In this Sunday’s Gospel Reading (S Mark 10:46-52)
Bartimaeus responds to the Lord’s question – ‘What do you want?’ by naming his need.
Intimacy with God offers us grace
to identify,
to know
and to name
our need(s) in honesty before Him.
We enjoy accepting this gift of grace; we often welcome (even with relief) God’s response to our need.
What about the Giver?
Do we rejoice over Him – or just accept the gift as our ‘due’ –
after all, He made us, He loves us, right?
Accept only the gift and we flounder on this one –
“Do we accept only good from God – and not adversity, also?” (Job 2:10)
Enter into a real relationship with the Giver
and the gift is seen in the context of God’s overarching, providential care for us,
no matter what.
Bartimaeus had a lot of adjusting to do in his life once he received the gift of sight restored.
He took it upon himself to accept the Giver also – which helped him live into the gift.
If you involve Christ in the discernment and assimilation of what you long for,
you too will accept the Giver along with the gift
– and be the better for it.
Comments are closed