Stirred Up

                            For the Sixth Sunday of Easter - May 26, 2019

After Jesus healed the son of the official in Capernaum, there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. In these lay many invalids-- blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be made well?" The sick man answered him, "Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me." Jesus said to him, "Stand up, take your mat and walk." At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk. Now that day was a sabbath. John 5:1-9

We often wait to live our lives fully until we are better, more whole, thinner, more accomplished, etc. The list is different for each of us, but the behavior is the same. We wait for some magical moment, to jump in and get on with it. Often times, those moments never come. Jesus finds a man who has been waiting by the pool for  a long time. He instructs him to get up and get moving. And he instructs as well, to do what we can, not waiting for our perfection, but to take steps, even on tentative legs.

Today I ask God to help me get up and get going, so that no matter the restrictions I might face, I can carry the love of God to others. May we all let go of all shoulds and coulds, getting up to spread love around.

O God, you have prepared for those who love you such good things as surpass our understanding: Pour into our hearts such love towards you, that we, loving you in all things and above all things, may obtain your promises, which exceed all that we can desire; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.