Day 71
Mark 1 - 8
The book of Mark...
It's definitely one for the action-packed "Superhero" in you. It's the "Fantastic Four of Faith" in how Jesus calms the storms, walks on water, dies, and comes back to life.
It is about remaining faithful no matter what the cost.
It is about persevering through trials and suffering as Jesus did.
And this day's reading....is about believing, and remembering. It is about in times when life, or in my case - "Life with Autism, Seizures, and a side of Trauma", gets hard and things go wrong to remember all the stories of when life was right. The moments in life with autism when it was fairly easygoing. These first pages of Mark are about Jesus driving out evil spirits, healing many, praying, healing, bring back to life, feeding many with little, and honoring the Sabbath. It's about gaining a deeper understanding from very simple parables of how we should use God's word...
It is about having the faith of a mustard seed.
It's about this simple line from Mark 5:36 where Jesus told the synagogue ruler, "Don't be afraid; just believe."
Mark 4:13
Then Jesus said to them, "Don't you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? The farmer sows the word. Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop -- thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown."
I sit here renewed with the HOPEISM of how I want God's word to take hold in my life...
There is much to be amazed by in this days reading, but I think for me, what makes me laugh in amazement of my own --- shallowness of faith at times shall we say? --- is found here:
Mark 8:17-21 - of which I shall paraphrase the opening and ending line...
Aware of Michelle's doubting at times, Jesus asks her: "Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don't you remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?"
"Twelve," they replied.
"And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?"
They answered, "Seven."
He said to Michelle, "Do you still not understand?"
No.....sadly at times this thick skull of mine still hasn't fully comprehended the extent of how God truly has my back in all things, and especially in all things life with autism.....
