Focus
Slow your breathing and become aware of the taking in and letting out of your breath. Focus on putting things aside so you will be open to what God is saying to you today.
Read
10 “Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. 2 The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6 Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.
7 So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and bandits, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
Reflect
While thinking about this text, the imagery that comes to mind is not a sheep but a cat. I have a cat that is a little skittish. If someone walks into our home and he doesn’t know them or their voice, he looks like scooby-doo trying to hide away in our closet. But when I pull up in the driveway after being gone for a while, that cat will bust out the cat door or come running from a neighbor’s house to greet me, and he will not stop pestering until I pick him up and pet him. Then he follows me around for a bit, and off he goes to do cat things.
This is what I desire in my relationship with Christ. to be so attuned to his presence and so overwhelmed with his love that I notice every moment around him. I pray to be infatuated with Christ with reckless abandonment. I pray the same for all of us. I also pray that we go running when someone or something comes to get in the way of our relationship with Christ.
Pray
Lord, help me develop a deeper sense of your presence. Help me to desire you above all the things of the world. Amen.
Go with God.
