Today’s scripture: Romans 11:11-16 (NRSV) (The Message) (KJV) What might God be saying to me?
My thoughts (Kristin Herrmann):
In today’s passages, Paul writes to the Romans about the unexpected outcome of his attempts to spread the word of Christ. Paul’s intent was to spread Christ’s message within the Jewish population. However, when it wasn’t received, Paul found himself addressing the Roman population. Paul represents his experiences with the metaphor of a tree root. Since the primary root of his intent was holy, his actions will produce holy fruit.
Paul’s letter gives me hope with a personal endeavor I’ve undertaken. Several years ago, I felt called to write the story of an incarcerated woman to generate funds for a nonprofit to help women leaving prison. I thought it was a calling because I’d pursued my higher education with the intent to help children, not individuals convicted of violent crimes. Spending my time on this project didn’t initially appeal to me, and I questioned my interpretation of my idea when I discovered how hard it was to hear (and ask for clarification so I could write) about the horribly abusive life the woman who agreed to participate had lived.
By the time her book was finished, I was convinced I was in the midst of something important. Just the healing this woman experienced from sharing her story was inspirational. I set out to find a publisher. After more than a year of rejection from numerous agents and a couple of publishing companies, all I have to show are very nice letters from those passing on the opportunity to work with this book. When a publishing company responded that my writing was “engaging” and the story was “impressive” but my access to 14,000 individuals who were likely to buy the book wasn’t a big enough number of potential sales for them to take it on, I wondered if I’d made a made a mistake thinking I was somehow doing God’s work.
Paul felt called to spread Jesus’ message. He didn’t stop when things didn’t go as planned, and he produced some holy fruit. Perhaps the healing this woman has already experienced will be the only fruit from my actions. But I still feel called to get her story out to others; she does too. She wants those who can identify with the pain she felt from abuse to seek help instead of doing something drastic to escape, like she did. Maybe those 14,000 individuals I have access to through partnering organizations won’t generate the income to make a publishing company happy; but by self-publishing we might be able to raise enough money to make someone else’s life a little better.
Thought for the day: God, please help me to be of use for your purpose, regardless of my ability to anticipate or control the outcome.
We encourage you to include a time of prayer with this reading. If you need a place to get started, consider the suggestions on the How to Pray page.