Opening my Heart to God's Blessings

Today’s first Scripture reading, Isaiah 58: 9b-14, continues to challenge us to look at our behaviors.  Are they such that God’s light and blessings and mercy  and love have an opening to enter our lives in abundance is the question, I think, Isaiah is asking indirectly.  Through Isaiah, the Lord says to us: If you remove from your midst oppression, false accusation and malicious speech; if you bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted; then light shall rise for you in the darkness, and the gloom shall become for you like midday; then the Lord will guide you always and give you plenty even on the parched land. He will renew your strength, and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring whose water never fails.”

I think it behooves me to ask myself: how have I oppressed others with whom I live and work? In what ways do I entertain others by falsely accusing someone or exaggerating a weakness about them or stretching the truth to get other's attention? Do I  engage in juicy  gossip, some of it, perhaps, malicious in nature?  With whom do I have contact on a daily basis who is hungry for a listening ear, hungry for love, hoping to be understood, starved for affirmation, who wants to feel safe to reveal a hurt that is gnawing away his/her faith in humanity, in oneself, in you or me; or simply wants to talk honestly about something that is on his/her mind?

“If you bestow your bread on the hungry’and satisfy the afflicted, then light shall rise for you in the darkness and the gloom shall become for you like midday.”