Look for Mystery

When I went to my first pastoral assignment back in 1971, I started a preaching ministry that would stretch out for the next 43 years.  What also started was a writing ministry.  I noticed the local weekly county newspaper did not have a religious column so I volunteered.  With the exception of a few years while in Columbus, Georgia I have been fortunate enough to have a weekly column in a newspaper.  As I moved toward retirement, I started writing blog posts such as this one and now eleven years and over 1600 blog postings later, the writing ministry goes on and on.

 

I had no idea back in those early days of my ministry that this part of it would last so long.  In some ways it always seemed like a sidebar to ministry.  Now, it is to a large degree the one thing which has remained constant with continuing power.  It reminds me that what we know about what God wants to do with us is more mystery than certain in the beginning.  And, maybe the same thing is true with every day that we live.  Could it be that there is more mystery to this walk with God than it might seem?

Maybe part of the reason our daily lives lack a sense of holy mystery is because we never really get around to seeking what it is that He wants us to do in the day which stretches before us.  We assume we know.  Oh, we have our plans, our schedules, and all the things on our "must do" list, but we are usually more likely to ask him to bless our plans than ask Him about His plans for us in the hours which are ahead.   Everything is so planned there is no room for the Holy Spirit to work and bring mystery into the ordinary moments of our living.  The good news is that there is another way!