Discipling Life

Today is Memorial Day.  Memorial Day often carries a mixture of emotions. For some, it is a day of gratitude and remembrance. For others, it opens wounds that still ache deeply. A folded flag, an empty chair, a familiar photograph, or even the sound of a patriotic song can awaken memories of people we love and miss. We remember those who gave their lives, and we also remember the weight carried by those who returned. In moments like these, Psalm 34 offers words of comfort that feel both honest and hopeful. Psalm 34 is traditionally associated with a desperate, humiliating moment in David’s life, when he feigned madness to escape danger and found himself with nowhere left to turn. And yet, from that low place, he wrote one of Scripture’s most tender testimonies: “I sought the Lord, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears” (v. 4). Not after the fear passed. Not once things were better. In the middle of it. That is where God met him. What makes this psalm so remarkab...

Sometimes it helps to remember where we’ve come from. Think for a moment of the family you were born into (or the family that took you in). Where did you grow up? Did your family stay rooted in the same place or did you move around much? What schools did you attend? Who were your friends? Did you grow up in a church? How have all these things influenced who you are today? As we are told during our Baptismal Renewal services: Remember who you are. Isaiah speaks to people who have forgotten their own holy beginnings ( Isaiah 51:1-3 ). “Listen to me, you that pursue righteousness, you that seek the Lord. Look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug” (v. 1). God reminds Israel to remember their roots, not in power or abundance, but in the small, faithful beginnings of Abraham and Sarah, who trusted in God’s promise when everything looked impossible. From one man and woman came a multitude, and from their faith came blessing upon blessing. God’s r...