Wednesday, October 03, 2012

A Daily Reprieve

In Alcoholics Anonymous they report that the recovering alcoholic is always in danger of using again. What they have, it says, is "a daily reprieve" based on how we maintain our spiritual life.

I thought of that the other day when the Hebrew Bible lesson was read on Sunday in Church. It is the passage in the wilderness where the people are getting bored with an unchanging menu of manna. Morning and night, no variation, manna. Each day like the one before. And on weekends, enough for the Sabbath so no one has to work to gather any. Hoard it- and it goes bad. Take all you need, but don't try and store it.

There is nothing but manna in front of us.
Only manna.

Only manna?

Enough to eat. Sure it isn't the "gourmet" food of a slave in Egypt. No meat and veggies. Just manna. Just a daily miracle.

All they have is a daily miracle. A daily reprieve from starving in a desert wilderness. A daily gift, right there. No questions asked.

How narrow and selfish we humans can be. We even get bored with miracles. We even get tired of the same old miracle day in and day out.

Like a sunrise or sunset.

Like a newborn child.

Like the possibility of love and hope and relationship with family and friends.

Like growing closer and closer to God.
Auntie Mame: Oh, Agnes! Here you've been taking my dictations for weeks and you haven't gotten the message of my book: live!
Agnes Gooch: Live?
Auntie Mame: Yes! Live! Life's a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death!
Life is a spiritual banquet. Yet so often we starve in our boredom. Our spirits wilt and shrink because we can't see the miracle of the everyday all around us.

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