Thursday, January 31, 2013

Thursday, January 31, 2013



Today’s text

Psalm 27:7-10

Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud,
   be gracious to me and answer me!
‘Come,’ my heart says, ‘seek his face!’
   Your face, Lord, do I seek.
   Do not hide your face from me.
Do not turn your servant away in anger,
   you who have been my help.
Do not cast me off, do not forsake me,
   O God of my salvation!
If my father and mother forsake me,
   the Lord will take me up. 

Reflection

I do not know if there is anything more powerful than a smile. A smile instantaneously assures the soul that all is well, and when all is not well we look to those faces of love in our lives seeking that smile, that sparkle of eye that lifts us back into ourselves, so that we know.

Our heart needs to know that there is a love that shines … and glows … with the light of love when it looks upon us, filling us with awareness of unconditional delight in our very existence.

Every child ever born turns again and again, looking for its mother’s delighted smile, seeking to live in the glow of love unearned and immeasurable. In hurt or joy, when they succeed or fall, little ones look again and again for this grace in the eyes of a love they cannot begin to understand.

But in those eyes they know what they need to know.

Our ever-so-human need to know, to feel this, speaks of the deepest need of our existence, a need built into us by the One who is the Source of our life.

We hunger to feel oneness, inseparable unity, with the Mystery who is the Unconditional Source of all life and of our breath and joy.

Feeling alone and separated, our hearts shrink and shrivel in sadness, longing for the smile of divine delight. Our hearts cry out to feel and know we are not alone … that the Presence of the One who is Love still shines for and on us.

Feeling this, knowing this, we are lifted into life even in the worst of times.

I open my e-mail and read of a beloved father for whom every day brings more threatening medical diagnoses. Each test performed brings news more dire than the previous.

Weariness descends on his heart and the hearts of all who love him.

What shall we do? Continue to treat? Give up? Can there be longer life? Will that life be worth living?

Amid the sorrow of the time, the heart cries out, “Do not turn away, O God. Do not hide your face from us. Do not cast us off. Do not forsake us.

Let us feel again the smile of your near nearness, and there will be life. There will be laughter and joy, gratitude and peace … even in the midst of dieing.

For your smile, the smile of your nearness is enough for us, every single day.

So, turn the beauty of your face toward us in graces of the day and every love we know … that we may know … and live this day from the heart of your nearness.

Pr. David L. Miller

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