RBWords

     I once gave my dad a wall plaque that had these words on it:  "O Lord, let my words be gracious and tender today, for tomorrow I may have to eat them."  Jeremiah was not a happy prophet.  His words today first begin with wishing he had never been born.  But at least he found happiness in God's words even if these meant he (Jeremiah) would be rejected and persecuted for them.  He shakes his fist verbally at God but God brushes his protests aside and assures him of support in his mission.

     St. Teresa of Calcutta kept a journal, which was published after her death, in which she said that for much of her life she felt abandoned by God.  This shocked some folks but anyone in a difficult ministry like hers has those feelings sometimes.  Things don't always go well.  People may seem ungrateful for what the dedicated disciple does and sometimes hostile and violent.  God's words are sometimes anything but gracious and tender.  They may be challenging and critical.  We have plenty of examples of this in the scriptures.

     Jeremiah and all the great prophets down to John the Baptist were focused on God's word.  That Word was made flesh and challenges us today.  We may strive to be gracious and tender in the way we preach it, but there will be times when only the blunt and challenging will do.  God can handle our complaints when things are not going well.  We just have to eat God's words.  It might help our own to taste better when we have to eat them!   AMEN