Regrets Turned into Joys--May 25, 2021

I have felt pride in being established

 like a strong mountain, O Lord God;

then pain as pride turned to dismay. 

 

When your Spirit in my heart 

was only a first installment,

I knew the disappointment

of being unable to finish 

what I had started.

 

But all such regrets

turn into joys  when I consider

how many times I was a lost sheep,

and you in your grace brought me home.

 

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 123; 146; 30; 86

Deut. 4:15-24

2 Cor. 1:12-22

Luke 15:1-10

 

Selected Verses 

Ps. 30:7

By your favor, O LORD,
          you had established me as a strong mountain;
you hid your face;
          I was dismayed.

 

Deut. 4:22

For I am going to die in this land without crossing over the Jordan, but you are going to cross over to take possession of that good land.  [Moses, to the Israelites]

 

2 Cor. 1:21-22

But it is God who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us, by putting his seal on us and giving us his Spirit in our hearts as a first installment.

 

Luke 15:3-4

So [Jesus] told [the self-righteous] this parable: “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it?  …”