Wallet Check (11/23/24)

Yesterday, my husband announced that he was off to run some errands. He left, but about 10 minutes later I heard him come in the back door. I asked him, “What’s up? You’re back awfully soon.” He replied that he got about five minutes from home and realized he’d left his wallet in his other coat, the one he was wearing when he filled his truck with gas during the snowstorm. I chuckled with him and thought to myself, that why women carry purses. He fetched his wallet and was off again.

As I continued working at my desk on a variety of things, my husband’s departure without his wallet kept popping back into my mind. I know, my mind has a mind of its own. But then I realized why it was persistent. I’m preparing for Family Thanksgiving this Sunday and I have lists everywhere. I could so associate with his dilemma of realizing he wasn’t prepared for what he’d set out to do. So, I grabbed my lists and did a read through, making sure I had everything on my shopping list I needed for the dishes I was making and my “to do” list had all the preparations I needed to complete before the first family member arrived.

Spontaneity is great, but thinking ahead usually produces better fruit. The same is true of our spiritual journeys, of our lives in general. And we know full well if we’ve given it any thought that our journey will go better if it is in the LORD, with the LORD, and through the LORD. Daily we must begin with time with our LORD in “whom we live and move and have our being.” To ignore the LORD is huge mistake. To put off time spent strengthening that relationship is a huge mistake because it is within that relationship of love that we come to know ourselves and our purpose. It is through those conversations that what we believe is affirmed, that our belonging is strengthened, and that our becoming is realized.

As I have worked in faith formation with youth and adults for years, I am still surprised by those who exhibit an “I’ll worry about that later” attitude when it comes to building their relationships with the LORD. I worry about it because I know that they’ll never be the ones they were created to be without that essential relationship with the LORD. Our decisions are better when guided by the Spirit, our performance is enhanced when cooperating with the Spirit’s gifts and graces. We are happiest when we humbly acknowledge our dependence upon our Almighty Father and our Savior, Jesus Christ.

As we continue on our journeys this side of the sod in hopes of eternal life in abundance with our LORD, let us be attentive to those things that truly matter beginning with our relationship with our LORD in whom our hope resides. Let us commit to making our relationship with our LORD the foundation of our lives upon which the rest is built.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.