The Weekly Peace: July 18, 2025
Accompanying
I am a fixer and a rescuer. I love to help people, and I often think I can solve their problems for them! I have a self-appointed PhD in how to give unsolicited advice, especially to those closest to me. It’s amazing how the temptations of darkness creep in on us. I have the best of intentions, coupled with a lot of pride. I just know I can help you! My advice can surely change your life!
The problem is that we can’t discern God’s will for anyone else. We can only discern God’s will in two ways: first, we can discern for ourselves, and second, we can discern a communal issue in partnership with others. But even as a priest, I cannot and should not ever tell someone what God’s will is for them. Instead, I must learn to be like Jesus. He walked beside people. Sure, he gave advice and feedback at times, but he always offered choices to those who came to him.
Think of the scene from the Gospel of Luke that takes place on the road to Emmaus. Two disciples are walking along. Jesus has just been crucified, and they are grieving but they have also heard strange stories about his appearing. They are confused, exhausted, sad and dimly hopeful. And Jesus starts walking beside them!
Now, if it was me, I would have shouted who I was and told them how everything was ok. I would have wanted to alleviate their grief and pain immediately, to solve all their problems! But Jesus doesn’t do that, instead he walks with them in their grief and in their pain. He even helps them understand the Scriptures. He helps them begin to see by pointing out parts of their journey. “Do remember the passage of Scripture that says this?” he asks.
The disciples will later try to put into words what happened to them on that walk. They will talk of their hearts burning within them. They felt love and they began to think differently and to open their eyes. By the time evening comes, they want to spend more time with this stranger. They welcome him as a guest for the night and when he breaks the bread at dinner, their eyes fully open and they see him.
If you want to help those you love, or anyone at all, accompany them on their walk. It is their walk and not yours, but you can point out what you see on their journey. You can offer them passages of Scripture that they could use in prayer. You can pray for them. And if you do this, if you really accompany them and stick with them, even when they make a bad turn or stumble and fall, then you will be doing Christ’s work in their lives. There may be times when they choose to go down a road so dark that you cannot accompany them there but never leave them in your prayers. And let them know that you are always praying for them.
In the garden of Eden, God walked with Adam and Eve before the fall. God longs to walk with you now and for you to walk with others. So I am trying to learn the art of accompaniment and invite you to walk with me.
Every picture tells a story…
Each morning, Kate Moorehead Carroll delivers a short Morning Devotions on YouTube. If you would like these devotions emailed to you, subscribe by clicking this sign-up link. Below are this week’s devotion offerings, enjoy!
Peace out…
Kate Moorehead Carroll is the author of eight books: Vital Signs of Faith: Finding Health in Your Spiritual Life, Angels of the Bible: Finding Grace, Beauty and Meaning, I Witness: Living Inside the Stories of Advent & Christmas, Healed: How Mary Magdalene Was Made Well, Resurrecting Easter: Meditations for the Great 50 Days, Get Over Yourself, God's Here: A Forty-Day Journey of Repentance, Organic God: Lenten Mediations on the Words of Jesus, and Between Two Worlds: Daily Readings for Advent. All books are available for purchase at the St. John’s Cathedral Bookstore and Gift Shop or via www.katemooreheadcarroll.com.
Thank you so much for this today. I tend to be a fixer or at least think I can fix every problem for every person. I forget to let God do his job, that he always does so well. I really needed to hear this today.
Franklin