Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Today’s text

Psalm 91:9-11

Because you have made the Lord your refuge,
   the Most High your dwelling-place,
 no evil shall befall you,
   no scourge come near your tent.
 For he will command his angels concerning you
   to guard you in all your ways.

Reflection

An almost three-year old sits in a high chair while he and his family wait for a waitress to deliver food to their table. The adults and older siblings around him vie for his attention.

Each of them wields a cell phone, taking the little boy’s picture, trying to catch his delight as they tease and play with him. The boy glows and knows their delight in his tender heart.

He knows angels protect him. He can see them all around … and laughs with glee.

There is a shine in a beloved child’s face, a glow of knowing, a delight in living. Such a child knows that love surrounds him.

He looks into the faces of those who treasure him and lights up like the sun. Shame has no place in him. Confidence is the air he breathes, and when fears come he retreats into protective arms.

But life comes, hurts happen, fears attack, and we lose awareness that we live always in the presence of God’s angels, the lives of love that hover near.

We fail to feel the Presence of Infinite Love whose face shines on us with utter delight, seeing wherever we go, feeling every need and wanting only that we should know, truly know, like the heart of a beloved child.

For that is what we are, who we are, and the Love who shines on us wants that we should live in this constant awareness, for the Holy One hungers to catch smiles of delight lighting our souls and shining in our eyes.

God’s desire is no different from the joy of those gathered around the table waiting for their food. They were eating and drinking their soul’s desire … to see and know and the glow of belovedness on their little one.

Basking in the glow, their hearts, too, awaken to the blessed identity that life beats out of us, beloved, surrounded by gracious angels of God’s peace.

But sometimes forgetfulness falls away and we know, like when we sit in a restaurant and see a child glow, lighting our souls with awareness that Infinite Love is our refuge; the Holy One is our dwelling place.

Angels of grace attend us, every step of our way.

Pr. David L. Miller