Day 4
Wednesday in the first week of Lent
Deuteronomy 6:6-9
Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
The first line of this familiar verse is the key: God’s teaching needs to be kept in our hearts, in the place where emotions express themselves in actions. But for God’s way to abide in our hearts, for God’s law/teaching to be lived, it must be before our eyes, and in our ears, and on our tongues. It must be shared with our children and our partners. It must be read and studied. It must be in our minds when we go out our gates or come in our front doors.
I took Latin in college. It fulfilled my language requirement when my attempt to learn German was less than successful. Latin was easier for me; it was like a math problem on a page that could be worked carefully. Latin proved helpful when I had to take Greek in Seminary. And it enriched my English vocabulary.
I don’t remember any of my Latin, now, besides “amo, amas, amat;” I haven’t used it. Many years ago I bought a copy of Winnie the Pooh in Latin hoping to recover some skill; but I didn’t keep it in my heart, or read it to my children, or bind it as a sign upon my forehead. I didn’t practice. Now, if I come across some Latin phrase, I Google it.
We cannot Google faith. It is one of those things that is learned in the doing. One cannot Google love; one has to practice it. Once cannot Google generosity or courage or compassion. They all grow out of that encounter with the Holy Spirit that happens as we listen, learn, discuss, and live the scriptures in community with others who are also seeking to keep all these things in our hearts.
Eternal Word, Enduring Mercy
guide our heart and lead our way
that your teaching may ever live
in our hearts and minds.
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Image:. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Duomo-2_(3497032130).jpg; Rino Porrovecchio from Palermo, Italy, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Scripture quotations are from New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
© David K Bonde, 2021, All rights reserved