No turning, no looking back

As I was reading this section below in Luke today, it reminded me of the first few words of Come Be My Light, the private writings of Mother Teresa.

Words that reached out and grabbed my attention from the very beginning of her story, words that have spoken to me in the midst of or beginning of a new journey,

"Put your hand in His [Jesus’] hand, and walk alone with Him. Walk ahead, because if you look back you will go back.”

I was particularly struck today by the variations in how these six verses were depicted from version to version.

I thought it was a beautiful picture of what it really requires to follow Him, daily in our various seasons and stages of life, circumstances, what it means to choose Him and continually say “yes” to the journey He is now inviting us onto.

Where what once worked in the past no longer serves the road set out before us.

A journey that requires with every unexpected twist and turn for our faith to lead us home. A faith that exhibits trust, that is certain of all we do not yet see. A faith that awakens and enlivens our senses and hearts to new life.

A faith that says, “yes, I will follow You... no matter the cost, wherever you go, whatever it is that You are wanting for me.

A faith that says “yes” to the things large and small. The simple and mundane, the things in whatever arena our lives are currently in.

Whether a stay-at-home wife, a stay-at-home mom, a working mom of five, a president of a company, a nurse, a teacher, a lawyer, an artist, a grandmother, a wife, a student, a missionary, a doctor, an accountant, a nanny... Saying “yes, I will trust You. Yes, I will follow You, today, here, now.”

A faith that emerges from a heart that trusts and knows that it is loved. A faith that gives us eyes to see that which only our hearts can see rightly.

A faith that says, “Yes, I will follow” with no turning, no looking back.

::

“As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, 'I will follow you wherever you go.'

Jesus replied, 'Foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.' He said to another person, 'Follow me.'

The man agreed, but he said, 'Certainly, but first excuse me for a couple of days, please. I have to make arrangements for my father's funeral.'

Jesus said to him, 'Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.' Still another said, 'I want to go with you, Lord, but first let me go back and take care of things at home and say goodbye to my family... I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.'

But Jesus replied, 'No one who puts a hand to the plow and starts plowing and keeps looking back and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.'

:: Luke 9:57-62 in the TNIV, NIV, CEV and The Message

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Oh, that we would live with "with arms high and hearts abandoned... to the One, the One who gave it all. So I'll stand... my soul, Lord, to You surrender... all I am... is Yours..."