Daily Reflection
March 20th, 2007
by

Joan Lanahan

SPAHP, P/T and O/T
Click here for a photo of and information on this writer.

“I am lying by the Sheep Pool in Bethzatha. Its such a large building and
There are so many of us here. I am brought here each day after breakfast.
I lie here and wait and wait and wait and hope.

I have been coming for 38 years, ever since I was paralyzed. The angel
comes, stirs the water and the first one of us who gets into the water is
cured. My problem is that my family, once they bring me here in the morning,
cannot stay to put me into the water. You know they have so many chores
to do. So, they come back late in the day and I am still lying, waiting and
hoping for a cure.”

Jesus heard this man’s story when he came to the Sheep Pool. We don’t know if he cured several or many of the waiting people. We know he asked this man on the mat:

“do you want to be well again?.....
Get up. Pick up your sleeping mat and walk”.

Lent, a time when we acknowledge our sins, faults, our need for deep healing, encourages us to reach out for God’s healing love. One of the greatest sins of many of us, including me, is lack of trust. I don’t know if I could have weathered 38 years of lying by the pool waiting and hoping for a cure of my paralysis.

This is a great metaphor, isn’t it? Our/my lack of trust often paralyzes me. When I see where I have sinned, see where I need to be healed, I need to trust that God will heal me. I need to trust and ask for healing. I need to pick up my mat and walk each day!

I pray to grow in trust this Lent. Is this also your prayer? I know that God loves you and me and wants us to trust.

“Blessed are you, Lord God of the Universe,
You who created me and sustains me……”
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jlanahan@creighton.edu
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