\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Focus!\u00c2\u00a0 If only we could focus on love of the Lord, and not love of things of this world then we would be more pleasing to God.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s the message that comes across from John this morning.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now, there is the interesting story of Anna the prophetess as an example.\u00c2\u00a0 She was truly focused on Love of the Lord.\u00c2\u00a0 Widowed just 7 years into her marriage, and they married young in her time, Anna lived alone as a widow for probably 60 years or more.\u00c2\u00a0 Here is a woman who was living the expected life at the time- married, devoted to a husband, focused on her life in the world and then suddenly, in the prime of life, she is a widow.\u00c2\u00a0 In the Old Testament times, being a widow was the most painful plight for a woman.\u00c2\u00a0 No matter how you look at it, that was a wake up call for Anna.\u00c2\u00a0 She was forced by the death of her husband to focus on what life was really all about. \u00c2\u00a0I don’t detect any bitterness.\u00c2\u00a0 Rather, Anna trusted in God and was patient.\u00c2\u00a0 So, she dedicated her life to prayer and hope, rather than bitterness and focusing on things of the world.\u00c2\u00a0 She was content with the life of uncertainty that the Lord had dealt her, waiting, just waiting for decades and decades, for the coming of the promised Messiah.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Each one of us starts out in life focused on things of the world.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s inevitable, because virtually all children focus on themselves and learning how to live in the world.\u00c2\u00a0 We grow into maturity, and learn about a higher purpose, something other than what the world has to offer.\u00c2\u00a0 Sometimes we do that with the help of our parents; sometimes by our own reflection; and sometimes by the school of hard knocks, like Anna did.\u00c2\u00a0 But in any event, we make a choice during the process- a choice to make the world and the things of the world our primary focus; or to balance the necessity to live in the world with a primary focus on God.\u00c2\u00a0 And the essence of focusing on God, the essence of Love of God, is patience and trust.\u00c2\u00a0 These are the virtues that are the foundation of Faith in God.\u00c2\u00a0 God’s will for us is not necessarily something we can map out, something that we can direct.\u00c2\u00a0 Rather, we need to learn the lesson that Anna learned- to be patient and trusting as the Lord guides us on his path for us even when things look the most bleak.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
The coming of the Christ Child changed everything.\u00c2\u00a0 Until then, the world seemed the ultimate in human experience.\u00c2\u00a0 Life everlasting was just a vague promise.\u00c2\u00a0 But with Christ, all that changed.\u00c2\u00a0 The Messiah that was promised became real, one of us.\u00c2\u00a0 And so, forever more, our primary focus must always be on God: when we are basking in prosperity; when we are just trying to make it in life; and even when we are miserable in hurt or sickness because “the world and its enticements are passing away.\u00c2\u00a0 But whoever does the will of the Father remains forever”!\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00c2\u00a0 6th Day in the Octave of Christmas 1 John 2: 12-17; Lk 2: 36-40 Dc. Larry Brockman Focus!\u00c2\u00a0 If only we could focus on love of the Lord, and not love of things of this world then we would be more pleasing to God.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s the message that comes across from John this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}