What follows you?

On Sunday, April 26, 2015, our Scripture reading was Psalm 23 and the front of the bulletin focused on the last verse which reads, "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life."

As usual, our service began with a joke. This one was about little Timmy, a first grader who wanted to walk to school unsupervised like all the big boys did. His mom finally agreed to let him walk with his friends, but unbeknownst to Timmy, she asked their new neighbor, Mrs. Goodnest, to keep her eye on the lad as she walked in the same direction with her own daughter, Marcy, a kindergartener. 

After a few days of walking with his buddies, one friend asked Timmy if he knew the lady who always seemed to be following them to school. "Oh, that's our neighbor, Mrs. Goodnest," Timmy responded.

"Why is she always following us?" the other boy asked. 

Timmy replied that his mother, who worried a lot about him, would have him repeat Psalm 23 every night after saying his prayers. "It ends with the words, 'Shirley Goodnest and Marcy shall follow me all the days of my life,' so I guess I'm just going to have to get used to it."

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Poor Timmy. Expecting that these two females will be following after him for the rest of his life. But it does make you stop and wonder about the people and things that are following after us. 

In many Native American circles, as we make decisions for our lives, we are taught to consider the needs of our future 7 generations, while also gleaning lessons from the experiences of 7 generations of our ancestors. My own grandfather was born in 1890, and since that is only 2 generations removed from me, the lessons I need to consider in my decision making processes span more than 300 years. Similarly, I need to think about the effect my present actions will have for that many years into the future, as well, because the generations that follow after me will inherit the results of my choices and decisions. 

God's plan, as written in Psalm 23:6, is for goodness and mercy to surely be left in our wake (that is, "follow us") as we walk through life. It is also that we "dwell in the house of the Lord forever". If you think about it, you'll realize that forever doesn't start at the end of our time of walking on this earth. Forever has already begun, which means that if you are a Christian, you should already be dwelling in the Lord's house. 

Now don't go out and get a cot or a sleeping bag and set it up in the church. That's only one way to be in the Lord's house, and, since it could land you in trouble or in jail, it's not really the best way. 

The Bible tells us that our bodies are God's temple for the Holy Spirit (God) to live in us. (1 Corinthians 6:19) We have the ability and authority to daily choose to invite the Lord to be in us and around us. And when you make that choice, and live in response to God's love for you, ... everything changes. And then your "dwelling in the house of the Lord forever" begins now and not in some remote future. Better still, is that when you make the decision to respond to God's love you have taken the first step to leaving scatterings of goodness and mercy behind you wherever you go. 

Choosing Christ today redeems you, but it takes choosing Christ every day (sometimes hour by hour) to keep learning, growing and changing to become and to do all that the Lord has planned for you.

Walk in Beauty and Walk in Truth.

Pastor Danira