Monday, July 23, 2007

Today’s text

3 John 1:13-14

“I have much to write to you, but I would rather not write with pen and ink; instead I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face.”

Prayer

Arrivals and departures mark our days, Eternal One. Beloved friends and family move far to fresh places and chapters. Others come into our days, or they return from time away. We hope to know them still, and that they will know us, too, in the comfortable ways we once shared.

Every coming and going emblazons a bittersweet truth in my soul, as If I had to learn it anew. Nothing is forever. I know it all too well; must life or you keep reminding me, Ancient One?

The goodness I now know, the faces and laughter, the gentle moments with beloved will not endure. Nor will I. And my efforts to share the depth of my heart with those you have given me fail miserably and often. Face to face, I would speak the love I have known in them and the love in which I treasure each one, words too often unspoken or poorly so.

Help me, dearest One, to speak the love and wisdom you have given me to share, that the life I share with others may be life indeed, rich in the incarnation of your divine heart. May needed words be spoken that your joy and ours may be complete.

And remind me, too, that even my missed and failed opportunities are not lost in your eternity. You redeem every moment, joining each one with the dancing love of your life that even our bitterness might be kissed with your joy. Amen.

Pr. David L. Miller