Pay Attention!

This week is my last week with clay, gosh it went fast.  It is also the last week of focusing on what God is saying to me in prayer (it's not really the last week of this, but for the sake of my class it is).  Up until this point I have focused my prayer with meditation and listened to what I think God is saying to me and this week I decided to take a slightly different focus.  This week I picked a piece of scripture and listened to what God is saying to me through the scripture.  I chose to look at Matthew 6:19-24 which my Bible study groups will be focusing on this week.  I think I chose to look at this piece of scripture because this is what I struggle with in my own stewardship story, the dreaded financial stewardship, and I wanted to see where God was leading me through these words:

"'Don't hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or - worse! - stolen by burglars.  Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it's safe from moth and ruse and burglars.  It's obvious, isn't it?  The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.  Your eyes are windows into your body.  If you open your eyes wide in wonder and belief, your body fills up with light.  If you live squinty-eyed in greed and distrust, your body is a dank cellar.  If you pull the blinds on your windows, what a dark life you will have.  You can't worship two gods at once.  Loving one god, you'll end up hating the other.  Adoration of one feeds contempt for the other.  You can't worship God and Money both."  (Message)

As I read through these verses several times (lectio style), I was captivated by verses 22-23 "Your eyes are windows into your body.  If you open your eyes wide in wonder and belief, your body fills up with light.  If you live squinty-eyed in greed and distrust, your body is a dank cellar.  If you pull the blinds on your windows, what a dark life you will have." And with these words came the image of an open window looking out into the world with wonder and delight of all that God has created.  So I began to sculpt.

I was being reminded to keep my eyes open, to see the treasures that God has placed in my life, see the world God has created and go out into it.  Nothing that I have belongs to me, it all belongs to God and it is how I use it all that shows which god I worship.  This is the message we have been talking about a lot in my Bible studies and I suppose it is the message God is sharing with me as well (I guess we never stop learning ;)) .  It means that I must pay attention; pay attention to how I use what I have been given and to especially pay attention to those I encounter and where their need is.  In this way, I can have my eyes wide open in wonder and belief and in turn be filled up with light.  I will know where my treasure lies and it will not be in my own possessions and gifts but in Christ.  That is what I'm being told today; PAY ATTENTION.  Do not be so focused on yourself and give freely of all you have and are.