The Psalm is one of my favorites.  I love to sing.  The Psalmist calls on us to come before the Lord with “joyful songs.”  “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise.”  “For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.”  What wonderful promises.  It makes us want to “worship the Lord with gladness.”

The reading from the Gospel of Luke is very confusing for me.  I love the first part.  In it, the Pharisees are laying into Christ because their disciples fast and pray, but Christ’s disciples “go on eating and drinking.”  Hey, praise God I’m a disciple of Christ.  I love to eat.  I believe chocolate and beer to be two of God’s greatest creations.  I remember reading that Saint Ignatius of Loyola died of “imprudent mortification.”  I looked that one up in my Funk and Wagnel and realized he had skipped one too many meals.  That will not be my epitaph.  Then Jesus goes on to tell the parable of new wine and old wine skins.  I simply don’t understand.  I’ve read it numerous times, puzzled over it and prayed about it.  However, I’m encouraged by this thought.  My youngest son is 11 months old.  He loves to act like a big boy and play with his older brothers’ toys, but he often doesn’t understand them.  I love to watch him puzzle over a toy.  He looks at it from every angle, puts his fingers in nooks and crannies, holds it out asking for help and sometimes he even tastes the toy.  When I watch him, I often catch myself grinning from ear to ear.  I would like to think that God smiles at us as we struggle and puzzle over Scripture.  I believe that free will is a gift from God.  With that gift comes the responsibility to do our best to discover and do what is right in God’s eyes.  My prayer today would be for persistence in my struggle to know and do God’s will.