Our collect for today speaks of “that abundant life which you have made known to us in your Son our Savior Jesus Christ.” The writers of our lessons today recognize that abundant life in their days—do we recognize it in ours?

The prophet Isaiah notes: “. . . those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” The clue there is that abundant life comes from waiting on the Lord to give us strength and courage to face each new day, rather than trusting in our own wherewithal. The psalmist recognizes the Creator as the source of all abundant life throughout the cosmos in his paean of praise as he too points out the need to “await” the Lord’s gracious favor. Then Jesus in our gospel for today gives us his model for having a rich and full life in body, mind, and spirit. After spending the day healing a man in the synagogue, Simon Peter’s mother-in-law in bed with a fever, those with various diseases and demons who gathered at the door, he gets ups before dawn and goes “out to a deserted place and there he prayed.” He waited on God to fill him with the abundant life he needed to accomplish his work on earth. When his disciples found him, he was ready to go forth once again proclaiming the good news of God’s love.

God provides the abundant life we need to incarnate divine love in the here and now. We need to be good stewards, going inward to await our awareness of God’s presence to renew our strength, going outward to serve the world around us empowered as God’s messengers of love.