Go, and Make Your Bed - August 25
Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 5, 6; PM Psalm 10, 11; Job 6:1-4,8-15,21; Acts 9:32-43; John 6:60-71
Confession: I am not good at making the bed. Or I just don’t do it very often. Anne does. And if it’s a lazy Saturday and I want to take my time getting out of bed, and she has already gotten up, she will wait not so patiently for the moment when I get up for some reason to pounce on the cleanliness opportunity. Within moments, the bed will be made perfectly, and the fifty-seven pillows will be restored to their righteous glory. The bed will then look really appealing and will be beckoning me to sit down and read a book or browse the news on my phone, which will only lead to an exasperated release of air and a head shake, and a smile from me, that says, “but it looks so comfortable.” And we will have a conversation about why the bed needs to be made every day, first thing in the morning. It has almost become a playful game in our household.
I thought of our little game when I stumbled across the story of Aeneas in the book of Acts. Peter finds a man named Aeneas who has been bedridden for eight years. The Scripture is sure to point out that he was paralyzed. Peter heals Aeneas in the name of Christ, but instead of asking him to get up and go forth into the world, he orders him to make his bed! In the next passage, Peter heals Tabitha who was known to have become ill and died. He raises her from the dead and leads her out into the community to show off this great miracle. But not Aeneas. He is off cleaning his room.
The best I can gather, the writer of Acts, likely Luke who was probably also a physician, is drawing focus on Aeneas being able to do something that he hadn’t been able to do for many years. It strikes me as odd, and yet only someone who had lain in a bed for eight years would miss being able to make it. Would Aeneas find life and joy and purpose in the making of his bed? Luke thought so. So did Peter.
I think it is easy to find ourselves overwhelmed by the day to day tasks of our lives. The cleaning of a house, making school lunches, mowing the yard, caring for an aging parent or loved one. But Peter reminds us that there is some beauty in the ordinary moments of life. For many, the stresses of pandemic make life extraordinary challenging, but there is some wisdom in the reading of Acts, part of living the resurrected life is to treasure each moment, every task at hand. Finding a way to appreciate each opportunity might help us recognize an even greater gift in this life we have been called into. Go, and make your bed!
John+
Questions for Self-Reflection: What tasks are especially difficult to accomplish these days? What do you not do, that you should?
Daily Challenge: Find something you have been putting off. Complete the task, all while giving thanks for the opportunity to do just that.