More From Tracie Heskett

I wrote today’s meditation during a time of waiting and spiritual growth in my life. In my personal Bible study, I was two years into reading and writing my way through Luke with a theme of “listen.” Like the path in my meditation, learning to listen to God has been a process. The Spirit illuminates a nugget from God’s word, and I think Wow! Then circumstances and human failings snatch away good intentions to apply the word. The bricks that should be used to build a functional path become a messy pile on the lawn of my life. The walkway lies in disarray for a time.

Two short months after submitting my meditation, my dad had a ministroke which revealed vascular dementia. I was already in the habit of making regular trips to see my parents, but as my mom cared for my dad I traveled more often to visit and support them. I prayed for wisdom over the course of his decline and when he went to be with Jesus more than a year later. Those prayers continue in this new season of life as I make frequent visits to my mom and try to help her.

As I read Luke’s narrative, I learned one of Jesus’ commands is to serve the word. This is something I can do from this current place of bouncing back and forth between two locations and two different lives. Writing a weekly blog post holds me accountable to keep learning and growing as I read and write through a book of the Bible each year.

God is teaching me patience, hope, and trust as I look for what God is doing in my life. At least once a week so far this year, I say, “God, you know the future.” God gives peace in the waiting and growing. God is teaching me to hold all things loosely, and I am learning what it means to lay down — or set aside — our lives for someone else. John 15:13-14 says, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command.”

As mentioned above, God has called me to “serve the word” through weekly blog-post meditations on a passage from a book of the Bible. You’re welcome to read along — now through Ezekiel — on my website at http://www.tracieheskett.com/blog/.