Monday, February 11, 2013

 Today’s text

Psalm 32:10-11

Many are the heartaches
  of those separated from Love;
Steadfast love abides with those
  who surrender their lives into
     the hands of the Beloved.
Be glad and rejoice,
  all you who walk along the path of truth!
And shout for you, all you upright,
  of heart.

Reflection

Late Sunday afternoon. The day is soon spent, but well-spent among your people, listening and loving, praying and singing.

Once more, I witnessed tears welling in the eyes of those facing threats to life and health, and I was hugged by grinning children who know they are safe and treasured, their smiles a reminder of that grace we sought in this sanctuary.

Sought and found, my Lord.

Dispersed from our Sunday gathering, we retire to living rooms and feel the weariness of winter as an anemic February sun fades into shades of gray.

Monday will soon be here, and our flagging energy seems unequal to the task.

So I retreat to this quiet place where I listen in my heart for your Heart, seeking that inner point of soul where the energy of your ceaseless loving flows into me.

I surrender my weariness into your accepting arms and rest. That is all I want, but I receive more.

A surge of joy and surprising energy lifts my heart and chases off Sunday afternoon lethargy. Weariness is replaced by a smile of knowing that there is enough for me here in this place and in this soul, enough for all of us.

I feel connected. There is no separation from your love. The influx of your constant loving stirs my body to a strength for life that shall always be there for me, for you always are loving.

You are steadfast. So little do we understand this.

Nothing in our lives is steadfast and sure, certainly not our physical resources on Sunday afternoons. Everything we know … and touch … and are … withers and wanes, sooner or later. All that rises falls. Every flower fades. It’s only a matter of time.

But not you. You are Steadfast Love.

You are a ceasless stream of grace that never runs dry; a boundless love that is always enough for us, stirring that joy that lifts the soul and makes us strong.

We come in weakness to you, Holy Love, seeking solace for the fatigue that weighs our souls and shoulders. Feeling far from you, our hearts grow cold, cynical and small.

But you never cease to pour the warm stream of your divine blood into our veins that we may return to the joy and love and beauty we each are, vessels of your life.

We want too little, Lord. I came to this place after moping about on a lazy afternoon, wanting only to be held and comforted. But you filled me with gladness and joy, the flow of your constant loving.

That is who you are … Steadfast Love.

Pr. David L. Miller