Jesus was in the wilderness forty days,
tempted by Satan;
and he was with the wild beasts;
and the angels waited on him.
— Mark 1.13
What are your temptations?
Not sex and chocolate, OK?
Not beauty, not pleasure.
I mean the things that ruin you,
things that get in your way,
that lead you away from deep life.
What gets in the way of your perfect love?
What distorts your wisdom and vision?
What inhibits your kindness and courage?
Now. Remember when you fell in love?
You didn’t work at it, did you? It was a gift.
You bring the gift with you to the desert.
You’ll never vanquish your temptations.
You just have to remember the gift:
you already love God more than those things.
—February 16, 2018