REFOCUS
The “refocus” section of this meditation can be used to take our eyes off ourselves and put them on God. When that happens we can receive from Him. These words based on the Book of Revelation can be helpful to change our focus. Pray them slowly, repeating them several times as you speak to the Lord:
“You are worthy my Lord and my God,
to receive glory, and honor, and power…” (4:11)
READ
1 Timothy 6:6-8
Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.
2 Timothy 3:1-5
But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.
1 Corinthians 4:7
For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?
REFLECT
Life With a Wag
There’s a well-worn joke about the difference between cat’s religion and that of dogs. It goes like this:
A dog looks at its master and thinks, “You feed me. You give me shelter. You comfort me when I’m upset and take care of me when I’m sick. You love me no matter what… YOU must be God!”
A cat goes through the same observations but comes to a very different conclusion. He looks at his master and thinks, “You feed me. You give me shelter. You comfort me when I’m upset and take care of me when I’m sick. You love me no matter what… I must be God!”
It’s an amusing anecdote – especially for those who love their pets and identify with the different levels of affection and independence they show. The same idea is reflected in other places. One quip reads, “dogs have masters, cats have staff!
Of course, as entertaining as these observations may be, the joke is really on us, not our animal companions. They reflect characteristics in ourselves that we are very familiar with.
“Dog styled” religion sees what it receives as a gift. The result is that it makes them wag and wiggle from ear to tail.
“Cat styled” religion responds with entitlement not excitement. It swaggers away with its tail stiff in the air and head held high. Each additional blessings the cat receives only seems to reinforce the belief in its self importance.
The jokes tell us that it is possible to live a good life filled with all kinds of wonderful blessings — but to react very differently. We may even receive exactly the same blessings as another person but still behave differently.
Secular research confirms this. Lottery winners who receive a great windfall of cash, for instance, tend to “settle in” to a new lifestyle but return to the same level of joy they had prior to the windfall.
It only takes about six months before the initial joy of the money has worn off and they are back to living with the emotional states they had prior to the win.
It turns out that it isn’t what we receive, but how we receive it that produces joy. Those who receive life and what they have as a gift find that the side benefit is contentment and praise.
It causes them to grow close to their Master and their joy even increases. If those dogs could talk they might even tell us: “Rejoice in your master – a life with a wag beats the drag of the swag.”
RESPOND
Questions to Consider
- What makes you “wag?” List five things.
- Take one thing from your list above. Now, get as specific, descriptive and concrete as possible as you answer, “What in particular makes this so good.” (For example, move beyond saying “my wife makes me wag” to “the way my wife’s eyes twinkle when she laughed at my joke.”) One way to do this is to ask When, where, what, how questions – When did I see it? What did I see/hear? Where did that happen?
Prayer
As you remember times and ways that something you listed on your list gave you joy tell the Lord about it in prayer. Something like the prayer below is helpful.
Lord God, all good gifts come from you. Thank you so much for _(the thing from question 1). Thank you for the memory of _(a time you saw/heard/felt it – question 2).
Blessings,
The Rev. James R. Needham, PhD, MDiv