HOW DO I CHOOSE

The forty years in the desert were looked back on in two ways: 

• Either they were a period of honeymoon in the desert, when Israel was alone with the Lord in the desert and the two were bonding together in love, like a honeymooning couple, expressing and intensifying their love for one another.

• Or they were looked at as a time when the murmuring and infidelities began, when Israel lusted to be back among ‘the leeks and garlic and onions’ of Egypt, shying away from the challenges of life in the harsh and difficult desert.

Setting before Israel is the choice whether to obey or ignore the Laws which have been laid down.  It is not so much a choice of obedience as a choice of love, obedience to the divine Law is an expression of love of God.

The same choice lies before us in our trials and tribulations in life.  How do I choose?  Do I choose love?

And the same choice lies before us in Lent whether or not to take the season seriously enough to make the special effort to live in especially devoted loyalty God’s commands.

If we are to prepare to share with Christ at Easter in the Resurrection, we must do this by sharing in his suffering.  How do I choose?  Do I choose love?

(Taken from commentary of Deut 30:15-30 in Universalis @18 Feb 2021)

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Happy the man 
who has placed his trust in the Lord
whose delight is the law of the Lord 
and who ponders his law day and night.  
He is like a tree that is planted 
beside the flowing waters,
that yields its fruit in due season 
and whose and whose leaves shall never fade; m
and all that he does shall prosper.

 Psalm 1:1-4,6