Scripture: James 5:7
Be patient, sickness then, see brothers and sisters, illness until the Lord’s coming.

Thought for the Day: Imagine for a moment you were one of the folks by Jesus’ side throughout his ministry. Imagine you were his flesh-and-blood brother as well, like James. For you, Jesus is someone you love with the deep, unbreakable bond of family, but also the most brilliant Rabbi you’ve ever met. Jesus is someone whose ideals and ideas are literally changing the world. And then, he’s gone, killed like a common criminal. The grief must have been unbearable.

Yet Jesus taught that the Christ is an eternal, essential nature of our being. Although Jesus was dead, the Christ was just starting its activity in the world. The early disciples were so distraught, that when Jesus didn’t immediately return physically, they began to lose faith. What they didn’t realize, and what many of us fail to realize, is that Jesus the Christ returned immediately after Jesus the man was murdered. In fact, the Christ never went away, and is still alive today, in every single human on the planet. Unfortunately, it lies dormant, waiting for us to wake up, waiting for us to realize that what we’ve been waiting for is already here, and has been all along.

How do we make the world a more loving place? We shake the slumber from our souls. We get over the idea we are broken, soulless, despised by God. We start to understand that we are more than loved, we are love.

Prayer: Wake me up already, God! Why do you let me sleep through the most interesting part of the day? Wake me up! Fulfill me, use me to help people see a new world, a new way to live in communion with each other. Show your love through me, Eternal Lover, so my brothers and sisters will also awaken to your glory, already here, patiently waiting for us all. Amen.