The Daily Devotional is a spiritually deep well, to which thousands of readers are drawn each day. The overall voice of the Daily Devotional is tended by the Stillspeaking Writers’ Group and supported by the staff of The Pilgrim Press.
COURSE CORRECTION
Stillspeaking Devotional by Vicki Kemper
The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness … and said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?”
Genesis 16:7-8a (NRSVUE)
It’s an important question: Where have you come from and where are you going?
I was in first grade when I determined where I was going: I wanted to be a writer. By eighth grade I’d clarified my destination: I would be a journalist. All through college, while my friends agonized over what to major in and who to become, I just kept going where I’d always been headed.
I worked as a journalist for a long time, and I loved it. But I’d never seriously considered the first part of the angel’s question in Genesis 16, the business about where I had come from: a long line of self-taught, fundamentalist, fire-and-brimstone preachers. I’d run from their theology, but I couldn’t escape the call of the gospel any more than Hagar could evade the caring, watchful eye of the Holy One.
Eventually, thanks to the confluence of personal experiences and world events, the persistent call of the God Who Sees, and more grace than I could have imagined, I found the fortitude to change direction.
When I did, I discovered questions even more significant than those of origin and destination: reflections on impetus and devotion such as, Who or what do you serve? What kind of person do you want to be?
Lent is an excellent time to consider or reconsider these questions. Lent is the perfect time for a course correction.
Prayer
God, you know that if I don’t change the direction I’m going, I’m likely to end up where I’m headed. Show me a better way. Show me your way.