Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Today’s text

1 John 2:15-17

“Do not love the world or the things in the world. The love of the Father is not in those who love the world; for all that is in the world--the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the pride in riches--comes not from the Father but from the world. And the world and its desires are passing away, but those who do the will of God live forever” (1 John 2:15-17).

Prayer

How can I not love your world, Holy One? You have made it so rich, alive and different from the boring moon. The gull floats above, silver, white and dark shadow all at once; drifting in sweet morning air that gently embraces the Earth with the promise of day. We begin again. Earth rises afresh, if not entirely pure of yesterday’s dirt, yet somehow washed clean enough for us to imagine today may bring our souls’ deep longing.

How can I not love this? I see you in all of it. The gull glides motionless, flicking but a feather to catch shifting columns of lifting air. She hangs not against morning blues and grays—but in you, soaring in the atmosphere of your eternity.

It is all in you—the sky, the day, the morning glow, the gull, the joy I find in all of it. All of it is in you. The cosmos itself is your body, expressing your creative joy and wonder, your power and delight. This blessed moment and all that happens occurs in you, for apart from you nothing is.

You have made us for love, allowing us to share your delight. Help us to know all things in you, no longer seeing through the eyes of pride or fear and selfishness. For then we seek only ourselves in the things you have made. Instead, let us seek and see you and your love, delighting in all that is for the sake of your creative joy and loving purpose. Amen.

--Pr. David L. Miller