Learning to Grow in Place

^"57As they were going along the road, someone said to him, 'I will follow you wherever you go.' ⁵⁸And Jesus said to him, 'Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.' ⁵⁹To another he said, 'Follow me.' But he said, 'Lord, let me first go and bury my father.' ⁶⁰And Jesus[g] said to him, 'Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.' ⁶¹Yet another said, 'I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.'  ⁶²Jesus said to him, 'No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.'" Luke 9:57-62 ESV

My Prayer -

All glory and honor belong to you most gracious and merciful Father God - and I seek to do your will in all things.  Jesus knew that the road would be arduous and even lonely.  He was very up front about it when he told his apostles that, "...the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head."

• Father, You have enriched my life with a husband, children, and grandchildren to love and with whom I can share my life.  Must I leave them to follow Him?
• You have blessed me with a nice house and a comfortable bed so I always have a place to sleep at night.  Does this tend to make me settled? content? less likely to put myself "out there" in Jesus' name?
• You have blessed me with a good job, but does the fact that I'm an educator (and we aren't encouraged to have an opinion about anything outside of acceptable methods of nurturing young minds) tie my tongue about my relationship with Christ? 

Father God - I want to be an effective disciple, but sometimes I allow my circumstances to dictate how I share my faith. Please teach me to live my life out loud for Christ and show me how I can bloom where you have planted me.   I ask these things in the name of my Savior Jesus Christ - Amen.

My Reflection -

Jesus' words tell me that living as His disciple will not always be easy and that I will have to go outside of my comfort zone to truly follow Him, but I'm not sure that means I must walk away from all of these blessings.  Rather, I think that I have a responsibility to maintain and minister through them.  In my relationships with family, friends, co-workers, and students, I can honor God and show the love of Christ by my actions and by modeling life in Him.  My attitudes and actions can reflect a godly way of living as established by Christ.  I can put people before things.  I can live looking forward toward what is to come instead of looking backward at all that had passed when the things of this world were much more important to me.

Maybe it's more about where I place my focus...