Daily Devotional 8/9/22

What made her special was that she wasn’t. Margery Kempe was not a queen or a princess, not even a highborn lady. She was born into the merchant class. Her father made a good living, and so did her husband. Despite bearing fourteen children, she also started her own home-based business, which eventually failed. She was no scholar; in fact, she probably didn’t know how to read or write. Her autobiography was dictated to a scribe. She wasn’t a spiritual giant, not a member of any convent or religious order. She was just a working mom with a passion for Jesus.
That passion drove her to make pilgrimages, visiting spiritual leaders and holy sites throughout England and the European mainland. She detailed these encounters in The Book of Margery Kempe, generally considered the first autobiography in the English language. Modern scholars appreciate this book, not for its literary merit, but for its glimpse of regular life. (Some question whether all the events in the book really happened, but even as fiction, it’s a valuable asset. The history of women in the medieval world is full of nuns and queens because those are the only medieval women we know about—except for the merchant-mother Margery. Through her we learn about town life, rather than convent life or palace life.)
Throughout her book, Margery seems to be searching for something—perhaps for a way that an ordinary person could follow Jesus. She began to question the assumptions of her community—the love of wealth, for instance. Well aware of her own spiritual failings, she was propelled by visions. She hoped these visions were genuine revelations from God, but she wasn’t always sure. Some folks in her day thought she was crazy, and some modern scholars agree. But maybe she was just doing things differently.
So what propels you? Are you driven by a desire to provide a good life for yourself and your family? That’s great, but how do you define “a good life”? Are you following Jesus’ vision or your own? Don’t sit there and wish you were a great speaker-author with a hot website and video series. Be you, ordinary you, and follow Jesus.

If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow me.
Luke 9:23