Daily Readings: Isaiah 35:1-10; Psalm 146: 3-10; James 5:7-10; Matthew 11:2-11

Don’t put your life in the hands of experts who know nothing of life, of salvation life.

Mere humans don’t have what it takes; when they die, their projects die with them.

Instead, get help from the God of Jacob, put your hope in God and know real blessing!

God made the sky and soil, sea and all the fish in it. He always does what he says – he defends the wronged, he feeds the hungry. God frees the prisoners – he gives sight to the blind, he lifts up the fallen. God loves good people, protects strangers, takes the side of orphans and widows, but makes short work of the wicked.

God’s in charge – always. Zion’s God is God for good! Hallelujah!

Psalm 146:3-10, The Message

Sewing new valances for the kitchen windows; reformatting a year’s worth of curriculum and writing another; canning the two pounds of cranberries sitting on my cupboard. There’s nothing wrong with working on such projects, as long as I realize and accept that none of them are going to matter much beyond a limited number of people for a short period of time. There’s an impermanence about them that cannot be changed – foolishly denied, yes, but not changed.

What if I embrace the impermanence, seek to make of my work and life something beautiful, holy? I guess that life would reflect God’s priorities: defending the wronged, lifting up the fallen, freeing the prisoners, feeding the hungry. Such a life may not be considered successful or even worth much by the larger society, but what do cultural experts know of true life?

I want my life to be a sand mandala. I want to create it out of love and care and live it as a spiritual practice. When the time comes, I want to say a prayer, draw a line through it, and let it be swept away.

Sand mandalas are created by Tibetan buddhist monks as a spiritual practice and a reminder of life’s beauty and impermanence.