Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Today’s text

2 Corinthians 4:5-6

It is not ourselves that we are proclaiming, but Christ Jesus as the Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. It is God who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' that has shone into our hearts to enlighten them with the knowledge of God's glory, the glory on the face of Christ.

Reflection

Illumine my heart, Holy One. Let your light shine out of my darkness. The day comes, but there is little light in me. My spirit is heavy. Gladness eludes me. Energy flags. My spirit is as dreary as this winter day.

I long for smiles that tell me all is well and all will be so. I hunger for my heart to smile and breathe freely, but I am burdened by the weight of the moment.

Responsibilities encumber my heart, duties deaden the spirit, my failures hurt those I love, and a nagging inner voice tells me that more is expected of me than I want to give. There’s that old persistent feeling that I am not ‘making it.’

But this is only a moment, and moments are like waves on the ocean. They rise and fall. There is a crest and trough on each of the innumerable waves that dance on the deep, none of which should be taken with ultimate seriousness. Each soon passes.

Beneath the restless surface the deep is quiet, steady, moving but slowly, unperturbed by the agitation of waves moved by every breath of air.

You, Loving Presence, are the deep, untroubled by fleeting moments.

Your light, to mix the metaphor, shines even when I do not see or feel it, even when the drabness of present moments blind my eyes and weigh my soul.

You shine and will shine in and on me, quieting my soul and bringing the joy that frees me to live, to give, to try, to fail, to get up and go again.

Soon, I will shut this machine down and leave. I will go to people weighed down by disease or discouragement or sorrow. I will take up responsibilities that feel too heavy and duties that can deaden the spirit. I will give my mind and skill to situations that will be little improved by my presence.

But I will go with a word of blessing and with the blessed communion of bread and wine through which you give us yourself, O Lord.

And I will trust that the light shines out of the darkness will shine also on me and in me, somewhere, as I go my way.

So I go.

Pr. David L. Miller