it or not, the answer is ourselves. We are constantly having conversations with ourselves, and sometimes we even get caught! Our inner conversations reveal the truth about ourselves. We really cannot hide from ourselves, although we often pretend we can. By conversing with ourselves, we find solutions to our challenges, problem solve, work through our relationships, formulate opinions, run through dress rehearsals of possible conversations, and wrestle with and determine our system of priorities and values. What other voices affect the conversations we have with ourselves?

Often, voices from our past continue to haunt us. These voices cause us to mistrust our judgment, harbor anger, and cling to our fears of rejection, failure, being wrong, and the like. It is in these inner conversations that we face what holds us captive — our limitations, weaknesses, sinfulness, and stubborn ego preoccupations. We often go about our lives putting out one fire or another, keeping ourselves preoccupied and busy, and trying to stay on top of things. Intentionally or unintentionally, we find ourselves wandering off. We turn around and can no longer see our home. We look down at our feet and realize we have lost our anchor. Feeling scared, out of place, desolate, unsettled, and lonely, we realize that we are lost.

We listened to the wrong voices! In the midst of everything competing for our attention, the voice of the One who could truly call us home got muffled. We didn't hear it. As our inner dialogues continue to play out, the one voice we need to consult — even before our own — is God's. He is the Good Shepherd who can keep us safely where we need to be. As we graze through the stuff of our lives, we must constantly remember to look up, be attentive, and stay focused. Our habits of prayer are the only thing that can properly root us and keep us grounded. Contemplating God's presence and developing an inner awareness of love incarnate, we will then find ourselves praying unceasingly as the days and nights and the ebbs and flows of our of lives unfold. Suddenly, the inner conversations we are constantly having are no longer just with ourselves or with voices that can lead us astray but with the Trinity, who desperately wants us to stay home.

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