quickened

before the sounds and screams of the world outside my inner life begin, i stand before my God. not knowing what will happen today, i come to him for my daily bread, to just sit a while and soak, and be still for a second.

i am always speaking and thinking and taking in images and songs, ideas; always doing tasks, bracing for whatever “happens”. but to rid myself of that feeling of hanging on, would be truly futile. so i sit here squirming and meet the Lord, who is holy. he shows me that in the very place of being unfinished and faulty- that he comes to me here. he shows up in my empty spaces. unfilled places. despite my best efforts to present myself whole- Jesus is attracted to the broken parts and stuns me when he appears with open arms. he’s appeared to me here (not visually, but deeper than sight), this very morning, asking me not to hide my face from him. it’s an intimacy that demands all of everything: my attention, my full presence, hidden self. i am awakened to real life this morning. in a flash, i am quickened by love.

Jesus is all that matters.

Holy Father, wake us up. your grace so rich and dripping with love, showers each of us with love, real love, highlighting the off-center feelings and unfinished business. Lord, i pray for my self and my friends, for your church, your bride. unshackle us from inhibitions, break us from compulsive activity, protect us from erecting bitter walls, from stepping on when you say to rest. gird the feeble with strength like well worn leather, bless the strong with warm knowing, and take the lost out of the wilderness. give us the courage to confess our sins and break into the shameless light of your forgiveness. Lord, your daughter is waiting for your direction. for your children who have set down everything else, heal us in our bodies, in our lack of faith, repair the breached ramparts. wrestle the willful, Father, be father to the exasperated… wake us up, God! wake us up with a new song in this new day! allow us face you and the future with a smile. for you have overcome every spiritual enemy, every condemnation, every fear, every disease, every sin. you have provided a way to put away the old and become new. help us, Lord Jesus, to rise up this day, and take your hand, and trust you.

FRIENDS, we are reminided to persevere: “as for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air…we were by nature objects of wrath. but because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions- it is by grace you have been saved. and God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. for it is by grace you have been saved, through faith- and this is not from yourselves…” ephesians 2.