Day 35: Bubble Wrap

DAY 35: BUBBLE WRAP

I keep a box in the office for packing materials that come in boxes shipped to me.  I take them to the UPS store to be re-used, keeping lots of bubble wrap and styrofoam peanuts out of the landfill.

It's sometimes tempting to take myself a bit too seriously.  When I encounter a responsibility, I can sometimes act or think as though I am what is important, rather than the task.  The same is true of my calling as a disciple of Christ.  Feelings of self-righteousness or pride can creep in, leading to a "holier-than-thou" attitude. 

St. Paul reminds us that "we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord" (2 Cor 4:5).  I'm simply an ordinary clay jar -- fragile and breakable -- that holds a great teasure to be shared with all.

As we enter this week we call HOLY, may I find some "bubble wrap" to protect me:

- in the scriptures,
- in the Church,
- in the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

May this protection help protect the fragile vessel that is me, and enable me to share the precious gift of Jesus Christ with others.

But we hold this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing power may be of God and not from us.  We are afflicted in every way, but not constrained; perplexed, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body.
                                                                                                - 2 Corinthians 4: 7-10