Wednesday, February 24
Holy Day
St. Matthias the Apostle
We all have faced difficult times where there really is no easy answer. The choice to either take the high road but admit wrong doing or take the easy road and let someone else take the burden becomes a difficult and a time consuming decision. Why do we let ourselves tangle with these decisions when there clearly is only one correct answer? How many times did Jesus, when faced with incredibly hard decisions, stick to his faith and his true self only to be beaten up over and over again? How many of us would have taken that same beating over and over? Wouldn’t a little white lie be a whole lot easier and less painful on ourselves? Yes, temporarily it might, but that is not what Jesus calls us to do. Jesus calls us to pick the difficult choice, to ask ourselves “is it right” and then trust God that he will make it right. True faith will get us through anything, even the most difficult decisions. Psalm 119 teaches us that our obedience to God will help us through any situation, no matter how hard or how bad the situation is. Many times when we breakdown and suffer through the “little white lie” we scar ourselves with the aftermath. The covering up, the lie that keeps on growing, the hurt we feel when we see the person most affected by our decision. Contrast that with the times you make the difficult but “higher road” decision and you take the burden of the situation. Yes, you might feel a little bruised but that bruise heals quickly, a scar never goes away. Life is complex but the truth is simple. This Lenten season remember to take the hard road, not the easy road. 1 Corinthians 2:5 reminds us, “So that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom but on God’s power.”
Courtneay Odden