Every single day, it is important as Christians to stop and have a conversation with God. Real conversations are not one way. Real conversations, between friends, are very much two-way communication. Taking the time to listen to what he says as well as to bombard God with our petitions and thanksgivings is vital to a healthy spiritual life.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus is told by a man on the road,

I will follow you wherever you go.

Luke 9:57-62

The Lord responds that

Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.

Another responds to the Lord’s “Follow me”, with “Let me go and bury my father first”. The Lord responds

Let the dead bury their dead; your duty is to go and spread the news of the kingdom of God.

Another asked the Lord if he could go and say goodbye to his family at home, but the Lord replied:

Once the hand is laid on the plough, no one who looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.

The phrase that stood out in this passage for me when reading it earlier today was “no one who looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” Looking forward is where we need to be. Looking forward is how we move forward towards God.

We may want to follow the Lord wherever he goes, but if we do not keep our eyes on Him, we will not see the obstacles in our path.