thursday of the third week in lent

​Date: Thursday, March 7
Contributor: John Lawyer
Lectionary Link https://www.lectionarypage.net/WeekdaysOfLent/ThursThirdWeek.html
 
Today’s reading in Luke 11 includes the famous passage, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”  I cannot help but think of Lincoln’s famous ‘house divided’ speech delivered at Springfield in 1858, and what followed a couple of years later.  I have been feeling very ‘summer of 1860-ish’ myself of late; a pivotal election looms a few month away and who knows what will come after.  Clearly we are at a critical juncture in our national life, and more deeply divided than at any time I can remember. 
 
But we also have a mighty instrument in our hands, the power of prayer, and that is where I have been trying to put my energies.  “Please continue to heal my inner eye that I may stop searching for things to worry about; let me replace fretting with thanks and praise.  I surrender all my efforts at managing that which is beyond my control, teach me instead how to relax and receive.  Let me do my part well and faithfully and then commit the rest into Your gracious hands; for I ask it through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Amen.