Friday after Ash Wednesday -- February 15, 2013

Friday after Ash Wednesday

Matthew 9:14 – 15

One day the disciples of John the Baptist came to Jesus and asked him, “Why don’t your disciples fast like we do and the Pharisees do?”

Jesus replied, “Do wedding guests mourn while celebrating with the groom? Of course not. But someday the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.”


Before this is a text about fasting, it makes a statement about living in comparison to others.

Comparison seems to be such a routine part of human life that we don’t see anything wrong with it. Males are trained to think, “I’m a man, I was made to compete with others.” Or we believe, “How can I know how well I am doing if I don’t know what other people are doing?”

We can’t seem to resist measuring our lives vis a vis the lives of people around us. We face that temptation everywhere, including in our spirituality.

I was raised to compete, to win, to be better than others. I knew how well I was doing in life by how many people I could leave in the dust. Comparison and competition are in my blood. So I have to check myself continually. Quite easily I can slip into a mindset that asks, “How is So-and-So doing this?”

I have to stay open to my inner landscape and recognize what is there. I have to shift the question: “God, how are you inviting me to step into this?” . . . regardless of how anyone else is doing it.

You are unique and your relationship with God is utterly one-of-a-kind. You are invited to discover your way of being with God, not mimic someone else's pattern.

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