Greetings,

Once again, I draw upon a favorite quote from my dear departed and beloved sister-friend, who always said that God has a very wry “sense of human”. By that, dear Marva meant that God knows our quirks and short comings so well, that when we foolishly assume we have pulled the wool over His eternal eyes; when we think His back being turned, God will not notice our transgressions, it is then that He makes His presence known, in ways that evoke tears, mingled at times, with laughter. The tears signal remorse at our being foolish enough to think that we can outsmart God and the laughter, His unexpected and uncanny response, and our saying… ‘But God, Yuh nuh eezi enuh!’

Yesterday, being the first Sunday in Lent, the Gospel reading was from Luke 4: 1 – 13. The narrative conveys Jesus’ journey into the wilderness following His baptism and vividly recalls the temptations He faced and His responses to them. The hymn sung by the congregation just prior to the proclamation of the Gospel, is Horatio Palmer’s well known and loved Yield Not to Temptation. It quite appropriately facilitated assimilation of the reading, aiding application of a well-known, hence easily dismissible passage of scripture.

Picking up on the dynamic in operation, the homily zoomed in [ad lib] on the fact that whatever provides temptation is not always, a bad thing. Left on its own, temptation causes little if any harm. The devil, however, is in the detail; sin becomes active not because of the temptation per se, but our response to it.  All too often we find ourselves in a pickle, hurt or embarrassed, on account of having yielded to temptation, and therein, dare I say, lies the problem.

So, with thinly veiled passion, I addressed the congregation, regarding the sin of yielding, carefully enumerating its consequences. I made the point, again with a measure of, shall we say vehemence, that it was not because of a stoic demeanor that Jesus resisted the devil’s trickery, but that the strength of His relationship with the Father, kept Jesus attuned and responsive to the Divine will, the severity of whatever test He faced, notwithstanding.

It was that deep, intimate connection that allowed Jesus to perceive beyond the façade of the devil’s carefully orchestrated temptations, the reality of their objective, to inflict not only physical but also emotional and spiritual harm, with adverse repercussions for God’s salvation plan.  Being thus persuaded, Jesus’ default response was activated; He knew that even if resisting would cause physical and/or emotional pain, acceding to Divine will in not yielding, would put a smile on the Father’s face, pulling Jesus ever closer, within His loving embrace. Jesus told the devil, therefore, to take a hike!

After a beautiful morning of fellowship with the brethren, I made my way home, my spirit content. I set about engaging the few things on my ‘to do’ list, including preparing dinner. I have made a Lenten commitment to adopt an eating regimen designated Intermittent Fasting, to kickstart lifestyle modification that incudes eating more healthily. It is my intention in adopting it, to eat sensibly viz. not gouging myself or imbibing too much of what my beloved Marva would call “uxx aan chrash” [husks and trash]; definition: that which in disguised unhealthiness, appeals primarily to the lower nature of one’s palate 😊. Having therefore completed the preparation, I had a reasonably healthy dinner [except for a little white rice], treating myself to a small glass of juice, from the Ceres brand, that I bought on the weekend, on the pretext that it [supposedly] has no sugar added, but really to satisfy said palate’s iniquitous desire for more than good old water!

Well, dinner having been consumed, I sat at my desk before the computer to get some work done; once finished, I was ready to relax. I know you’re probably dying for me to get to the heart of the story but bear with me, for as I said earlier ‘sin becomes active, not in the presence of the temptation but in our yielding to it.’  Remembering that at the end of the temptations, Luke tells us that the devil left Jesus for ‘an opportune time,’ I now understand that the insertion within the narrative is not only about the devil’s cunning in relation to Jesus…if you get my meaning.

As evening gave way to night, somewhere after eight [my intermittent fasting regimen allows for sensible eating between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m.], my devilish mind initiated a conversation, and being well bred, I listened, allowing myself to be lured along a wilderness path. While there, I was reminded of the last bit of Rona’s cornmeal pudding sitting all alone in the fridge and the fact that the dinner I had consumed seven hours previously, being my only meal of the day, I must now, if not totally like Jesus, be nearing the point called…famished.

In response, I stealthily [hoping not to disturb my conscience] made my way towards the kitchen, the fridge and said slice of pudding and retrieving it from its isolation, quietly placed it on a small plate, put it in the microwave, to bring it to a temperature that would further titillate the wicked palate’s senses. Having yielded to this first temptation, that devilish mind rolled out temptation number two, by reminding me that a glass of the Ceres juice would be a good accompaniment to said slice of pudding and together would be the supper I needed to complete my two-meal intake for the day. So, without hesitation I poured out a reasonably generous amount of the fluid and with pudding and drink in hand, made my way slowly to my bedroom, willing my now aroused conscience back from whence it came, as it tried to alert me to the fact that I was about to capitulate to temptation number three…the clandestine coupling of food with mindless television watching.

Well, as I sit before this computer, believe me when I say that I have no idea how it happened, but God’s sense of human emerged with omniscient, omnipotence. Just as I was setting what my hands held on the night table, to climb onto the bed for the ease and comfort of indulging my un-regenerated appetites, both the tumbler and the dish fell unceremoniously from them with a loud clatter, spilling their contents which then stared up at me, from the floor.

I raised my dewy eyes heavenward but could not help the laughter that came unbidden from within me, as I retraced my steps towards the kitchen, this time in search of…the mop.

Until next week, continue to stay safe and well, as you remain in His Grip.

Grace+