A mom was concerned about her kindergarten son Timmy walking to school. She wanted to give him a feeling of independence. But she also wanted to know that he was safe. Her neighbour Shirley, who was walking with her own daughter, offered to follow him at a distance so he wouldn't notice.
This seemed to work until Timmy's friend asked, "Have you noticed that lady following us to school all week? Do you know her?"
"Yes," Timmy replied, "that's my mom's friend Shirley Goodnest and her little girl Marcy."
"Why is she following us?" his friend asked.
"Well," Timmy explained, "every night my mom makes me say the 23rd Psalm. It says, 'Shirley Goodnest and Marcy shall follow me all the days of my life'. I guess I'll just have to get used to it!"Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could have the feeling every day that the Lord is beside us and that we are used to his presence? Goodness and mercy would be with us, and we would be wanting nothing. In a spiritual sense that reality can be ours, should be ours.
We all have a holy longing. God calls us daily to step out of the secure zone and discover the life he calls us to. But we first have to listen to that call. Carolyn Bassett says, "I'm drawn by the simple joy of getting to know the Lord better through scripture and meditation
"I often remember what a wonderful nun told me many years ago when I was allowing phone calls and other distractions to interrupt my prayer. 'Carolyn, unless you spend quiet time with the Lord, you're not going to have anything of lasting value to give others you meet that day'" (The Word Among Us, January 2011, p.61).
Jesus does speak to us in scripture. The most familiar passage will inspire deeper thoughts if we visit it in silence with the Lord present. A recent example comes to mind from John 15: "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch that bears no fruit he cuts away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes to make it bear even more."
How often I had heard this passage. And now the Lord was pointing out to me that with the changes of age and cancer surgery, my physical life was changing, but my spiritual life was being enhanced.
It is our choice whether we remain attached to the vine or become "like a branch that has been thrown awaythese are collected and thrown on the fire"(6).
We can walk daily with the Lord. In fact in John 15 Jesus tells us, "I chose you; and I commissioned you to go out and bear much fruit" (16). As we lay down our lives for others, Jesus will share with us everything he has learned from the Father (13).
