“As they were walking along the road, a man said to Him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.” He said to another man, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.” Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” Luke 9:57-62
“Abba Doulas, the disciple of Abba Bessarion said, ‘One day when we were walking beside the sea I was thirsty and I said to Abba Bessarion, “Father, I am very thirsty.” He said a prayer and said to me, “Drink some of the sea water.” The water proved sweet when I drank some. I even poured some into a leather bottle for fear of being thirsty later on. Seeing this, the old man asked me why I was taking some. I said to him, “Forgive me, it is for fear of being thirsty later on.” Then the old man said, “God is here, God is everywhere.”‘”
Abba Bessarion, a desert father in The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, translated by Benedicta Ward (Kalamazoo: Cistercian, 1975) 40.
Our human tendency when we see provision is to hoard it. We do. We pull out our leather bottle for fear. Fear drives us to to grasp, to collect, to accumulate.
Then we rationalize the behavior as prudent concern for our future. So perhaps pause and ask yourself this question. Do you have a leather bottle? What’s in yours?
The call to discipleship is a “don’t look back” invitation to trust. With Abba Bessarion, we must remind ourselves: “God is here, God is everywhere.”
So, where are you today on your spiritual journey? Do you have needs? Lift them to God. Do you have provision? Enjoy and share it.
But if you have a leather bottle, don’t fill it for fear. Go forth living generously in faith remembering that “God is here, God is everywhere.”