This series of devotions are focused around Soren Kierkegaard’s “Christian Discourses etc.” The biblical text to consider during these devotions is: Matthew 6:24-34.
Kierkegaard looks at “the anxiety of poverty” by first looking at the life of the birds of the air.
What then does the bird live on? Surely not on what it gathers into barns, for it does not gather into barns – and really a (person)never lives on what (the person) has laid up in the barns. But what does the bird live on? The bird cannot give an account of itself; in case it were to be summoned, it would have to answer like the man born blind, who was interrogated about (God) who had given him his sight, and said, “I know not, but this I know, that I the blind man see.” So the bird must make answer, “I know not, but this I know, that I live.” On what does it live? The bird lives on the ‘daily bread’, this heavenly food which cannot be too long kept, this immense store of provision which is in such good custody that no one can steal it; for only that which is kept over the night can the thief steal, that which is used during the day no one can steal.
The bird lives on a gift. That is our lot. We the faithful enter into the understanding - the faithful imagination - that looks at all we have as a gift. The manna in the wilderness is a gift to the people. The sight to the blind man is a gift. It is here…now…it is for us. Our lives do not focus on what we can store up and count as our own. Our lives are lived as though life itself is a gift…a gift that we hold as precious today…for we do not know that this gift of life and the gifts within life will be here tomorrow. There is a great sense of freedom in knowing that we have been handed a gift…no matter what it is. The bird digs into what is given to it. The blind man who now sees is bathing in the sight of that which was previously without shape or color or depth. The followers of Jesus are handed this day and we are invited to see it as a gift and even to share this gift with others.
Connection: There is a wonderful life available to us as we begin to see this day as a gift and the wealth of this day as a gift and the people around us as a gift. Don’t miss the opportunity to dig into the richness of the simplicity of this day.
O Lord, open our eyes and fill us with the vision of your Reign so that we may be fed by your love that is the power for regeneration and hopefulness even when we find ourselves longing for nourishment. Teach us what it is to be full and live within the wealth of enough so that we may experience the freedom of life in this day. Amen
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