{"id":10629,"date":"2023-05-14T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-05-14T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mysticphoto.ca\/?p=10629"},"modified":"2023-05-13T10:38:23","modified_gmt":"2023-05-13T16:38:23","slug":"give-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mysticphoto.ca\/?p=10629","title":{"rendered":"Give Us"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A Break<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Sunday, May 14, 2023<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n
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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The Trees May Look Goners,<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

and the Sky Dark<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

with a tiny sliver of a moon,<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

but that Moon Reflects<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

the Light of the World.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

All is not lost or dark.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Daniel 6:<\/strong>19-24<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, at break of day, the king got up and hurried to the den of lions. When he came near the den where Daniel was, he cried out anxiously to Daniel, \u2018O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God whom you faithfully serve been able to deliver you from the lions?\u2019 Daniel then said to the king, \u2018O king, live for ever! My God sent his angel and shut the lions\u2019 mouths so that they would not hurt me, because I was found blameless before him; and also before you, O king, I have done no wrong.\u2019 Then the king was exceedingly glad and commanded that Daniel be taken up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no kind of harm was found on him, because he had trusted in his God. The king gave a command, and those who had accused Daniel were brought and thrown into the den of lions\u2014they, their children, and their wives. Before they reached the bottom of the den the lions overpowered them and broke all their bones in pieces.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

John 10:27-28<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Words of Grace For Today<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf one is awake at all, one knows that there is more that goes wrong in life than goes right.\u201d So goes the \u2018wisdom\u2019 of those who propagate fear in order to control others, whether it\u2019s politicians or just your local neighbourhood kid out to make her way among the other kids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus knew (it\u2019s not that great a secret) that fear is the deadliest enemy to living a good life, a life abundant and blessed. In so many ways he taught with words, healing, and example how to live free of fear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not that living free of fear frees one from what can take life from us, but why help all that evil life-sucking stuff get to us sooner than it may anyway. Let evil have to work the full routine if it\u2019s going to get us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now the writer of Daniel took another tack. We like this one. The enemies plot and succeed in getting the king (against his wishes) to throw our good Daniel into the den of lions to be eaten. Gruesome end, to say the least. But then God intervenes and frees Daniel not only from fear but from the beasts that are to be feared. The king celebrates and then deals with those who forced him to toss Daniel to the lions. He has them thrown to the lions and for them and their families there is no rescue. The lions \u2018overpowered them and broke all their bones.\u2019 At least we are spared the bloody details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that is not how God works, as the mountain of evidence to the contrary shows so well. Evil, whether it is a company of schemers and plotters who would have us thrown to the lions, or the neighbourhood kid out to run the other kids her way, or the politician who would create fear in order to win elections, or the lawyers, judges, ex\u2019s and other criminals (liars they are) who create lies and punishments for obvious lies, – evil seems to win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exactly to that appearance Jesus speaks: it is not a win for them. It is a loss. A loss of decency. A loss of good life. A loss of truth. A loss of honour. A loss of blessings. A loss of one\u2019s soul to the Devil. As for us who suffer the evil efforts of others: we win again, not because of what we do or do not do, but because of what God does for us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God blesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God protects us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God shows us how to live, even when evil seems to conquer all around us, and how to live free of fear and filled with joy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God shows us how to leave the battle with evil to God\u2019s power, the power of love in weakness, suffering, and even death – to which God responds with eternal life for us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No one can take from us what God gives us. And that is the win of a lifetime. Greater a win there is not.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Break Sunday, May 14, 2023 The Trees May Look Goners, and the Sky Dark with a tiny sliver of a moon, but that Moon Reflects the Light of the World. All is not lost or dark. Daniel 6:19-24 Then, at break of day, the king got up and hurried to the den of lions. … Continue reading “Give Us”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,62,87,88,27,64,34,47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health-and-healing","category-injustice","category-joy","category-love-and-hope","category-moon","category-night","category-sacramental-mystic","category-trees"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mysticphoto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mysticphoto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mysticphoto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mysticphoto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mysticphoto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10629"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mysticphoto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10629\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10634,"href":"https:\/\/mysticphoto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10629\/revisions\/10634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mysticphoto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mysticphoto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mysticphoto.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}